facial muscle exercises

Facial muscles exercise

Introduction

  • The facial muscles exercise Improves the strength of the facial muscle. It improved lymphatic drainage and blood circulation and Improves the coordination of the facial muscles. Refine the facial movements for specific functions, such as speaking or closing your eye.
  • The facial muscles also called craniofacial muscles, are a group of about 20 flat skeletal muscles lying beneath the skin of the face and scalp. Most of the facial muscles originate from the bones or fibrous structures of the skull and radiate to insert on the skin.

Muscle of the Scalp

Muscles of the Auricle

  • Situated around the ear
  • Auricularis anterior
  • Auricularis superior
  • Auricularis posterior
  • These are vestigeal muscles

Muscles of the Eyelids/Orbital Openings

  • Orbicularis oculi
  • Corrugator (Latin to wrinkle) supercilii
  • Levator palpebrae superioris (It is an extraocular muscle, supplied by sympathetic fibers and the 3rd cranial nerve)

Muscles of the Nose

  • Procerus
  • Compressor naris.
  • Dilator naris
  • Depressor septi

Muscles around the Mouth

  • Orbicularis Oris
  • Buccinator (Latin cheek)
  • Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi
  • Zygomaticus major
  • Levator labii superioris
  • Levator anguli oris
  • Zygomaticus minor
  • Depressor anguli oris
  • Depressor labii inferioris
  • Mentalis (Latin chin)
  • Risorius (Latin laughter)

facial muscle exercise includes different types of exercise

  1. Exercise according to part of the face
  2. Facial muscle-wise Facial muscle exercise
  3. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation(PNF) exercise for the facial muscle

Benefits of the facial muscle exercise

  • Improve the strength of the facial muscle.
  • It improved lymphatic drainage and blood circulation
  • Improve the coordination of the facial muscles.
  • Refine the facial movements for specific functions, such as speaking or closing your eye.
  • Refine movements for facial expressions, such as frowning, and smiling.
  • It Corrects abnormal patterns of facial movement that can occur during recovery.

Exercise according to part of the face

Eyebrow Exercises

  • How to do it?
  • Look in the mirror, try to raise your eyebrows, and hold them in the raised state for 5 to 10 seconds. Constantly hold your eyebrow in the raised state till the corner of your mouth or cheek starts to move. Then Wrinkle your forehead.
  • Put your four fingertips on your affected eyebrow, and rub by making the firm stroke with your fingertips up to the hairline.
  • Make a frowning face and then try to draw your eyebrows downward.
eyebrow raise
eyebrow raise

Lip Exercises

  • How to do it?
  • Curl your upper lip up. Then raise it and try to protrude the upper lip.
  • Close and lightly compress both lips. Then, release them and again compress both lips lightly. Keep the lip compression till your eyelid starts to move. While performing this exercise, focus on relaxing the muscles surrounding your eyes. In starting, your eye movements might occur. Following this regularly, you will be able to do these lip movements without involving the eye.
  • Pucker your both lips and maintain lip compression for some time.
  • Snarl by stretching both your lips. Now try to smile. During smiling focus on the smile till your eyelid is not involved. Watch your eye and lower eyelid. Also, watch your neck muscle and try not to pop it out during smiling.
  • Firstly you have to smile by showing your teeth up and then have to smile without showing your teeth.
  • Speaking activities also help to improve your lip movements. Practice speaking words that involve letters like B, M, F, and P slowly and softly, and repeat them by continuously looking in the mirror. keep your eyelids open while you are speaking. You have to Puff your cheeks out with air in them like you inflated a balloon. Now, hold these air-puffed lips shut ensuring that no air can escape. You can hold your puffed cheeks for 4 to 5 seconds.
Pucker your both lips
Pucker your both lips
compress both lips
compress both lips
smile by without showing your teeth exercise
smile without showing your teeth exercise
smile by showing your teeth
smile by showing your teeth

Nose Exercises

  • How to do it?
  • Wrinkle up your nose.
  • Sniffle
  • Have a deep breath through your nostrils and try to flare your both nostrils.
flare your both nostrils
flare your both nostrils
Wrinkle up your nose
Wrinkle up your nose

Eye Exercises

  • How to do it?
  • Looking at the sky Compress the eyes making them narrow as if you are trying to look at the sun. Close your eye gently.
  • Look towards the floor. your neck should be straight and look down without bending, it helps in exercising your eye and eyelids.
  • You have to Put the back of your index finger on your closed eyelid and use the opposite hand along your eyebrow to stretch your eyebrow upwards. This movement helps your affected eyelid to relax and prevents it from becoming stiff.
  • press your eyelids together Gently.
  • Wink your one eye gently and then the other. Make sure you do not push it.
  • Then Try to Wide open your eyes without doing unnecessary movement of your eyebrow. Stop opening your eyes if you experience any inappropriate movement of the muscle.
tightly closed your eyes
tightly closed your eyes
look up and down eye exercise
look up and down eye exercise
Wide open your eyes
Wide open your eyes

Neck and Chin Exercises

  • How to do it?
  • Tilt your head to one side and backward slightly, then hold it for 10 seconds and slowly get back to the normal position. Follow the same on the other side. This exercise helps to stretch your neck muscle and improves flexibility.
  • Wrinkle or harden your chin Like the boxer, stick out your chin While doing these exercises at home, to mitigate your discomfort resulting due to Bell’s palsy, you also need to take some proper care.
neck side to side movement
neck side-to-side movement
chin protrusion
chin protrusion

Facial muscle-wise exercise explains below

Orbicularis oris exercises

The puck
You have to Start this exercise by standing or sitting with a good posture. Pucker your lips with the force and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat this exercise 10 times.

