News. Karissa is now a qualified OMT! 'Orofacial myofunctional therapist'

Karissa Stallwood • January 13, 2026

OMT is an emerging therapy

With close ties to Chiropractic, Speech Pathology, Physiotherapy and Dentistry it is studied and practiced by a variety of professionals with a special interest in this area.

The study of the ways the muscles of the mouth and face function is called orofacial myology. If there are dysfunctions, the treatment to correct these is called orofacial myofunctional therapy

How do you know if you need OMT?

Signs and symptoms of someone who may have an Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder (OMD) may be individuals with a:

• Tongue thrust (when the tongue thrusts forward between the teeth when speaking or swallowing)
• Open mouth breathing at rest
• Breast feeding difficulties
• Trouble chewing or refusal to eat foods that need chewing
• TMJ dysfunction or other jaw problems
• Facial pain
• Tongue tie
• Snoring or other forms of sleep disordered breathing
• Drooling
• Misalignment in their teeth (crooked)
• Clenching and grinding of teeth (bruxism)

How does OMT help?

Just like going to the gym to do sets of exercises to build up muscles in our body, OMT works through exercises that retrain the muscles of our face and mouth to ensure muscles are positioned correctly and that there is adequate strength, range of motion and endurance to sustain the position.

• Mouth Breathing: We aim to shift to nasal breathing.
• Tongue Thrust: Train the position of the tongue to sit functionally in the palate.
• Improper Swallowing & Chewing: Developing mature patterns.
• Speech Issues: Improving clarity by correcting muscle coordination.
• Habits: eliminating thumb sucking or prolonged pacifier use and correcting development.
• Sleep Issues: Reducing snoring and sleep apnoea.
• Facial Development: Supporting proper jaw and facial growth and orthodontic outcomes.

OMT involves coordinating with other professionals in similar fields aiming to get a functional outcome, such as a dentist using Orthotropic protocols, and dentists or ENT that corrects Tethered Oral tissues such as tongue and lip ties.

For me, in practice it has helped me to see chronic cases through new eyes and see new possibilities of solutions. I have identified so many more tongue ties, having learnt how to recognize them in more than infants and seeing and understanding the far-reaching effects of tethered oral tissues on an individual’s facial development and health outcomes long term.

Can there be benefit in an adult having a tongue tie release? Absolutely

For more information have a look at the Myofunctional Centre website.

https://themyofunctionalcentre.com.au/

If you want to know how I can help with your sleep disordered breathing, or TMJ dysfunction or a new look at chronic neck pain, please book in for an OMT assessment.

Yours in Health
Karissa 😊

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Chiropractic Through Pregnancy

By Karissa Stallwood • November 27, 2025

Structure, Change & Growth

Spinal Health, Helping You Live Long and Grow Gracefully

By Karissa Stallwood • October 7, 2025

Every day ‘nearly’ at least one if not more of my elderly patients comment, ‘don’t get old’ or some variation of the same expression. Yet I also have elderly clients with far fewer aches and pains and with gratitude for their age. I often at this point think of the life that was lived before they found themselves in my office, wishing for their younger body. I see patients of every age at infancy, the youngest being less than 24 hours old on its way home from the hospital through young kids to teens and so on, I can see patterns that I am correcting in infants in the older patients I see, wishing I had the opportunity to see them younger. I think that if an individual looks after themselves from a younger age, they will age with more grace and not be in so much discomfort in their latter years. This theory disregards random injuries of course, illnesses and other hereditary factors. Let’s get on with the focus of this discussion, the spine. The Spine and health. The spine is a bony housing for delicate, yet resilient nerve tissues. The spinal cord coming from the base of the brain gives rise to the peripheral nerves that create the communication highway from the body to the brain and brain back to the body. The spine also creates a vital structural link from the legs and pelvis to the rib cage and arms and head, to hold it way up there as we walk around, with the aid of our muscles. The structure of the spine governs its function both in protecting the nerve structures and in creating optimal efficient posture and movement. There is a complex relationship between nerve function from the level of the brain to our motor system and joint and muscle activation and back the other way, chicken and egg style. Chiropractic accesses this system by adding a force to the spinal joints that both assists them to move better (often immediately) and stimulates the nerves back to brain to create healthier pathways of function and reduce pain pathway activation. Repeated activations and mobilisation create healthier nerve function that controls posture, and better movement ongoing. Coupled with activity, this can help the body function with greater vitality and health and keep movements smoother and pain free longer. Spinal Health is essential for overall wellbeing, from infancy to elderly at every stage of life. Neglecting spinal health can lead to long term discomfort and chronic issues, and with better practices we can create a healthy spine at every stage of life. Stay tuned as we examine spinal health from infancy through childhood and teens and adulthood and growing with grace into our latter years. Yours in Health, Karissa Stallwood

