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Free to be You Therapies Occupational Therapy for Children
Facial retraining therapy (reanimation)
Restoring Function. Rebuilding Confidence. Improving Quality of Life.
With nearly 30 years of experience, Matt Ban provides highly specialized occupational therapy services for individuals navigating complex medical conditions affecting the face, head, neck, lymphatic system, and nervous system.
Healing is possible. Progress is measurable. Quality of life can be restored.
Evidence-Based Treatment
Facial Retraining Therapy is an emerging, evidence-based rehabilitation approach designed to restore functional movement, coordination, and symmetry following facial nerve injury or disruption. Advances in surgical techniques for facial nerve repair, grafting, and reanimation have significantly improved structural outcomes, but long-term functional recovery depends heavily on specialized rehabilitation.
Research over the past two decades has demonstrated that structured facial neuromuscular retraining can improve motor control, reduce synkinesis (involuntary facial movement), enhance facial symmetry, and support more natural expression following nerve injury. These outcomes are particularly important for patients recovering from head and neck cancers, facial nerve trauma, Bell’s palsy, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, or reconstructive surgery.
Facial retraining is a highly specialized therapy that applies principles of neuroplasticity, motor learning, and neuromuscular re-education to help patients relearn coordinated facial movement patterns. Through guided exercises, mirror feedback, targeted muscle activation, and functional movement training, therapy helps retrain the brain and facial musculature to work together again.
Because the facial nerve directly influences communication, identity, emotional expression, and social interaction, successful rehabilitation extends beyond muscle movement. Effective therapy can improve speech clarity, oral competence, facial symmetry, emotional expression, and overall quality of life.
At Free to Be You, Facial Retraining Therapy is delivered through a personalized treatment plan grounded in current clinical research and decades of neurological rehabilitation experience. Each program is tailored to the individual’s diagnosis, surgical history, stage of nerve recovery, and functional goals.
As research in facial nerve rehabilitation continues to evolve, specialized therapy remains one of the most important components in achieving optimal outcomes after facial nerve injury or reconstruction.