• 18 Feb 2021
• |
• By Admin

What Is Facial And Bell’s Palsy And Role Of Physiotherapy In Treating Facial And Bell’s Palsy

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Facial nerve paralysis or Facial Palsy is a condition wherein facial muscles are weakened due to permanent or temporary damage to any facial nerve.

Bell’s Palsy is one of the types of facial palsy, in which the patient is unable to control the facial muscles on the side of the face which is impacted due to the paralysis.

Reason For Facial Palsy And Bell’s Palsy

The exact cause of Bell’s Palsy is still unknown. However, in most facial palsy cases, it has been observed that when any facial nerve fails to function or is missing, then the muscles in the face fail to receive the signals for proper functioning, and it results in the paralysis of that side of the face.

For Bell’s Palsy condition, risk factors are diabetes, pregnancy, and/or upper respiratory tract infection which happened recently.

Symptoms Of Bell’s Palsy

Here are some of the symptoms of Bell’s Palsy condition:

●The patient is not able to close the eye on the side of the face which is impacted

●Uncontrolled drooling from the impacted side of the mouth

●The patient’s eyes will feel dryness and teariness

●Pain in the ears, of the side where it's impacted

●Extreme sensitivity to sound

●Drooping of the impacted side of the face

●Sense of taste is somewhat lost

●The patient will find it difficult to speak since this condition will make the muscles around the mouth weak

How Can Physiotherapy Help In Bell's Palsy Treatment

These three stages of exercises, which Physiotherapists recommend for treating Ball’s Palsy and triggering improvements rapidly:

Stage 1: Initiation Exercises

In this stage, the Physiotherapist will ask the patient to do some exercises which will cause the muscles around the face to move, thereby enabling facial movement. Via an assisted range of motions, the patient will be taught how to position their face for easy movement. These initiation exercises set the foundation for the next stage.

Stage 2: Facilitation Exercises

Once the facial movements start happening, and the patient is aware of how to trigger facial muscles to do what they want them to do, then comes the stage for Facilitation exercises.

In this stage, the patient is taught exercises to strengthen facial muscles, increase their activities and use the facial muscles for a longer duration of time. Movement control exercises are generally employed here, which will help the patient to refine their facial movements for specific activities such as speaking, or closing eyes.

Any abnormal patterns of facial movement can also be rectified via facilitation exercises.

Stage 3: ElectroGalvanic or Faradic Stimulation

This is the most important in treating Facial or Bells palsy.

In this treatment method the doctor passes a stimulation current of faradic or galvanic current through a pen electrode to the points on the paralysed face muscles so as to reactivate it.

It has almost 70% positive outcome in most cases.

At CureNow clinic we have the most Advanced Stimulation device having Intermittent Galvanic & Surged Faradic mode.

Stage 4: Relaxation Exercises

During the 1st two stages, the patients can experience facial spasms or twitches, which is quite normal in the recovering patients of Bell’s Palsy. In order to control this, the Physiotherapist will teach the patient how to differentiate between relaxation mode and active mode.

The patient will be taught how to forcefully contract facial muscles, and then willfully stop, for better control over them. Gradually, spasms and twitches will go away, improving the recovery from this condition.

At CureNow Wellness Physiotherapy, our UK-trained and certified Physiotherapists will be able to diagnose Bell's Palsy and provide you with the right physical therapy for fast healing.