Dysphagia is a medical condition that occurs when you or a loved one experience difficulty, pain or discomfort when chewing and swallowing. Dysphagia affects 16 percent of all elderly Americans, according to "Dysphagia," an online slide presentation by the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Children and younger adults can also experience dysphagia. Regular dysphagia exercises are important because untreated dysphagia can lead to malnutrition, dehydration, weight loss and aspiration pneumonia. The frequency of your dysphagia exercises will be determined by your health care providers after they assess your particular form of dysphagia.
Specialist Help
Because swallowing involves 26 muscles, it is easy for a wide variety of illnesses, including strokes and oral cancer, to disrupt your swallowing process. Determining what type of dysphagia exercises are best for you and how frequently you should perform them may require a team of medical specialists to pinpoint the exact location and cause of the malfunction in your swallowing process. Members of the team will then chose dysphagia exercises specific to your swallowing problem, the appropriate frequency of the exercises, and may design a diet to make swallowing easier for you. Specialist teams can include your primary care physician, an otolaryngologist, a gastroenterologist, a radiologist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech-language pathologist and a dietitian.
Simple Dysphagia Exercises
If you are unfamiliar with basic dysphagia exercises, the Northern Inyo Hospital of Bishop, California offers an illustrated online guide, "Dysphagia--Exercises," showing exercises designed to increase lip control and tongue strength. The exercises include blowing and sucking through a drinking straw and stretching your tongue toward your chin. The guide recommends doing the exercises every day.
Complex Dysphagia Exercises
More complex daily dysphagia exercises are described in a downloadable PDF document, "Pharyngeal Dysphagia Exercises," produced by Spectrum Health of Grand Rapids, Michigan. One example is the "effortful swallow," in which you breathe in, hold your breath, push down on the arms of your chair while you swallow, and then breathe out. There are also exercises to strengthen head and neck muscles. During the "shaker exercise," you lie on your back, raise your head so that you can see your toes without letting your shoulders lift off the surface that you are lying on, and then lie down again. You may be asked to do complex dysphagia exercises several times each day.
Frequency Issues Unsettled
Dr. Lori Burkhead, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at the Medical College of Georgia, warns in an essay, "Exercise Science and Dysphagia Therapy," that training for speech-language pathologists who create dysphagia exercise regimens needs to include strength training and exercise physiology principles. She argues that because speech-language pathologists lack this training, they do not push dysphagia patients to do their exercises with needed frequency and intensity.
Dr. Burkhead also warns that intensive dysphagia exercises are not suitable for all dysphagia patients. Patients with chronic, degenerative neuromuscular diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or "Lou Gehring's disease," and myasthenia gravis will suffer exhaustion and actually have worse functioning if they exercise intensively.
References
- University of Nevada School of Medicine: Dysphagia
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: Dysphagia
- "Dysphagia"; Strength-Training in Dysphagia; Dr. Lori M. Burkhead, et al., 2007
- Advance: Exercise Science and Dysphagia Therapy
- Spectrum Health: Pharyngeal Dysphagia Exercises
- Northern Inyo Hospital: Dysphagia Exercises
