soprano.wetpaint.com 6/12/2006

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SOPRANOS & BASSES SHOULD AVOID THIS VIRUS: BELL's PALSY (continued)

Cross-training:
Easy to Pronounce and Good for You

If you break your right leg, believe it or not, exercise the left. Your brain, that foreman, will send workers to both legs, speeding the health of the injured leg as well. This is called cross training.

By the same principle, if half of your mouth has stopped moving, move the other half. Your speech sounds funny, but your brain sends regenerating electrical impulses to the paralyzed lips.

Much though I wanted to take a two month vow of silence, I believed that talking and singing were the best way to take advantage of cross training for my face.

Haltingly, I continued to talk and sing, embarrassed but determined. The left side of my mouth dragged the right side along, and the words emerged, imperfect but largely intelligible.

Thanks to cross-training, antivirals and steroids, my face was almost normal two or three weeks later. Now, I am happy to say that Bell’s Palsy lies entirely behind me.

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