Coordination of oral muscles w Elevator Disks

Q:

In the Myo Manual Treatment program in the section on coordination of muscle groups, I wanted to ask you about Elevator Disk and braiding for a patient of mine. I am not sure how many disks a patient should be expected to add to their braid, but I am thinking it would be more than three. Yes?  Can I order more packages of these for him?

A:

You only need one Disk to successfully pass this section in the Myo Manual.  Originally, there was a similar exercise called Marshmallow Twist which was used by therapists many years ago…it involved a similar looking braid and disks, but the disks were quite heavy and up to 10 were used.  It had a different purpose, which was to “strengthen” the lips. There was some indication that the heavy weights and manner of doing that exercise could be detrimental to the TMJ; hopefully, no one is using that exercise anymore.

Since the purpose is to coordinate the skills they have learned up to this point in treatment, there is no need to use heavy weights or additional disks.  BTW, based on my own observations with patients, it appears that this exercises is good for reducing hyper gag…not documented with research other than Holtzman’s!

I think there are some people being trained to have the patient hold heavy weight with their lips with their heads in a downward position and I am wondering about the advantage or disadvantage in that, also, since they are claiming to get Myo Lip Meter readings of 10 or greater…something I am not comfortable with at all.  The normal range is 3-5 RU (resistive units) and that is the goal to achieve.