Your Posture = Your Health

By Karissa Stallwood • January 16, 2025

A person walking with good posture says, “I own this space, I have purpose” They look more alert and more ‘with it’. As studies show that brain blood flow and neck function are correlated, this may in fact be true. A good neck curve and posture have been shown to have many health benefits. A study in 2012 (cited below), looked at the flow of blood in the brain, measured with SPECT, and how this was associated with neck pain and dysfunction, measured by Neck Disability Index scores. What they found was that there was a significant difference between subjects and better neck function and lordosis (proper curve) was associated with more blood to the brain, specifically in the parietal lobe, which takes in all the sensory information from the rest of the body and environment, and the frontal lobe, where our movement, personality, humour and decision-making happens. 1 Other Studies have found: There is a relationship between neck pain and forward head posture, in adults and older adults. 2 That an improved neck curve also improves neck pain in patients. 3 That it is cervical lordosis that is associated with neck disability and pain and disc degeneration more so than forward head posture. 4 Severe forward head posture increased the activities of the accessory breathing muscles and decreased the forced vital capacity. (our ability to breathe). 5 F orward head posture and neck muscle and joint activity can be part of the clinical picture in vertigo and dizziness. 6 Correcting the cervical curve improves brain blood perfusion. 7 Now we know it's important, how did we lose our neck curve? More importantly, how do we get it back? The maintenance of the curve of our neck is a result of the health and action of the muscles that hold the curve, and this muscle tone is a function of the nerve supply to the muscle. The quality of the nerve flow to the muscle depends on the quality of feedforward of nerve supply from the joint and muscles of the neck back to the brain. It is a loop. Poor information starts to flow through this loop after an injury, or persistent poor habits such as slouching and looking down at a book or phone. (Or forced persistent poor postures required at work) All these things alter the conditioning of the muscles. If you don't use it, you lose it. Typically, when you lose your neck curve, what you are losing is your neck extensor tone and your deep neck flexor tone. According to one study's result, patients with the loss of cervical lordosis have reduced neck muscle strength, especially in the extensors. These findings may be beneficial for optimizing cervical exercise prescriptions. 8 A combination of neck mobilization, Chiropractic adjustment and exercises can improve neck function, muscle tone and coordination and ... the neck curve. Professional (Qualified) help is a must, and a Chiropractor , Physiotherapist, Exercise Physiologist and Osteopath are all trained to assist. 9 Yours in Health, Karissa Stallwood References 1. Bakhtadze MA, Vernon H, Karalkin AV, Pasha SP, Tomashevskiy IO, Soave D. Cerebral perfusion in patients with chronic neck and upper back pain: preliminary observations. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2012 Feb;35(2):76-85. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2011.12.006. Epub 2012 Jan 16. PMID: 22257946. 2. Mahmoud NF, Hassan KA, Abdelmajeed SF, Moustafa IM, Silva AG. The Relationship Between Forward Head Posture and Neck Pain: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2019 Dec;12(4):562-577. doi: 10.1007/s12178-019-09594-y. PMID: 31773477; PMCID: PMC6942109. 3. Lee MY, Jeon H, Choi JS, Park Y, Ryu JS. Efficacy of Modified Cervical and Shoulder Retraction Exercise in Patients With Loss of Cervical Lordosis and Neck Pain. Ann Rehabil Med. 2020 Jun;44(3):210-217. doi: 10.5535/arm.19117. Epub 2020 May 29. PMID: 32475094; PMCID: PMC7349041. 4. Lee HJ, Jeon DG, Park JH. Correlation between kinematic sagittal parameters of the cervical lordosis or head posture and disc degeneration in patients with posterior neck pain. Open Med (Wars). 2021 Jan 22;16(1):161-168. doi: 10.1515/med-2021-0219. PMID: 33585691; PMCID: PMC7862998. 5. Kang JI, Jeong DK, Choi H. Correlation between pulmonary functions and respiratory muscle activity in patients with forward head posture. J Phys Ther Sci. 2018 Jan;30(1):132-135. doi: 10.1589/jpts.30.132. Epub 2018 Jan 27. PMID: 29410583; PMCID: PMC5788792. 6. Sung YH. Suboccipital Muscles, Forward Head Posture, and Cervicogenic Dizziness. Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Dec 5;58(12):1791. doi: 10.3390/medicina58121791. PMID: 36556992; PMCID: PMC9786116. 7. Katz EA, Katz SB, Fedorchuk CA, Lightstone DF, Banach CJ, Podoll JD. Increase in cerebral blood flow indicated by increased cerebral arterial area and pixel intensity on brain magnetic resonance angiogram following correction of cervical lordosis. Brain Circ. 2019 Jan-Mar;5(1):19-26. doi: 10.4103/bc.bc_25_18. Epub 2019 Mar 27. PMID: 31001596; PMCID: PMC6458772. 8. Alpayci M, Şenköy E, Delen V, Şah V, Yazmalar L, Erden M, Toprak M, Kaplan Ş. Decreased neck muscle strength in patients with the loss of cervical lordosis. Clin Biomech (Bristol). 2016 Mar;33:98-102. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2016.02.014. Epub 2016 Feb 27. PMID: 26970701 9. Chau C, Chu EC, Huang KH, Tam D, Cheung G. Remission of Dowager's hump by manipulative correction of spinal alignment: a case report. J Med Life. 2023 Jun;16(6):957-962. doi: 10.25122/jml-2023-0026. PMID: 37675179; PMCID: PMC10478669.