Pucker your both lips
Pucker your both lips

The smile
You have to Start this exercise by standing or sitting with a good posture. Press both lips together tightly, put the middle fingers at the corners of the mouth, and pull slightly. Hold this position for 10 seconds then repeat 10 times.

Orbicularis oculi

This muscle helps to close lids tightly resulting in a winking, it also protects your eye from bright light. This helps to close lids gently resulting in blinking.

Lid Squeeze Exercise

  • You have to Start this exercise by standing or sitting with a good posture.
  • Close your eyes and put your palm over your eyes and press against the eyelids with your two fingers resting against your forehead.
  • Breathe in and tightly squeezes your eyes closed as much as possible you can.
  • Hold for 5 seconds and then relax. Repeat ten times.
Lid Squeeze Exercise
Lid Squeeze Exercise

Surprise Exercise

  • When you are surprised, your eyelids and eyebrows raise without your knowing.
  • To perform this exercise you have to Sit in a comfortable position with your feet together.
  • Elevate your eyebrows and eyelids as much as possible for you, just like you were trying to touch the top of your head with your eyelids and eyebrows.
  • Hold this position for 5 seconds and then release the contraction. Repeat 10 times.
Surprise Exercise
Surprise Exercise

Look Around Exercise

  • For this exercise, you have to Sit or stand and look up as much as possible while keeping your head as steady as possible.
  • Hold this position for 5 seconds and then look down as much as you can without doing any movement of your head.
  • Hold the position for 5 seconds and repeat while looking first to the right, then to the left.
  • If necessary, you can repeat this whole cycle with your eyes closed as well.
Look right and left exercise
Look right and left exercise
look up and down eye exercise
Look up and down exercise

The Partial Wink Exercise

  • You can do this exercise at any time, anywhere. This exercise is done by partially winking one eye at a time and holding this position for 2 seconds.
  • Do not completely close your eyes, since this exercise is designed to help you gain more control over the orbicularis oculi muscles.
  • You can try to do two sets of 30 repetitions on both eyes.

Buccinator Exercise

Pipe Blows
See how long you can make a ball hover. Alternative/Modification: Also hold elastic with the tip of your tongue to the ‘spot’.

Straw Drink
Place the straw into the glass and the other end flat against your upper teeth.
Place the tip of the tongue on the spot with elastic. close lips tight. keep your teeth together time the drinking process. our aim is to suck up a ¼ cup of water in under 20 seconds

Straw Drink
Straw Drink

Balloon Pops
To perform this exercise you will have to fill your cheeks with air, close the lips tight, and use a flat hand to quickly squeeze the air out with the burst of sound.

mouth filled with air
mouth filled with air

Balloon Blowing Using Only Nose
Blow into the balloon break breathe in through the nose and continue to blow.

Balloon Blowing Using Only Nose
Balloon Blowing Using Only Nose

Frontalis exercises

  • Your face should be in a neutral position and focus on pulling up the eyebrows.
  • Elevate the eyebrows until one can feel the pull upward.
  • This movement should be held for 5 seconds.
  • In starting do 5 repetitions and gradually increase the number of repetitions every week.
Elevate the eyebrows
Elevate the eyebrows

Corrugator Supercilli exercise

  • This muscle action is to move your eyebrow downward and medially, producing vertical wrinkles on the forehead.
  • It’s a “frowning” muscle and may be regarded as the principal muscle in the expression of suffering.
  • It also contracts to prevent high sun glare, pulling the eyebrows toward the bridge of your nose, making a roof over the area above the middle corner of the eye, and typical forehead furrows.
  • The muscle is sometimes injured due to any eye or ear surgery so it’s severely painful or paralyzed. it will also be affected by botulinum toxin as a preventive treatment for some types of migraine or aesthetic reasons.
frowning
frowning

Nasalis exercises

  • Nose wrinkle
  • Wrinkle your nose and cheeks, hold for a couple of seconds then relax, and then repeat.
  • Nose shift
  • Move your nose to one side then hold, and repeat on the other side.

Exercise for Mentalis

  • Move your lower lip upward. This will wrinkle the skin of your chin.
  • If you place your finger firmly on the mentalis muscle you can feel that it is contracted.
  • Hold this contraction for some seconds. Now strongly lower your chin.
  • Hold this contraction for two seconds. Do not move the head though.
  • The head should remain stationary throughout the exercise. Do this exercise maintaining proper form for 10 to 12 repetitions.
Move your lower lip upward.
Move your lower lip upward.

