Tongue Twister
In this episode I share my experience attending the Tongue Mojo webcast from Stop Chasing Pain. After years of symptoms related to issues with my esophagus, trachea, stomach, and mouth, I am realizing how important the tongue is!
I took Dr. Perry's course in hopes to see how he practically integrated the tongue with the rest of the body and to learn some exercises to start on before deciding to go the route of a potential tongue tie release (frenectomy).
In this episode I share a bit about the anatomy, why the tongue is so important, and what my progress has been after just a few days of practicing what I learned.
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Stop Chasing Pain: https://www.stopchasingpain.com/
Dr. Perry's IG: https://www.instagram.com/stopchasingpain/
Tongue Mojo webcast: https://www.stopchasingpain.com/tongue-mojo/
Barral Institute: https://www.barralinstitute.com/ (relevant courses: NM4, NM5, VM4, VMAT, be sure to mention Anna Hartman as referral)
The Tongue Therapist (OMT): https://www.instagram.com/thetonguetherapist/
YouTube Videos-
Neck Pain and GERD home treatment: https://youtu.be/nxIENMEz-g4
Crazy Link between Neck Pain and GERD: https://youtu.be/HFiProhhrcw
Hyoid bone and the Brachial Plexus: https://youtu.be/fG6E93pAZlU
Reflux, Neck and Shoulder Pain: https://youtu.be/kDf-Ii6ZvDw
Considering the viscera as a source of musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction is a great way to ensure a more true whole body approach to care, however it can be a bit overwhelming on where to start, which is exactly why I created the Visceral Referral Cheat Sheet. This FREE download will help you to learn the most common visceral referral patterns affecting the musculoskeletal system. Download it at www.unrealresultspod.com
=================================================
Watch the podcast on YouTube and subscribe!
Join the MovementREV email list to stay up to date on the Unreal Results Podcast and MovementREV education.
Be social and follow me:
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
-
Hey there and welcome. I'm Anna Hartman and this is Unreal Results, a podcast where I help you get better outcomes and gain the confidence that you can help anyone, even the most complex cases. Join me as I teach about the influence of the visceral organs and the nervous system on movement, pain, and injuries, all while shifting the paradigm of what whole body assessment and treatment really looks like.
I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in.
Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of the Unreal Results podcast. Um, I don't want to share. Uh, first of all, this weekend, I took Dr. Perry Nickelston, Nickel Ston, his webcast on the Tongue called Tongue Mojo, and um, it was basically like all day, most of the day on Saturday, and um, it was a great class.
I took it, um, obviously, so for those of you who are not familiar with him, on Instagram his, handle is Stop Chasing Pain. That's his business, Stop Chasing Pain. Um, he is, I believe, like a chiropractor by, um, professional trade. And, um, we have a very similar approach and mindset to how the body works. And he, um, is really well known for his teaching of lymphatic medicine.
Thank you. Work and, you know, integrating visceral and neural lens of view into movement and musculoskeletal injuries and stuff like that. So, he, um, he puts out a ton of content and, um, he speaks, he probably, well, I'd say his like population of who he speaks with and works with is more general pop versus mine.
Obviously, a lot of my content is like speaking more directly to the practitioner, um, than the consumer. Um, but with that said, many businesses, practitioners like myself, uh, take his courses and learn from him. As well. So, um, I took his course. Um, sometimes, you know, I take people's courses, especially like that, just to sort of see how they're teaching things and see what they're doing.
And, um, this course, though, specifically, I took because I had recently, I had recently seen, done a virtual consult with a faculty. OMT person, so orofacial therapist, um, to evaluate myself to see if I had a tongue tie because I have a history of a speech impediment, a pretty bad speech impediment when I was a kid actually.
And still, I mean, you might even hear it come out sometimes on the podcast, um, or if you've taken any of my courses, like, sometimes I'll trip over words, especially as I get fatigued, um, I have a hard time enunciating things, um, and. Um, so the speech impediment, even though, you know, even though I wouldn't say I still have 1, it is still a noticeable issue for myself.
And obviously, when I was a kid, it was really bad. Um, I, you know, my, they had to have my mom come in and be like the. Through mother for kindergarten, first grade, mainly because they couldn't understand me. They needed like an interpreter for me. And then in the first grade, I did speech pathology and I did speech pathology all through elementary school until the sixth grade.
And at the time to, you know, they took me to the audiologist and I was evaluated. My hearing was evaluated multiple times just to make sure that I didn't have a hearing impairment that was leading to my speech issues and, you know, but at no point, I mean, maybe the speech, the pathologist looked at my tongue and looked at tongue stuff, but they definitely didn't, um, approach it like that from a treatment standpoint.
