The Best Parkinson’s Exercises for Speech and Swallowing Issues

It’s well known that Parkinson’s disease can affect the voice and swallowing. This can cause significant communication problems, reduced social interactions, and isolation—not to mention choking if your swallowing is affected. With PD, you must work your mouth, tongue, and throat the same way you work muscles in the rest of your body.

There are several ways PD may affect speech:

• Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder or impairment in speaking due to PD affecting the muscles required for speech. The voice may get softer, breathy, or hoarse, making it difficult to hear what is being said.
• Hypophonia, which means soft speech, is an abnormally weak voice caused by the weakening muscles.
• Tachyphemia, or cluttering, is characterized by an excessively fast speed of talking and a rapid stammering or mumbling making the person difficult to understand.
• The tone of the voice may become monotone, lacking inflections.
• Slowed Speech, when the person has difficulty finding the right words.
• Facial Masking, where communication may be further affected when a person’s face has less movement and appears less animated.

Treating Speech Difficulties

The problem with most voice treatments is if you don’t practice consistently, you lose the benefits. It can be hard to get motivated to do it alone. In this week’s video, I’ve included some word games to make it fun.

Watch this video to learn the Best Parkinson’s Exercises for Speech and Swallowing Issues:

Practice these exercises throughout the day to improve mouth function, voice projection and swallowing. It will make a difference!

Coach Kimberly

If you’re looking for exercises to target specific symptoms of Parkinson’s, check out my virtual courses that you can access anywhere, any time!

• Rebel Fit Club Posture School
• PD Exercises to Improve Hand Dexterity and Mobility
• From Cramping Feet to Happy Feet