Vocal Cord Disorder Effects on Running

I had an athlete that I used to coach that some sort of vocal cord disorder that would inhibit her breathing. I think it goes away over time but she just ended up quitting because it was very frustrating.

Hmm, not too encouraging but thanks. Anyone else?

Find a speech therapist who is trained to manage VCD. Usually an athlete paired with a skilled speech therapist will clear this problem within a few to several sessions. It does not need limit your athletic potential and should not. Reach out to Otolaryngology or Pulmonary or Allergy and see if they have a resource they recommend. Your best bet may be reaching out to a Pediatric specialist in one of these fields as VCD in youth and young adults is as common as asthma for exercise related breathing disorders.

Thanks, good to hear. Still would love more details from anyone who's had confirmed VCD.

VocalQuestioner wrote:

Has anyone here ever had vocal cord disorder, and what did it feel like? What triggered it, how did it affect your running, and how did you diagnose and resolve it? Were spirometry results affected?

My little sister who was a biker was diagnosed with this. During all her big races she would have issues breathing and have to drop out. I saw through the nonsense of diagnosis first in my family and realized it was simply nerves creating these symptoms. She was getting so stressed she would give herself the symptoms. It was obvious to me because it only happened in big races and she had 0 issues in training.

I honestly did not look into the disorder much after this. Her case ended up being a bogus diagnosis of nerves. I'm not saying all cases are, I have no medical experience that would lead me to say that but that was my experience with it

I think my wife has it. It kicks in during the tough parts of races. Big hills, trying to finish hard etc. Crazy noise, others ask if she is ok, feels like her throat closes up she says... Since she is only a locally competitive age grouper at this point she sees no point in treatment or even an investigation. She has no asthma or anything.

VocalQuestioner wrote:

Has anyone here ever had vocal cord disorder, and what did it feel like? What triggered it, how did it affect your running, and how did you diagnose and resolve it? Were spirometry results affected?

A teammate of mine had VCD, they were extremely talented but struggled to deal with it... after a couple years of speech therapy they stopped experiencing the breathing problems and dropped huge amounts of time off their PRs (basically they got back to where their initial talent showed they could be).

There was a point were it hurt for me to speak from muscle tension in the throat/ vocal chords. I could still exercise fine.

VocalQuestioner wrote:

Has anyone here ever had vocal cord disorder, and what did it feel like? What triggered it, how did it affect your running, and how did you diagnose and resolve it? Were spirometry results affected?

I have both it and asthma.

For the VCD, though it's very definitely a physical action, the root causes are mental. So one of the cures is honestly just running through it. The more you tighten up or go to a bad mental place, the worse it gets.

Other good tactics - pursing your lips (think "fish face"), pinning your shoulderblades back and down, and stretching your head and neck up and out can often times relieve it and break the cycle when running (you don't stop running and do this - it's something you do WHILE you are running - again, I really believe running through it when it hits is very important).

I've also had good luck with a chug of Pepto Bismol, of all things, before a hard run. It coats and relaxes that area and seems to help.

Could come from taking steroids.

RyecorDone wrote:

Could come from taking steroids.

That is, anabolic steroids - not corticosteroids. Look up something like "stridor and anabolic steroid abuse".

I think you are describing paradoxical vocal fold motion disorder. Yes, see an ENT preferably laryngology fellowship trained. They will refer to speech therapy after diagnosing.