Tongue exercises after a glossectomy

The tongue exercises in this video will help strengthen your tongue for better speech and easier eating. I have to admit this video is not very pretty as I use my mouth to work through the tongue exercises after my tongue surgery. I had a partial glossectomy, so had a third of my tongue removed and it was reconstructed with a graft, artery and vein from my left forearm. It is a shock after tongue surgery to find you cannot talk as you used to but like any other muscle in the body, if you don’t use it you will never strengthen it.

Having done some pre-surgery exercises ( check out an upcoming video on speech), I was able to communicate a bit after surgery and as days in hospital passed, I used a pad of paper less and less to communicate. Initially, my tongue was swollen and I used to say my tongue was carrying a rucksack as the original part had to carry the flap. I recruited friends to come and give me spontaneous speech practice but that and eating made my tongue very tired and by the end of the day I couldn’t talk coherently. Be patient, this doesn’t last long.

Stay positive as exercising your tongue after a glossectomy, it is vital to build up the muscles of your original tongue and each week things get better. I shot the video a year after my surgery and you can hear my speech now. My flap and tongue are no longer swollen and this has helped me progress to a near normal diet although I tend to chew only on the side opposite to my flap. Stick with the exercises they will help.

If the video helps, please give me a thumbs up and subscribe above. As a cancer survivor check out my exercises, hints on speech and nutrition and other exercises to help your recovery from head and neck cancer. Stay positive.