Any successful treatment begins with a good solid understanding of where you are at currently as well as a vision of where you are going. In the case of facial retraining, it is imperative to start with a solid education of the facial nerve, the facial muscles and how they work. It’s also important to understand how the facial nerve and the muscles it innervates respond to injury and recover. In terms of vision and setting goals, understanding how your unaffected side of the face works will be of great benefit to facilitating correct movement on the affected side of the face.
Education and Facial Awareness
Most people are unaware of their face and how they express themselves, let alone that there are over 20 muscles on one side of the face that need to be coordinated in a very precise way to produce a specific expression. The affected side of the face also has to coordinate with the unaffected side of the face. Understanding where each of the facial muscles are and how they work on both the affected and unaffected side of the face will facilitate the regaining of more controlled movements and symmetrical facial expressions.