0806 – Stretching and Strengthening Your Laryngeal Muscle

2023.03.17 – 0806 – Stretching and Strengthening Your Laryngeal Muscle 

There are around 27 muscles in and around the larynx, 15 of these are outside the larynx and hold it in position in the neck, 12 are essential, with a direct action on the vocal folds in their lengthening and shortening, tension and relaxation, thinning and thickening.

These laryngeal muscles are intimately connected to the muscles of the neck, shoulders and upper chest and back. The tension of all these muscles is influenced by how we are feeling both physically and emotionally and they affect the function and sometimes the structure of the vocal folds.

We need enough tension for a strong healthy voice, but not so much that the voice becomes strained and constricted. [1]

So, the muscles around the larynx are intricate and need delicate movement to work, and you need to avoid the other muscles around it, like in the neck (and they’re huge – if you’ve ever been in a car accident and had whiplash, you’ll know how debilitating that is) getting tense.

And that’s why exercises are so important in getting a better voice: moving and stretching to both relax and strengthen muscles.

[1] https://www.wsh.nhs.uk/CMS-Documents/Patient-leaflets/SpeechandLanguageTherapyServices/6534-1-Practical-voice-care.pdf

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