Erika Westhoff, founder of EW Performance, shares how she became a specialist in helping athletes with exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO) while supporting overall mental health and resilience.
Her niche career began when a high-level soccer player named Skylar came to her, struggling with what was then described as “vocal cord dysfunction.” Although Erika had never worked with this condition before, her background in sports psychology, stress management, and biofeedback gave her a way to understand it through the nervous system.
After researching and applying mental-skills training and stress-management techniques, Skylar made significant progress. She told her physicians and speech therapists about the success, which led to a steady stream of athlete referrals and marked the beginning of Erika’s specialized practice.
In 2016, Erika presented her early work at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. An interview at her poster session was later discovered by Dr. Todd Olin, one of the leading global experts in EILO. Recognizing the alignment in their approaches, he reached out immediately, and the two formed a long-standing professional partnership. Erika now regularly helps athletes from across the country access proper diagnostics, medical care, and speech therapy—whether locally or through Dr. Olin’s clinic in Denver.
Erika expresses gratitude for Skylar’s first visit, noting that the work is meaningful, well-suited to her expertise, and highly effective. Through coordinated care and a strong team approach, she helps athletes move from significant dysfunction back to normal performance in a relatively short period of time.
