Pain Relief Center in Lima NY/Walt Fritz, PT

12/22/2025

Manual therapy as seen through the lens of FEES (Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing).

This video was recorded on my recent teaching trip in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India, in November 2025. Demonstrations such as these are not intended to prove a therapeutic effect. However, they do show that when we perform manual therapy on the laryngeal region, there are direct effects on relevant internal structures. Modern mechanisms-of-action narratives for manual therapy have transcended the view that change occurs solely as a result of the clinician's expertise and have shifted the onus for change onto the patient. If manual therapy is combined with functional efforts on the patient's part, and the manual therapy input replicates or somehow connects with those issues, these modern perspectives on manual therapy impacts allow us to see how therapeutic benefits can result from such exposure.

For more information on this work, please refer to https://www.waltfritz.com/

Here are a few sources of the updated mechanism of action for manual therapy:

1. Bialosky, J.E., Cleland, J.A., Mintken, P., et al. (2021) The healthcare buffet: preferences in the clinical decision-making process for patients with musculoskeletal pain. Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy.
2. Geri, T., Viceconti, A., Minacci, M., Testa, M., & Rossettini, G. (2019). Manual therapy: Exploiting the role of human touch. Musculoskeletal science & practice, 44, 102044.
3. Keter, D. L., Bialosky, J. E., Brochetti, K., Courtney, C. A., Funabashi, M., Karas, S., Learman, K., & Cook, C. E. (2025). The mechanisms of manual therapy: A living review of systematic, narrative, and scoping reviews. PloS one, 20(3), e0319586.
4. Kolb, W.H., Wallace McDevitt, A., Young, J. et al. (2020) The evolution of manual therapy education: what are we waiting for?, Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy, 28:1, 1-3.
5. Roy, N., Dietrich, M., Blomgren, M., Heller, A., Houtz, D. R., & Lee, J. (2019). Exploring the neural bases of primary muscle tension dysphonia: a case study using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Voice, 33(2), 183-194.

https://youtu.be/n_Wbi1KD45g

This video was recorded on my recent teaching trip in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India, in November 2025. Demonstrations such as these are not intended to prove a...

11/21/2025

This cohort study uses data from the Framingham Heart Study to evaluate whether higher physical activity levels in early adult life, midlife, or late life are associated with lower risk of all-cause or Alzheimer disease dementia.

10/28/2025

Offered are two distinct online course lines Voice and Swallowing Disorders classes (Introductory, Balancing the Body, and Advanced Voice and Swallowing Disorders). This coursework is targeted at SLPs/Voice Professionals, SLPAs, Massage Therapists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and o...

10/03/2025

וובינר אוקטובר בנושא - ״טיפול מנואלי בהפרעות קול ושיקום״ עם וולט פריץ!
אנו נרגשים לארח את וולט פריץ (Walt Fritz) פיזיותרפיסט מארצות הברית, להרצאה ייחודית שתתקיים ביום רביעי, 15.10, בשעה 20:30.
הזדמנות נפלאה ללמוד על גישות מודרניות לטיפול מנואלי והשפעותיו על הקול והשיקום הקולי.
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במהלך המפגש וולט יחשוף כיצד טיפול מנואלי (כגון עיסוי, מניפולציה של רקמות רכות, שחרור מיופציאלי ומניפולציה גרונית) יכול לעזור בהתמודדות עם דיספוניה על רקע מתח שרירי (MTD) ותופעות קול שונות, תוך שילוב תובנות עדכניות למורכבות הבעיות ודרכי הפתרון שלהן.
הגישה מבוססת על קבלת החלטות משותפת, הערכת ערכי המטופל ומשלבת תובנות מתקדמות בתחום הקול (Meta-therapy, Helou, 2017) ותפיסה טיפולית כצורת תקשורת מבוססת מגע (Geri et al., 2019), במטרה להעצים את המטופל ולהקל על מטפלים בתחילת דרכם להרגיש בטוחים ביישום הטיפול.
הוובינר יכלול סקירה של עקרונות מהמאמר שלו משנת 2024: "The mechanism of action for laryngeal manual therapies: the need for an update", הדגמות וידאו קצרות, וזמן לשאלות, דיון והחלפת דעות.
מצפים לראות אתכם!

08/30/2025

Being sold on a long-term "fix"? Run.

There are some truly s**tty practitioners out there. The ones who take an x-ray of your spine, point to something perfectly normal, and spin a story about how if you don’t start “treatment” immediately, you’ll be crippled, arthritic, or in constant pain in a few years. They’ll pull out their “plan” — 24 visits, 18 months, thousands of dollars — and tell you it’s the only way to “fix” the problem they’ve just convinced you that you have.

Here’s the truth: those findings they’re pointing at are almost always normal. Spines change with age. Discs dry out. Small bumps or variations appear. That doesn’t automatically mean pain, and none of it can be “corrected” by any manual therapy treatment. So if they’re trying to sell you the lie that their hands, machines, or adjustments will change how your spine looks on an x-ray, they’re talking absolute s**t.

This isn’t healthcare. It’s sales. They’re not helping you — they’re trapping you in a cycle of fear and dependence while draining your wallet. Good practitioners want to see you get better quickly and get back to living your life. They don’t need to lock you into an 18-month plan or pretend that harmless changes are “time bombs” they can magically “fix.”

If someone tries to do this to you, get up, walk out, and don’t look back. There are plenty of honest, skilled clinicians out there who will treat you with respect and reality, not lies and scare tactics.

**ttypeopledos**ttythings **ttypeople **ttypractitioner

07/16/2025

07/14/2025

Elpida Koutsoubaki, (BA, PgDip) Voice therapist, Speech Pathologist, Psychologist, is the creator of the Integrated Voice Therapy approach to vocal rehabilit...