Most of my, most of my. Like, work in speech pathology was focused on, um, just practicing speaking and practicing enunciation. And, you know, she did different drills for me with that, but like literally I, well, and this is the thing too, like my memory is a little fuzzy from kindergarten to sixth grade. And, um, especially my time with the speech therapist because I was annoyed.
that I had to go do it. I was embarrassed. Um, and, um, so all I really remember is us reading books, me reading out loud to her and, and then reading certain words and like having certain like milestones of like words, how many words I had to say in a certain time. And she had this like clicker that she would always click and also being frustrated that, um, Her name, the teacher's name, the, the, the, well, teacher, speech, the pathologist, technically, her name was Mrs.
Molderic. And for someone who couldn't say L's or D's or R's, the name Molderic was hard in itself. And so, anyways, these are my, like, thoughts when I think of. Speech pathology. And then, um, later in life, much later in life, like, you know, within the last probably five to ten years, I have a friend from high school who, um, also lives in San Diego and he started the company, um, Connect English and Connect English is a, um, school that teaches English Um, people English who English would be like their second language or like an additional language for them.
So they get a ton of like exchange students and people just internationally wanting to learn English because they do virtual, um, schooling as well as in person schooling in San Diego. I think he's got like, I think there's like. Multiple campuses now, like, it's a very successful business. He serves, um, people in all different, you know, from all different countries, teaching them English he, um, would do some of their, like, weekly. Um, lessons on Facebook live and I, I joined them and I remember, and like, I, I did it and the way he was teaching the words he was talking about, like where in your mouth your tongue would be and like where the emphasis on the word or the syllable was.
And I realized too, I was like, wow, I've never really. I thought about that and maybe, maybe those are some of the things I learned in speech pathology back in the day, but obviously it wasn't anything that stuck in my head as an adult, as a young adolescent. And, um, so I remember practicing those things and it being so interesting too, because of the way he cued it like a movement and also how like whole body it was.
And so I remember reaching out to him, his name's Nick, Nick Sacco, shout out. And, um, I was like, wow, Nick, like that was such a great class and I see so much value in it. And I started thinking to myself, like, man, like there's, there's a lot here that I could probably practice and improve some of my own speaking, speaking things.
So, um. Yeah, like I said, that was kind of on my mind. And then recently I feel like the world of tongue tie is just like getting more popular on Instagram. Maybe it's just the people I'm following, but it's definitely talked about a lot more than it used to be. And so I was curious if I had a tongue tie, I listened to this podcast episode once on it.
Um, another visceral, like we're all Institute trained practitioner who has a podcast. I heard it on her podcast and, um, I, it got me thinking because the, the, the incidents of like, um, reflux gastroesophageal reflux disease and digestive issues and, and, um, even like cortisol and like sympathetic nervous system type stuff is, um.
Definitely more prominent with people who have a tongue tie. And so I was like, you know, maybe I should look into if I have a tongue tie because it makes sense. History of speech impediment, Borobud reflux, like, neck pain, like all the things. And so I had a, uh, online virtual assessment with an OMT, um, which was interesting, um, And she was like, yeah, I think you do have a posterior tongue tie.
And then she referred me to, uh, Institute in San Diego that deals with them like a dentist's office. And she was like, yeah, you need to get your tongue release. And then, you know, once you, you know, if you decide to work with me, we'll give you exercises leading up to the release. And then after the release, it's super important, blah, blah, blah.
And, um, I didn't love her personally. Um, And I thought it was weird to basically, I mean, it's not weird. I paid for her assessment, which was like 250, but in the assessment, she didn't give me anything to do besides follow up with another doctor and then pay her more money to learn more exercises, which I was like, that sucks.
And I had been talking to one of the physical therapists that has actually taken the LTAP from me, who was kind of going through the same road with the tongue tie. And, um. She had seen a different OMT person, also I think a virtual consult, and for that consult, you know, she was given like all these tools and exercises to start doing with the same recommendation.
Looks like you have multiple tongue ties and go and get a consult about getting surgery, you know, like the frenectomy on it. And then. You know, follow up, continue to follow up. So I was like, oh, yeah, you got way better kind of bang for your buck than I did. Um, and then to, you know, once I kind of learned about this, the, the frenectomy and like, what I'd have to do for it.
