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Voice Disorders in Coaches and Fitness Instructors: Prevalence and Pathophysiology

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Voice Disorders in Athletes, Coaches and other Sports Professionals

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Abstract

Fitness instructors and coaches are at higher risk of developing voice disorders in comparison to the general population. Voice disorders are ascribed to voice ergonomic risk factors such as unbalanced posture and high-energy aerobic activity, poor air quality, noise, stress, and lack of sound amplifiers, all of which may lead to inefficient voice production and voice symptoms. Dysphonia not only in athletes but also in coaches and fitness instructors can be due also to intense physical activity and impairment in breath support. As body kinetic function is linked to laryngeal behavior, intense physical activity can lead to an increase in laryngeal muscle tension. Similarly, impairment in breathing secondary to exercise-induced bronchoconstriction may jeopardize breath support, thus leading to compensatory hyperfunctional voice disorders. Mouth breathing may cause dysphonia by altering the vocal folds’ mucus layer. Coaches and fitness instructors who rely largely on mouth breathing instead of nasal breathing during coaching are subject to change in voice quality, voice fatigue, and an increase in phonatory effort.

This chapter reviews the prevalence of voice disorders in coaches and fitness instructors and discusses the pathophysiology of dysphonia in this group of sports-occupational voice users. The association between body kinetic and laryngeal behavior is stressed, and the pathogenic role of mouth breathing, lower airway diseases, and body fatigue/stress is reviewed thoroughly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

    Abdul-Latif Hamdan

  2. Adjunct Professor, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Abdul-Latif Hamdan

  3. Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Robert Thayer Sataloff & Mary J. Hawkshaw

  4. Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Robert Thayer Sataloff

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  1. Abdul-Latif Hamdan
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  2. Robert Thayer Sataloff
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Correspondence to Abdul-Latif Hamdan .

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Hamdan, AL., Sataloff, R.T., Hawkshaw, M.J. (2021). Voice Disorders in Coaches and Fitness Instructors: Prevalence and Pathophysiology. In: Voice Disorders in Athletes, Coaches and other Sports Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69831-7_6

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