Last month, PhysioFirst’s , a clinical journal for physiotherapists working in private practice, published a special issue dedicated to performing arts medicine. It featured articles on how physiotherapy can help dancers, musicians, circus artists, and actors maintain health and remain injury-free. The issue also included an article authored by BAPAM assessing clinicians Lucie Rayner and Genevieve Tawiah, highlighting the role of physiotherapy in supporting voice performers.

Singers and actors are elite professional voice users or ‘vocal athletes’ as they need to consistently produce high-quality and technically demanding speech or song, often under difficult environmental conditions. Unfortunately, research shows that a high percentage of voice performers will experience a voice problem during their career. Vocal rehabilitation aims to restore voice function and often requires a multi-disciplinary team led by a laryngologist or speech & language therapist. The team may also include a singing teacher, a psychologist, and, increasingly, a physiotherapist. Vocal physiotherapy is an emerging speciality within the profession, and research has highlighted its effectiveness when supporting professional voice users with their vocal health or recovery from a voice injury.

What is Vocal Physiotherapy?

Voice production relies on several interconnecting systems to function effectively. Physiotherapists specialise in optimising physical function and can use their skills and knowledge in the following areas when supporting a voice performer:

• Manual therapy: to help reduce tension, pain, and restriction in key areas. This can include direct manipulation of the larynx and other more global structures and regions throughout the body.
• Exercise therapy: to help address muscle imbalance, postural problems, and strength or stability issues by providing tailored exercises and guidance.
• Respiratory support: to help promote optimal breathing for voice by supporting ease of movement in the spine/rib cage, healthy posture and efficient abdominal muscle support.
• Health promotion: to support the performer with healthy lifestyle practices integral to voice health, such as physical warm-ups, nutrition, hydration, sleep, stress management, and general fitness.

Physiotherapists can also help facilitate referral to a Ģ��tv voice clinic or other health professionals where appropriate. They are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), ensuring standards for education, training and practice.

 

You can read BAPAM Physiotherapists, Genevieve Tawiah and Lucie Rayner’s article in full here: InTouch: Vocal Physiotherapy.

We are grateful to PhysioFirst In Touch Journal for their kind permission to reproduce the article, which was first published in InTouch191, Spring 2026.

Find a Vocal Physiotherapist or Osteopath on the BAPAM Directory����

The BAPAM Practitioner Directory includes physiotherapists with expertise in performing arts medicine. If they are trained in vocal physiotherapy, this will be indicated in the practitioner’s biography. In addition, there are Osteopaths with expertise in voice on the Directory who work in a similarly holistic way and are regulated by the General Osteopathic Council.

If you are experiencing any vocal symptom lasting more than 2-3 weeks or persisting for more than two weeks after the resolution of an upper respiratory tract infection, you should seek professional help. Contact the BAPAM helpline to arrange a clinical assessment with one of our voice Ģ��tv assessing clinicians.

References:

Tawiah, G., & Rayner, L. (2026). Getting the word out: vocal physiotherapy. InTouch: Spring Edition: 191. p: 14-19.

Tawiah, G., & Rayner, L. (2025). The role of physiotherapy as part of a multidisciplinary team approach to vocal rehabilitation and care of the professional voice. Physiotherapy, 126, Article 101497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2025.101497.

Have you ever heard anyone utter, “The show must go on?”

If you’ve worked in a creative field, you’re probably nodding your head. Whether there’s been a costume malfunction or the set has collapsed, performers and artists are always ready to give their all.

However, this mentality raises more complex questions concerning performers’ mental or physical health. Often, artists push themselves through illness, leading to burnout, anxiety, or many health issues. Unlike other careers, a well-needed rest or sick day isn’t always available in the arts.

This problem becomes even more worrying for artists who work on a freelance basis. The gig economy has no time for rest days, and performers continually push their health boundaries to ensure ongoing projects are lined up.

 

Challenging the Status Quo

Some may think of this mentality as a dedication to the craft. But it’s also essential to optimise performance and rehearsal schedules as much as possible and rest when needed (managers take note!). Committing to a sustainable artistic practice means recognising how to prioritise your mental and physical health, and balance the demands of your career — only then can you give your best performance!

It’s time for artists and employers to prioritise wellbeing and recovery. We’re seeing a positive about the current system and how it can be improved with healthier work and rest boundaries. From raising awareness to implementing change, artists across the UK are ready to revolutionise the industry.

 

Wellbeing Tools For Performing Arts Professionals

BAPAM is a team of clinical Ģ��tvs dedicated to providing wellbeing and health services for performing arts professionals. Learn more about what we do today.