I was like, I'm not so interested in getting it done at this moment in time. Uh, Uh, one second going to add a little postscript. After I was done recording this entire podcast there. I had some other things to say, so.
Here's the first thing I'd have to say. Just wanted to pop on and correct some things. One, I gave the wrong name for the OMT person. OMT is orofacial myofunctional therapist. And then two, I wanted to share a little bit. I was going over my notes from the one that I saw in, you know, I had said that part of the reason I didn't.
Love her was she didn't, um, really educate me a ton during our consult and then show me what I could do on my own. Like give me some like exercises to start with. Um, the other reason I didn't love her is because she made an assumption about my knowledge level based on what I told her. My professional.
Career was what I did and she did not understand what an athletic trainer was, even though I tried to tell her she still clearly thought I was a personal trainer. And, uh, that bothered me. So anyways, because I was reading through her notes and she said that I should go see someone trained in the Baral method for manual therapy work around.
The cranium and the jaw and the tongue and I was like, Oh, funny, if you would have listened to me and asked more questions, you would know that I've actually gone through those trainings. So you could have talked to me in a different way. But anyways, I just want to jump on and mainly let you know what the OMT stood for oral facial myofunctional therapist.
There you go. Back to the regular recorded podcast. And so then I saw Dr. Perry had this. day webcasts on the Tongue Mojo and I was like, you know what, I'm going to sign up for that because I'm interested in learning more about how I can treat it on my own because I do feel like I wonder how many of my symptoms could actually feel better without the actual procedure because mine wasn't that good.
severe. And so, um, that's really, you know, why I took the class was more so for myself than anything else. Uh, with that said, there's already things that I have done for my tongue that I, you know, that I've learned and I practice and I do stuff with my athletes and, you know, some like manual, like tongue pulls.
Which we learn in the Brawl Institute is actually for the nerves of the tongue, some tongue mobility that I learned from Missy Bunch, and then some, um, you know, and then I, I do know, and I've always, you know, practiced, like, the tongue is important for core control, you know, it is part of your core container, um.
Phillip Beach's contractile fields. It's part of the radial field, which is the core field of movement. And then Thomas Meyer's anatomy trains. It's part of the deep frontal line. So it's like, I understand it. And then I understand it's, you know, deeply connected to the esophagus and the esophagus is a tube that runs down to our stomach and through into our intestines and then out the other end, right?
Like, I get that it is, there is this like whole body wide tension and just like anything, knowing that it is deeply connected to, Other parts of the body, like, I have no doubt that some of my issues even with, like, my low back and lumbar spine and, like, gut health even lower down in the digestive chain influences my esophagus.
Um, so. I was like, yes, this is something I feel like I probably should spend more time on. And it was a great class. Let me give you some context too, in terms of, you know, this is obviously not the first time on the podcast I've talked about the esophagus and the connections, um, of the esophagus to reflux and neck pain and shoulder pain and, um, upper back pain.
Um, so some interesting symptoms that I had too, that I want to highlight because. From what I learned in the course on Saturday, um, and felt in my own body. It's interesting. So about probably in 2016, 2016 or 17, I started having really bad ear pain. Um. I kind of chalked it up to all the time I spent on planes, and, um, you know, maybe I thought I had an ear infection at first, and then, you know, I went to the doctor.
I even lost, like, hearing one day, went to the doctor, and they're like, you're fine, but put me on antibiotics. Anyways, of course, and then nobody ever really figured out and, you know, it would come and go like I'd wake up with intense ear pain and then once I started moving around, it felt better and, um, I did lymphatic work and it helped, but not really.
And so it was just kind of. on and off. Then I learned how left sided ear pain, which mine was primarily left sided, is a sort of silent symptom to gastroesophageal reflux. And then that made a lot more sense to me because I knew, and I do have a history of reflux. So then I started noticing the connection between the two just in my own life.
Yes, when I had a flare up in my ear, it also sort of went with the flare up in my symptoms of my esophagus. So, um, And with anything, once you understand why the pain's happening, it's like, becomes less of a concern. I like, you know, because I went down the rabbit hole of like, oh my gosh, like, this ear pain is so intense and it's affecting my hearing, but my eardrum's fine, and my station tube's fine, and, like, do I have a, like, tumor, and, like, an acoustic neuroma, like, I, you know, you go down the rabbit hole when you don't have an answer for it.
But as soon as I had an answer for it, I was like, no big deal.
So, you know, so that was the ear pain. The other interesting thing that had been happening for, I don't know, for the last, probably since like 2017, 2018, is whenever I would lie on my stomach and lift my chest up and my head up, um, my ears would get really plugged and it was very disorienting. To my vestibular system, I did not like it.
