Abstract
Wada S, Tohara H, Iida T, Inoue M, Sato M, Ueda K. Jaw-opening exercise for insufficient
opening of upper esophageal sphincter.
Objective
To investigate the effects of the jaw-opening exercise on decreased upper esophageal
sphincter (UES) opening while swallowing.
Design
Intervention study: before-after trial with 4-week follow-up evaluation.
Setting
A university school of dentistry dental hospital.
Participants
Patients with dysphagia (N=8; 7 men, 1 woman; average age ± SD, 70.5±11.3y; age range,
54–86y).
Interventions
All patients performed a jaw-opening exercise to strengthen the suprahyoid muscles.
The exercise involved opening the jaw to its maximum and maintaining this position
for 10 seconds. Each exercise set consisted of 5 repetitions, and 2 sets were carried
out daily for 4 weeks. The effectiveness of the exercise was evaluated by a videofluorographic
swallowing study (VFSS).
Main Outcome Measures
Hyoid elevation, UES opening, pharynx passage time, and pharyngeal residue after swallowing
at preexercise and postexercise were compared by VFSS.
Results
Compared with before starting the exercise, significant improvements were observed
in the extent of upward movement of the hyoid bone (P<.05), the amount of UES opening (P<.05), and the time for pharynx passage (P<.05) 4 weeks after initiating the exercise. Pharyngeal residue decreased in some
subjects, and no increases were noted in any subjects.
Conclusions
The jaw-opening exercise is an effective treatment for dysphagia caused by dysfunction
of hyoid elevation and UES opening.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
UES (upper esophageal sphincter), VFSS (videofluorographic swallowing study)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 14, 2012
Footnotes
Supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Young Scientists [B] no. 22792126) and an 8020 research grant from 8020 promotion foundation.
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.
In-press corrected proof published online on Jun 19, 2012, at www.archives-pmr.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
