Abstract
Heck FM, Doeltgen SH, Huckabee M-L. Effects of submental neuromuscular electrical
stimulation on pharyngeal pressure generation.
Objective
To investigate the immediate and late effects of submental event-related neuromuscular
electrical stimulation (NMES) on pharyngeal pressure generation during noneffortful
and effortful saliva swallows.
Design
Before-after trial.
Setting
Swallowing rehabilitation research laboratory.
Participants
Sex-matched (N=20) healthy research volunteers.
Interventions
Participants received 80Hz NMES of 4-second duration to floor of mouth muscles that
was time-locked to 60 volitional saliva swallows.
Main Outcome Measures
Manometry measures of peak pressures and duration of pressure events in the oropharynx,
hypopharynx, and the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) were derived during execution
of noneffortful and effortful saliva swallows. Measures were taken at baseline, during
stimulation, and at 5-, 30-, and 60-minutes poststimulation.
Results
Baseline pharyngeal and UES pressures did not differ between stimulated and nonstimulated
swallows. At 5- and 30-minutes poststimulation, peak pressure decreased at the hypopharyngeal
and at the UES sensor during noneffortful swallows. The effect lasted up to an hour
only in the hypopharynx. No changes in duration of pressure events were observed.
Conclusions
Using this treatment paradigm, decreased peak amplitude in the hypopharynx up to an
hour after treatment indicates a potential risk of decreased bolus flow associated
with NMES. On the other hand, decreased UES relaxation pressure may facilitate bolus
transit into the esophagus.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
CPG (central pattern generator), EREstim (event-related stimulation), ICC (intraclass correlation coefficient), LTD (long-term depression), LTP (long-term potentiation), MEP (motor evoked potential), NMES (neuromuscular electrical stimulation), RM-ANOVA (repeated-measures analysis of variance), UES (upper esophageal sphincter)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 07, 2012
Footnotes
Supported by a Postdoctoral Biomedical Research Fellowship of the National Health and the Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Reprints are not available from the author.
In-press corrected proof published online on Apr 11, 2012, at www.archives-pmr.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
