Another Alternative Treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

An article on WSOC Charlotte discusses alternative treatments to obstructive sleep apnea for patients who are not good candidates for CPAP treatment. The treatment is called the "Advance System", a trademarked system by Aspire Medical, Inc. The treatment is still in clinical trials, but represents a potentially viable alternative sleep apnea treatment for a segment of patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

This alternative obstructive sleep apnea treatment involves having a tissue anchor insert alongside a tether and a bone anchor. WSOC outlines the steps involved with this treatment:

"First, the tissue anchor is inserted into the tongue and held in place with tiny barbs. Next, the bone anchor is screwed into the jaw, under the chin. Finally, a tether, or cord, is connected to the two implants, tied and tightened. Insertion of the Advance system is a minor surgical procedure that takes about 20 minutes. It can be done under general or local anesthesia. Patients come back two to three weeks after placement to have the tension of the tether adjusted." (Source: WSOC Charlotte)

Read the complete News Story here on WSOC's website.

Aspire Medical has pictures and a video here of their sleep apnea device that is still in clinical trials.

The Didgeridoo Sleep Apnea Treatment

I had heard of this alternative treatment before but was recently reminded when That's Fit mentioned a Men's Health article. The article by Men's Health is called "6 Crazy Cures" amongst which one is a potential cure for sleep apnea.

The treatment involves playing a didgeridoo.

According to the Men's Health article:

"Researchers reporting in the British Medical Journal evaluated 25 people with sleep apnea--a breath-stealing condition caused by flabby throat muscles--and found that those who took 4 months of didgeridoo (DIH-jeh-ree-doo) lessons had about 3 1/2 times less daytime sleepiness than the folks who didn't blow their own horns. The newly minted musicians also snored significantly less." (Men's Health)

"Sounds" like a potentially fun treatment.

The full results of the study are available here on the British Medical Journal website with further commentary by Scientific Daily here.

The study concludes that didgeridoo playing on a regular basis is an effective alternative treatment for those with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

I wonder if it would help severe sleep apnea sufferers. If playing the didgeridoo regularly could move severe sleep apnea into mild sleep apnea, that would be a really good thing.

Then again, have you ever heard the sound a didgeridoo makes? There's an example of a street performer playing a didgeridoo in Barcelona, Spain here.