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation(PNF) exercise for the facial muscle

PNF Exercises for Frontalis Muscle

  • The Position of patient is Sitting in a chair. The Position of the therapist will be Behind the patient.
  • The therapist has to Place both hands on the patient’s forehead.
  • The therapist’s fingers should point in a diagonal direction.
  • Now give the command to the patient to lift their eyebrows upward.
  • The therapist will apply resistance over a stronger side in the downward direction by the tip of the finger.
  • On other hand on the weaker side, the therapist will assist with the action if it is needed.
  • The direction of the assistance will be upward and laterally.
  • As the patient improves, Reduce The amount of your assistance given to the weak side.
  • Instruct the patient to hold the end position for a few seconds before coming back to the initial position.
PNF Exercises for Frontalis Muscle
PNF Exercises for Frontalis Muscle

PNF Exercises for Corrugator Muscle

  • The Position of patient is in a sitting position in front of the mirror. The therapist will stand behind the patient.
  • The therapist will give a command to the patient: pull your eyebrows downward and inward.
  • The therapist will resist the movement in upward and lateral directions.
  • The weaker side will be assisted by the therapist.
  • Hold the end position for some seconds.
PNF Exercises for Corrugator Muscle
PNF Exercises for Corrugator Muscle

PNF Exercises for Orbicularis oculi muscle

  • The therapist will give commands that Close your eyes tightly or forcefully.
  • For upper eyelid :
  • Resistance will be given in upward and lateral directions.
  • You have to avoid giving pressure on the eyeball.
  • For lower eyelid :
  • Therapist’s hand placement, Place your thumb under the corner of the eye.
  • The direction of resistance given by the therapist will be Downward and lateral.
PNF Exercises for Orbicularis oculi muscle
PNF Exercises for Orbicularis oculi muscle

PNF Exercises for Procerus Muscle

  • Therapists have to Give commands to their patients to wrinkle their noses.
  • You need to apply resistance next to the nose over the stronger side of their face.
  • The resistance will be provided in the downward and outward directions.
PNF Exercises for Procerus Muscle
PNF Exercises for Procerus Muscle

PNF Exercises for Orbicularis Oris muscle

  • Tell your patient to purl lips and whistle.
  • Then the therapist will give resistance individually to the upper lip and lower lip.
  • For the upper lip PNF Exercises, the direction will be lateral and upward.
  • For the lower lip PNF Exercises, the direction will be lateral and downward.
  • The resistance is provided by the thumb or finger.
PNF Exercises for Orbicularis Oris muscle
PNF Exercises for Orbicularis Oris muscle

PNF Exercises for the Risorius and Zygomaticus muscles

  • Tell your patient to smile in front of a mirror.
  • Then the therapist will give resistance over your caudal of the mouth.
  • The direction of resistance will be Downward and medial.

PNF Exercises for the Levator labii superioris muscle

  • You need to give the command to your patient to lift their upper lip and show their upper teeth.
  • Here, the resistance is provided over the upper lip.
  • The direction of resistance will be Downward and medial.

PNF Exercises for Buccinator muscle

  • Give the command to your patient, Suck your chicks in.
  • Here, you can provide resistance with a help of sticks or your fingers according to your comfort.
  • Resistance is given over the inner surface of the cheeks.
  • The direction of resistance is upward and downward.

FAQ

How do you strengthen weak facial muscles?

Move your lips in different directions. Move your mouth from side to side, up and down, smiling, and in the “kissing pout.” These movements will help your face muscles regain strength, and because they are natural movements, they can help to promote reactions in your brain.

Do facial exercises help Bell’s palsy?

Facial exercises and physical therapy for Bell’s palsy help to increase muscle strength and regain facial coordination from this temporary paralysis of the face. Most exercises should be done three or four times a day in short sessions, with up to 30 repetitions per set.

What are some physical therapy exercises for Bell’s palsy?

Looking at the sky Compress the eyes making them narrow as if you are trying to look at the sun. Close your eye gently. Look towards the floor. your neck should be straight and look down without bending, it helps in exercising your eye and eyelids. You have to Put the back of your index finger on your closed eyelid and use the opposite hand along your eyebrow to stretch your eyebrow upwards. This movement helps your affected eyelid to relax and prevents it from becoming stiff. press your eyelids together Gently. Wink your one eye gently and then the other. Make sure you do not push it.
Then Try to Wide open your eyes without doing unnecessary movement of your eyebrow. Stop opening your eyes if you experience any inappropriate movement of the muscle. Wrinkle up your nose, Sniffle, Have a deep breath through your nostrils, and try to flare both nostrils.

What is the best exercise for Bell’s palsy?

Nose and Cheek Exercises: Using your fingers, gently push up the skin next to your nose on the affected side of the face while trying to wrinkle your nose. Try to scrunch up the face, focusing on the cheeks and nose. Flare your nostrils and try to take some deep breaths through the nose.

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