Want to take your health into your hands? Jump to our health resources to get started. From mental health assistance to performance health guides, we offer educational factsheets for all disciplines.

When you see a famous singer performing and smiling with the press, many quickly dismiss the possibility of hidden mental health struggles.

However, Ed Sheeran has recently spoken out about his struggles with depression and how he turned to drugs as a coping mechanism. This important statement aims to break the stigma surrounding mental health within the arts while opening a new platform for other performers to discuss their well-being.

 

Reaching for help

Sheeran’s health took a toll as he felt pressured to be the “life and soul of the party”, yet performing this extroverted act always left him feeling low.

Once Sheeran met his now-wife, Cherry Seaborn, he started to seek therapy and addressed his issues head-on. Sheeran states talking to someone was “one of the best things” he ever did.

Sheeran then stated, “Going on antidepressants and going to therapy is a positive thing,” hoping to urge other performers and musicians to care for their health when needed.

 

Putting you first

Putting your mental and physical health first is crucial. But taking the first step can be the most challenging. At BAPAM, we understand the pressures of performing arts, and we’re here to provide actionable support to all in the industry.

 

Want to know more about us? Learn more about our performing arts medicine services or skip to our healthy career resources here.

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�ٲ��ٱ�:��Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 November 2021

�ձ�Գܱ�:��BVA@home online event

Details: Singers, singing teachers and voice health professionals with an interest in the CCM performer’s voice and work cannot miss this online BVA study weekend! International CCM vocal practitioners will share their knowledge and practical advice, exploring a variety of stylistic techniques in rock, pop, soul and R&B. As well as an enhanced understanding of the challenges that gigging singers face in their performing careers, you will gain a variety of CCM-specific teaching approaches and strategies to enhance healthy vocal performance. All sessions will be recorded and available to paid-up delegates for one month beyond the event.

Programme

Saturday, 27th November 2021

15.00 – Introduction and housekeeping

15.05 – Navigating the Vast CCM Landscape (Jo Sear and Dr Marisa Lee Naismith)

15.35 – Pedagogy of Soul (Dr Trineice Martin-Robinson)

17.05 – Break

17.20 – The Gigging Singer (Jo Sear)

18.00 – Finish

Sunday, 28th November 2021

15.00 – Housekeeping

15.05 – The World of the Band Singer (Meredith Colby)

16.30 – Break

16.45 – Acoustic Inertance (Chris Johnson)

17.45 – VoceVista in the Studio (Bodo Maass)

18.15 – Finish

Full details:

Book online:��

Contact: administrator@britishvoiceassociation.org.uk

Countertenor, teacher and LGBTQ+ advocate, Alexander Pullinger, was awarded a bursary by to research a pressing issue within classical singing, one that has profound health implications for the performing arts and society as a whole.

Singing is well known to help with social isolation, mental health issues and a sense of disconnection from the body. These difficulties disproportionately impact the transgender population. Alexander explains that in his work as a freelance singer, he has found that transgender people face significant barriers to accessing singing, originating primarily from entrenched, cisgendered expectations about voice type. These expectations lead to highly gendered and/or cisgendered singing environments, in which voices are both divided along gendered lines, and expected to belong to people with a particular body type. As a result, an activity that could specifically benefit transgender people is largely unavailable to many of them. Exploring these issues, Alexander’s article identifies the main barriers, offers some ways to address them, and highlights the importance of making singing activity trans-inclusive.

The article has received positive coverage, including features on Classical Music UK and Pink News. Alexander was invited to present his research to the BBC Symphony Chorus. He is currently developing a second presentation, ‘Empowering young transgender voices through singing’, for the Music and Drama Education Expo in London in September 2021.

This article was produced for and published by Sound Connections and is available to read here: ��

Are you a freelance performer, regularly working on short contracts and short-term engagements? BAPAM in collaboration with the����is organising an event looking at Occupational health in the performing arts. The industry is commonly termed the original gig economy as a huge proportion of the��workforce are composed of freelance performers. There is also unfortunately a high number likely to become injured or have other health problems as a result of their work.

In traditional settings occupational health teams keep people well at work – physically��and mentally.��But when it comes to the gig economy the healthcare support for a performer may not be as certain.

Amongst other things this event on 27th March 2019 will be looking at the health and work needs of the self-employed, especially those working in this gig economy. As well as the current needs and experiences of performers when they are faced with ill health and also performance-related injury and how they can be treated back in to work.

��on to the event which promises to be a very useful day for all performers and clinicians working with performers.

• Interested in finding out more about occupational health and performing arts, there is a collection of resources on the subject on the����website.