Public Relations Agent
Mike Danielson
Media Relations, Inc.
Phone:
(612) 798-7214
(800)
999-4859
Facial Concepts, Inc.
1055 W. Germantown Pike
Norristown, PA 19403
Phone:
(610) 539-5869
(800) 469-8565
Email: info@facialconcepts.com
NEWS
RELEASE
A
New
LooK
at Facial
Exercise!
New Discoveries
in Speech Therapy
Medical case studies
have clearly indicated the tremendous
benefit one can achieve with
the use of Facial Flex® Adult in strengthening the muscles of the face,
chin, and neck.
Facial Flex®
Adult, a product
with a proven record of safety
and efficacy in the strengthening
of orofacial muscles for aesthetic
purposes, is now being introduced
for use in the treatment of
patients with speech disorders.
Early case study results in
patients with orofacial weakness
demonstrate the potential
benefit of a program of traditional
speech therapy augmented by
an exercise program utilizing
Facial Flex®.
Many disorders of speech are
associated with an abnormal
use of facial and cervical
muscles. Weakness of
these muscle groups is common
in patients suffering from
stroke and chronic neuromuscular
disorders. This weakness
can also be magnified in the
elderly as aging alone leads
to some muscle atrophy and
loss of elasticity in these
tissues. In younger
patients one cause of orofacial
weakness is muscle and nerve
damage from trauma and cancer.
Speech articulation difficulties
are found in many school aged
children and can be a result
of conditions ranging from
minor developmental abnormalities
to severe congenital deformities.
From children with
articulation difficulties
to elderly stroke suffers,
speech therapy is utilized
to assist patients in the
rehabilitation of smooth,
understandable vocal communication.
When weakness or spasticity
of the orofacial musculature
is encountered, various exercises
may be considered by a speech
pathologist to address the
problem. Facial Flex® Adult has been introduced as an adjunct to
traditional speech therapy
in selected patients, and
exciting early results have
now been reported.
Case
Studies
Four case studies
describing the early results
of a speech therapy program
augmented by Facial Flex® Adult are now available. Three were conducted
in the United States.
The fourth was conducted and
published in the United Kingdom.
All patients undergoing such
studies receive speech therapy
by a certified speech pathologist,
and are monitored by a physician.
Patient #1 is a
57 year old male experiencing
hoarseness and vocal fatigue
associated with weakness of
the orofacial muscles, slight
tongue weakness and spasm
of the left cheek. After
an eight-week exercise program,
the therapist noted complete
resolution of the facial weakness
and the cheek spasm, as the
voice quality improved as
well.
Patient #2 is a 90 year
old female who had suffered
a stroke. Her speech
was slurred and she could
not articulate vowels.
She had severe right facial
weakness to the extent she
could not maintain oral
closure. After only
three weeks of exercise
with Facial Flex®
Adult, her articulation
improved and she was able
to attain consistent oral
closure.
Patient #3 is a 74 year
old female with a carcinoma
of the right side of the
oral cavity. Extensive
surgical resection and radiation
therapy resulted in difficulty
in opening her mouth, pain
with jaw motion, and poor
articulation.
Nutrition had to be supplemented
with a gastrostomy tube.
Over a two to three month
course of speech and swallowing
therapy augmented by Facial
Flex®
Adult, the
patient had improvement
in speech articulation,
swallowing function and
facial motion. Her
swallowing improved to the
extent that her gastrostomy
tube could be removed.
Patient #4 is a 68 year
old male who suffered a
stroke. His speech
was severely impaired to
the point that he could
not articulate words understandably.
He could not swallow food
or liquid without aspiration,
and as a result required
a gastrostomy tube.
After five months of regular
inpatient therapy, including
conventional tongue and
lip exercises, there was
no improvement at all.
Speech therapy was modified
to include a tongue spoon
for exercising the tongue
and Facial Flex® Adult for lip exercises. After 6 weeks
of mechanically aided tongue
and lip exercises there
was marked improvement in
every area. Strength
and endurance increased
significantly. Speech
became intelligible to a
trained listener.
Swallowing became safe,
with hydration being achieved
orally. The patient
was able to orally take
liquidized food.
New!
Pediatric Device
Children with facial
muscle weakness can now benefit
from the same dynamic resistance
exercise as Facial Flex® Adult.
A
new patent-pending product
designed for use by children
and adults having restricted
oral cavities has been developed.
This new product called Facial-Flex®
Pediatric is intended
to be an adjunct to speech
therapy. This new product
was introduced at the annual
conference of the American
Speech-Language and Hearing
Association held in San Antonio
November 1998. Facial-Flex
Pediatric has generated a
great deal of excitement among
Speech Language Pathologists.
Facial-Flex Pediatric is eligible
for reimbursement under the
Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), when
specified as "assistive technology"
as part of an Individual Education
Plan for children receiving
speech therapy. Facial-Flex
Pediatric employs new Flexural
Modulus technology that provides
precision levels of resistance
across a dynamic range of
motion. The inherent
structural properties of an
advanced medical grade plastic
are combined with an innovative
design to provide just the
right level of resistance
during exercise.
Three color coded Facial
Flex®
Pediatric devices provide
different levels of resistance:
a lower level for early
stage oral- motor muscle
conditioning, and two higher
levels for more advanced
use as the patient progresses.
The yellow device has the
lower resistance level and
should be used when the
patient first begins to
exercise the oral-motor
muscles. The blue
device has the next higher
level of resistance, and
should be used after the
patient becomes stronger
and feels comfortable and
coordinated in using it.
The green device offers
the highestlevel of resistance
and should be used once
the patient has reached
a point in strength and
coordination that the lesser
resistance device seems
easy to use. Facial Flex® Pediatric will benefit children in building
oral-motor muscle strength
and coordination as an adjunct
to speech-language pathology
service. The bright
colors will make using the
device fun and appealing.
Facial Flex® Pediatric provides a quantifiable method for
measuring the outcome for
oral-motor exercise.
For information contact
Facial Concepts, Inc.,
PO Box 99, Blue Bell,
PA 19422 or call 1-800-469-8565.
