>I recently saw a client with Spasmotic Dysphonia. Does anyone have
>any experience or suggestions about working with him.
>
>I've copied definitions below.
>
>Spasmodic dysphonia, a focal form of dystonia, involves involuntary
>"spasms" of the vocal cords causing interruptions of speech and
>affecting the voice quality.
>Doctors recognize two types of spasmodic dysphonia. In the more
>common adductor type, speaking causes abnormal involuntary excessive
>contraction of the muscles that bring the vocal cords together. This
>causes a tight voice quality, often with abrupt initiation and
>termination of voicing resulting in a broken speech pattern and
>short breaks in speech.
>In the abductor type, there is an overcontraction of the muscles
>that separate the vocal cords, resulting in a breathy, whispering
>voice pattern.
>
>Susan Stone
>Certified Advanced Rolfer
>Biodynamic Cranial Therapist
>Jenkintown, Pa. 19046

I have a client who sings that was diagnosed with this. He ended up
in my office when a speech therapist who's also a singer told him
there was a lot of tension in his upper torso and that he should get
'Rolfed'. After our first session, I concur. On a muscle tonus
scale of 1-10 (1=low), he's definitely a 10 or maybe even a 12.
What's your client's general tonus like?

If this is like "focal dystonia", there might be a neurological
component. His tissue reminded me of fibromyalgia. Halfway through
the session, I stopped "cranking" on his tissue and started "meeting"
it instead--more unwinding and less stimulation to his nervous
system. I'll probably take more than 10 sessions with him and add
some cranial to start rehab on his autonomic nervious system.

I also did some 7th hour differentiation on the neck compartment.
We'll see if that did much this early on in his series. A goal for
him would be to reduce the overall tonus of his system.