Keeping up with active wound care is one of the most important aspects of a tongue tie or lip tie release. You need to do these exercises for four weeks after your treatment, and they will ensure that the released tissue doesn’t become reattached during the rapid healing process. Reattachment can cause new limitations in mobility and symptoms, so you want to avoid it. Keeping up with post-surgery exercises is one of the most important aspects of a tongue or lip tie release. These exercises are designed to prevent reattachment during the healing process, which can cause new limitations in mobility and the recurrence of symptoms.
Tongue-Tie Release: Are Stretches or Exercises Necessary?
These Tongue-Tie Release exercises are designed to be effective and gentle to your newly released tissue – as this tissue is highly vascular (has a lot of nerve endings) and very sensitive to stretching, these exercises should be performed slowly and gently to avoid pain and burning sensations. If you do them too aggressively, you can cause the stitches to stretch out too quickly or the skin tissue to tear. Since the point of doing these exercises is not to cause pain but to nurture and release the tissue gently, you may want to wait until the first few days post-surgery before trying these exercises to avoid “stretching out” the stitches too quickly.
The Upper Lip
The upper lip has muscles attached to it, and releasing these muscles can help improve the functionality of the upper lip. The zig-zag movements below are designed to stimulate these muscles.
Stimulate the upper lip muscles by tracing a zig-zag path over the lip in the direction of the arrows. Move slowly and gently.
The Lower Lip
There are no muscles attached to the lower lip, so there is no need to stimulate the muscles. Lower lip tissue is very sensitive. However, only very gentle stretches are needed. Use the following pointers as a gentle guide to releasing the lower lip.
Fold the lower lip inside and out gently and slowly, moving from side to side. Keep the movement in a very small range and keep it very, very gently. Don’t pull, push, or force anything. This is gentle, slow, and easy.
The Tongue
Try using the back of a spoon to stimulate the tongue. The idea is to stimulate the tongue in its new, released position. The spoon will be placed against the front teeth, and its back edge will be dragged across your tongue to stimulate it. This should be done very gently and not more than four times per day.
The Healing Process
After your surgery, your tongue and/or lip are going to be very swollen, red, and irritated for about a week. Your doctor will likely prescribe oral pain medication, but you should also take steps to minimize post-surgery swelling to lessen the amount of pain medication that you need. Talking to your doctor about exercises and stretching methods will help speed up your healing and hasten your recovery.
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