Self-help Videos

See our self-help videos to aid your recovery:

  • Understanding Facial Palsy – a 14 minute video with English subtitles explaining facial palsy and the stages of recovery.
  • Management of Flaccid Paralysis – a self-help guide to managing the face when it is floppy, e.g. immediately after a diagnosis of Bell’s palsy, when the facial nerve has been recently injured or when the face has not recovered any muscle tone. Subtitles available.
  • Management of the Paresis stage of Facial Palsy – self-help videos with English subtitles for when the face is in the Paresis stage. This is when the face is no longer floppy but has not fully recovered. You should never do the exercises in these videos if your face is still floppy or it has been less than three months since diagnosis of facial palsy.
  • Management of Synkinesis – a self-help guide to managing the face when it is tight, e.g. when the face has made some recovery from facial nerve injury but is now feeling tight and unwanted facial movements may have appeared. Subtitles available.
  • Stretches for the ear – self-help videos to help relieve pain and muscle tightness that occurs around the ear due to synkinesis.
  • Calming practice for the Face and Neck (audio only) – a relaxation audio track helping people with facial palsy to relax their face. Subtitles available.

We always recommend seeking the help of a specialist facial therapist who can create a bespoke exercise plan to help with your recovery.

Additional video content that may be useful

  • Facebook Live Recorded March 2021 – Recorded in Facial Palsy Awareness Week 2021 – Specialist Facial Therapist Catriona Neville talks about the benefits of Specialist Facial Therapy.
  • Relaxing Meditation for Synkinesis – Facial Physical Therapist, Mara Robinson, leads a 10-minute meditation filled with mindfulness, to help you learn to relax your synkinesis by focusing on the individual facial muscles of facial expression.
  • Breath and Meditation Practice – A twenty minute breath and meditation practice to help calm the nervous system, ground and centre.
  • Facial Therapy videos from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Last reviewed: 25-10-2022    ||    Next review due: 23-06-2025