Posted by dirtywater on May 08, 2009 at 19:53:28:In Reply to: chinstrap as cure for OSA? posted by Capistrano on May 08, 2009 at 14:49:16:
Typically the goal of a lower jaw or tongue-positioning device is to pull the jaw/tongue forward, so it is further away from the back of the airway and less likely to collapse into the airway. I can't image how a chin strap could accomplish that, because in order to pull in the correct direction, you would need to anchor the strap to an imaginary point several inches in front of the face.
A typical chin strap would be wrapped around the top of head, which would tend to pull the chin straight up, and perhaps even pull it a bit in the wrong direction. Sure it might keep your mouth closed and cut down on mouth breathing and snoring sounds. So I can see it being advertised as a snoring solution. But will it actually open up your airway and relieve apnea? Maybe I'm missing some key concept here? If it were this easy, we'd all have chinstraps :-)