Um, I noticed this whenever I would do closed chain ankle joint mobs on my athletes because I like to do it on the ground, I lay on the ground, and I lift up, you know, lift up in thoracic extension, head up, and go to do it. And it was, yeah, like I said, super disorienting and didn't quite have an explanation for it.
Until recently,
and uh, so, you know, I thought like, what's going on with my vestibular system or like, what is happening? But what I realized, I can't, honestly, I'm like, did I just realize this this weekend or did I have a feeling that it, I, I maybe had a feeling that I had something to do with my esophagus. I had a feeling.
Um, that it was, um, but whenever I would treat my esophagus, like in the, in the visceral classes and I do the esophagus. Treatment and stress like tubes love to be stretched. So I did a stretch. In fact, I have a whole Series of stretches for the esophagus on my youtube channel Um, I would feel better, but I would still get that feeling of like the plugged ears and the super disorientation So it's like I was missing a piece to it.
Like I was missing a piece of this connection So I I was still a little confused about like why when I went into thoracic extension But only in prone, like I, if I went into thoracic extension without being in prone, I don't feel the ear thing. So I was like, what changes in prone, but then I was thinking about it when I'm lying in prone and I rise up into extension, I'm really pressing my stomach.
Into the ground. And so I think I was pinning my stomach down so much into the ground. I wasn't allowing it to move up and, um, that was giving me that such a pull on the esophagus that I would feel the ears plugging up. And this was bilateral, not just the left. So, um, but I would do the visceral treatment of, you know, doing like there's this treatment that you take the stomach and you just basically like, again, it's attached to a tube.
So you pull it down. Um, and it wouldn't really change much. And so I was, it was a little frustrating to me. And again, it was one of those symptoms that I was like things that was like, Oh, it's weird, but it doesn't bother me. Like. It only bothers me in a very specific position and time and then also like doesn't bother me like it's not painful It's just disoriented and I don't like how it feels And then you know too I have um symptoms.
Um, I have I clenched my jaw and i've cracked all my molars and like So I wear a night guard and never really sort of been able to sort of stop for any reason and the other you know The other thing to keep in mind to it through through this With my history in terms of when I was a kid, not only did I have bad speech impediment, but I also had bad asthma And really bad allergies and so I was always mouth breather because I literally couldn't breathe through my nose and it was not until college and then since college that, um, I've gotten to this point where I can nasal breathe, but even then my bolt score, which is like a score of like, your, um, CO2 tolerance, um, is still really low despite me being able to, you know, Nasal breathe better, you know, so my default is still this, like, mouth breathing pattern and even, you know, I'll catch myself with my mouth opening up and, um, mouth breathing.
So, all things that, you know, when you look at, like, tongue ties and tongue problems. Makes sense. So like I said, that's why I decided to sign up for Dr. Perry's webcast because I was like, you know I know he sees the body similar to me in terms of like even when it's gonna be all about the tongue It's not gonna be all about the tongue And I want to see how he's tying it all together because the treatments that I'm doing For my tongue for my esophagus for my stomach for this whole connection to the two.
It's just not Changing and it's just not holding and so it's like, what am I missing? And, uh, the webcast was great, super informative. A lot of it was like anatomy that I already really knew. Um, but there was
the techniques that we did just were really helpful. For me, we did some, like, inner, intra, um, intraoral, that's the word, um, self releases around the ligaments, uh, between, like, your cheeks and your gum line, and then the actual stretch on the tongue, which is very similar to the nerve technique I did, but in more directions, and then the big one for me, the thing that, the two things, actually, for me.
Okay. The two other things besides that, that really seemed to make the biggest difference on me was, and I'd say more than two maybe, was First one, an awareness of where my head is in space when I'm doing all of these things, makes sense, as well as making sure my jaw is not making up for my tongue movements.
And so that's, that's actually probably what this OMT therapist saw a lot. She just didn't, she explained it, but she didn't like. explain it in a way that was practical and had me see it and feel it. Um, so that's helpful. And it makes sense because I've, you know, to as I've aged and as these problems have compounded, I, you know, do get some team J and like jaw issues, but I think it's from like too much mobility of my jaw making up for the lack of tongue mobility, excuse me, the lack of tongue mobility.
