Radio-Canada met her on the occasion of World Sleep Day. She says that the idea of putting this science to good use for sleepers came to her during her university studies. While she was learning her new profession, her husband developed a severe form of sleep apnea.
I said to myself that I could surely do something for his breathing, because as a speech therapist, I have just been trained on these muscles, but for other problems. So, I took a dip in the scientific literature and that’s where I discovered that it was done elsewhere in the world
she recalls.
Today, Marie-Emmanuelle Marchand treats many patients. During the visit to Radio-Canada, little Léonie, 10, takes part in myofunctional therapy. The speech therapist’s advice and exercises aim to re-educate the muscles used for breathing.
And the results are convincing, says the specialist. I have a client who is fitted. He has sleep apnea and he told me ”I tried to make an appointment with my respiratory therapist, the air pressure needs to be lowered, because I don’t need as much anymore. depression.
Patients are willing to travel hundreds of kilometers to meet her, because her expertise is rare. The public doesn’t know it’s possible and neither do medical professionals. The pulmonologist, the respiratory therapist, the sleep doctor and the family doctor will not refer. So speech therapists are not going to train for these [troubles]
explains Marie-Emmanuelle Marchand.
To change things, the speech therapist recently created a training course that she gives mainly in Europe. Talks are also underway to train speech therapists more widely here.
With information from Raphaëlle Drouin