Walt Fritz
Unlike historically more aggressive or tissue-based approaches, which view problems as the result of a single tissue or behavioral fault, Walt’s blended views allow newer models that point to multifactorial causes and effects. This model requires adaptation by most new practitioners, as lowering our view as the “expert” and elevating patient perspectives is not an easy task. However, a shared decision-making approach results in patient/client empowerment and boosts outcomes.
Walt has taught thousands of speech-language pathologists, vocal coaches, registered dental hygienists, massage therapists, physical therapists/physiotherapists, occupational therapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, and ENTs his work through workshops worldwide. Casting such a wide net has added value to a range of rehabilitation settings and performance interventions, including positive results with world-renowned performers. Walt makes his information available through live hands-on seminars, online courses, many podcasts, videos, and articles, and his book, Manual Therapy in Voice and Swallowing: A Person Centered-Approach (Compton Publishing LTD.). He is also a contributing author for The Oxford Handbook of Voice Pedagogy, which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2024.
He holds a BS in Physical Therapy and a BA in Community Mental health, both through the University of Buffalo (NY), and is currently an MA Candidate at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UK). He sees patients through his Upstate New York practice for voice/swallowing-related problems and more general concerns.
Disclosures:
Walt Fritz, PT, has been a leader in providing education in manual therapy in speech-language pathology, voice intervention, laryngeal disorders, breathing disorders, oral motor dysfunction, and related communities. Walt has the following relevant financial relationship to disclose: he receives royalties from similar course content delivered through Medbridge Massage and TalkTools. He has no relevant nonfinancial relationships to disclose. There are no content disclosures; financial/in-kind disclosures may exist and will be stated for each live seminar.
More about Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders:
Historically, manual therapy, myofascial release, vocal massage, laryngeal manipulation, and other forms of manual care are often stated as a means to eliminate or improve a tissue, postural, or biomechanically-based problem. Patients and clinicians often share these perspectives, reinforced by education models and social media 30-second sound bites. However, every person’s case is complex. When high muscle tension is used to explain laryngeal problems, what drives that tension? A nearly unlimited number of contributing factors set the issue in place, and an equally complex tapestry of elements contributes to successfully remedying the problem. These courses take you down this rabbit hole of complexity, allowing you to see the myriad possibilities for impact and creating comfort in not knowing. Though this last statement may seem contradictory, knowing more often means admitting uncertainty. Filling the void left by not knowing is the therapeutic alliance and understanding how successfully applying its principles can drive intervention success. From this perspective, you have a baseline understanding of how I present this work.
This class centers around two central themes. First is obvious, teaching the SLP and others the use of manual, touch-based therapy for the remediation of voice, swallowing, oral motor, tongue-related, breathing, and similar problems. Second, a concept of equal importance is introducing a patient-centered model of care, one solidly grounded in shared decision-making (SDM). The core concepts of SDM, now common in our shared literature, can be inserted into any intervention, not just manual therapy.
This course is not jam-packed with techniques. Instead, we move through multiple engagements but frame them from the SDM perspective.
Please find more information at:
https://waltfritzseminars.com/voice-and-swallowing-seminars/