So, um, the tongue stretch we did, and then, There is this stretch called the Body twists like a tongue. I can't remember what he called it body twist tongue twist, but it's basically taking that deep frontal line and Twisting everything on it. So doing the tongue pull with eye and cervical rotation with trunk rotation and pelvic rotation in Whatever that freed up in my body was a big game changer in terms of them when I laid down and prone and I lifted up and Head extension?
I did not have the sensation of my ears being clogged, and that was amazing. I haven't, like I said, I haven't felt that probably in seven years, and so that was cool, and then the exercises he taught us It's like a whole slew of exercises, so many exercises that, you know, you couldn't do all of them because your tongue, it was just too much load on your nervous system because your tongue is so intrinsically linked to your nervous system.
And so it was like just too many, plus it was just fatiguing because, you know, you got a little bit more tongue mobility with the, with the mobility. Self releases and then you're doing this exercises and it's like, you know, just like any other muscle Fatigue pretty fast. So but doing the exercises with the awareness of not letting my jaw do the motion But getting it really from the tongue has been so cool and the last couple days I like do I just feel like Some soreness around the root of my tongue, the tongue muscle, the tongue itself, from doing the exercises with some new mobility.
Since then I've noticed a change in the resting position of my tongue. It's been farther back on my palate, which also has made my whole jaw feel more relaxed, especially I don't feel like I'm clenching. Um, and uh, I The day after I did have some ear pain waking up, but then since then I have not really had any ear pain, which has been great, too.
So, um, it was really, it was, like I said, it was a really good, um, oh, and then my neck range of motion and neck pain has felt much better. And, and it had been creeping up quite a bit, um, in recent months as well, so it's nice to feel like this has, like, shifted things. And also, the main test for tongue tie, now, with the stuff we did, I actually, like, I mean, it still probably looks like I have a tongue tie, but at the same time, like the main test that is like most people use to determine it or not, which is open your mouth all the way and then take the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth.
You know, if you can do that at all,
I can do that now. Whereas before the webcast, I couldn't do it. And so this just, you know, going back to the original, like I said, that original OMT therapist, like told me I had. It has a problem. I need to go get it fixed. And I still don't doubt that perhaps maybe getting a frenectomy, like, would make these things easier.
But also, because it is connected to so much, there are so many other factors than just the tongue. Um, That, especially for someone like me who doesn't have it so severe that I'm like, I could maybe avoid having the procedure done, um, and still have the benefits of the improved like nasal breathing, the decreased load on my sympathetic nervous system, the improved, um, Digestive function, the proofed swallowing, the less jaw pain, like the less neck pain, all the things.
So that was really, um, highlighted well. Um, you know, in terms of too, like actually when I sat down to do this podcast, I was not planning to talk about the tongue the whole time, but that's obviously, you know, I always like talking about what's on my mind and that's really what's on my mind. And, um, you know, I do think it's.
And I do think it is like something that needs to be considered on everyone. Um, it goes back to kind of to when you think about your tongue, your tongue is like the primary, one of the primary movements we do, we learn as a baby, um, which is the role of the tongue in like sucking and swallowing to eat.
To eat our food when we're a baby and this is when tongue ties are supposed to be diagnosed, right? Like if a baby has a hard time nursing, hard time latching, or has a lot of digestive issues, corticalis, like all of these things can be like symptoms of a tongue tie. And um, but it's like the fundamental, like initial sensory and motor skill that we have as baby.
And then two, it's just like, It's the way we're orienting ourselves with our environment, which is why improving tongue mobility and improving tongue control and tongue strength is such a powerful thing for changing total body mobility, decreasing pain, improving function is because it's, it's, it's treating one of our main senses, right?
Taste, touch, eyes, ears. Right, so, I, vision, smell, hearing, taste, and then hands and feet touch, so just like, you know, the other thing to think about when it comes to tongue is the role of tongue in like chewing food, and the role of environment on the need to chew food. So one of the things is we tend to not eat foods anymore that required as much work with our tongue, right?
Because we eat so many processed foods and so that's We've decreased the need to have a lot of tongue involvement in our food, um, getting and eating, right? And so it's no wonder that we're, you know, that we're seeing some problems with it. Just like shoes, right? Just like we have so many foot problems and back problems because we spend so much time in shoes and in socks and on boring surfaces.
We've taken out. The role our feet have in, uh, having an interesting life and same thing with our tongue, same thing with our hands, right? Our hands don't even get a very interesting life from a touch standpoint anymore, because most of our day is spent on a really shiny flat screen. And just our thumb really is getting that action.
And that's not even that great of action. So, you know, going back to the principle of like improving our sensory experience, improve sensory experience can. Improve our output and our output being movement and our output being pain, right? And so why not start of the tongue because that is like a fundamental spot, um, that we need, right?
When we're going back to sort of understanding like motor development and that kind of thing. So hopefully this podcast has. It's inspired you to consider the tongue and find some resources, obviously I'll drop the resources in the show notes, link to Dr. Perry, um, I don't know if he has any more of his tongue mojo classes on the calendar for this year, but I'm sure he will next year.
Um, I'll link to a different therapist on Instagram that I follow, not the one I use, but the one my colleague Megan has used, um, as a resource and, um, any of the other resources I mentioned. I will make sure they're in the show notes, but, um, yeah, the tongue, big deal. Also, I think I have, um, if I have any tongue mobility exercises on my YouTube channel, I'll make sure to link those too, um, maybe I'll be filming more, um, I like to play around with things before I like film it and put it out there.
So obviously I'm new to this and, um, I definitely.
can see myself adding in more of this to my clients, uh, for sure. But hopefully this episode was useful. Like I said, it wasn't exactly what I was planning to talk about, but it's what's on my mind.
So that's what you get. So, um, enjoy and I'll talk to you next week and, uh, have a great day. Thanks for joining me. See you next time.
Okay, okay. You know I couldn't do a podcast without giving you some more like knowledge because I just, I just can't. Because then of course, after I had recorded the whole podcast and let you know, I just want to share what I was experiencing. I was like, let me read more about the tongue. So here we are about the tongue.
Um, but I think something interesting. So there's eight muscles to the tongue. Four of them control its position in space and then four of them control like the shape of the tongue. So obviously you've got the muscles that are in the base of the mandible, attach the hyoid in the tongue, and then you've got muscles within like the tongue itself.
So, um. All of them work together for the functions of the tongue, of swallowing, um, you know, sticking it out, retracting, you know, changing the shape, talking, sucking, swallowing, all the things, so, important. And, um, They're categorized as, like, extrinsic and intrinsic muscles. So the, it says the four extrinsic muscles originate from the bone and extend to the tongue.
They are the genioglossus, the hyoglossus, the styloglossus, and the palatoglossus. And their main functions are altering the tongue's position, allowing for protrusion, retraction, and side to side. Movement. Uh, and then intrinsic muscles are four paired intrinsic muscles originating an insert within the tongue running along.
It's like they are the superior longitudinal muscle, the inferior longitudinal muscle, the vertical muscle, and the transverse muscle. First muscle, these muscles alter the shape of the tongue by lengthening and shortening it, curling and uncurling its apex and edges, and tongue rolling and flattening and rounding its surface.
They provide shape and help facilitate speech, swallowing, and eating. So, actually, from reading this too, and like, thinking about the problems I have, both with my speech and my swallowing, it's no wonder that I felt so much better after the exercises at Dr. Perry. Showed, and since I've been doing them is because they needed some training.
Um, and a lot of the manual therapy that I've done on my own has been for the extrinsic muscles, which helped me, but not that much. It doesn't ever move the needle that much doing more of the muscles of the, um, that connect from the hyoid bone and the mandible to the tongue itself. So that's interesting in itself as well.
Um. I already talked about it being an important part of the nervous system. You know, it's got two cranial nerves associated with it. It's primary, like sensory, we talked about. Um, but anyways, I thought that was interesting and a fun fact to provide.
Of course, too, I was like, just wondering about like how it was named and all the things, for the record. Like I go to Wikipedia for this kind of information. It's just interesting to me. Um, and I've talked about this before, whenever I'm curious about something, I go back to one, I read about it on Wikipedia, and then I look at pictures of it, of the anatomy.
I go on my anatomy books, I go back to my books that I've learned it, and then kind of let me go down whatever rabbit hole it takes me with. And then not only do I feel it in my own body, but then I feel it on my athlete's bodies. So I can sort of just. Be a scientist about it, like have a hypothesis and like be curious to see what changes and stuff like that.
So hopefully this episode gave you some things to think about and appreciate about the tongue. And I'm probably gonna say, I had just looked at the pictures from my original OMT appointment in July, which remember I did no exercises from that. So I got the assessment, took the pictures, and then Saturday took Dr.
Perry's course. you know, loosely been doing the exercises since Saturday, like maybe spending five, 10 minutes of it just during the day. And, um, I retook some of the pictures and the changes I made by just doing the exercises and just doing the little stretches that I described. It's like such a difference.
So I'm sure I'll share those on social media and I'm excited for working on it even more. All right. Talk to you later. Bye.
