Effects of bedside self-exercise on oropharyngeal swallowing function in stroke patients with dysphagia: a pilot study.
Young-Seok Cho, Dong-Hwan Oh, Young-Rim Paik and 2 others
PMID 29184294WHAT IT FOUND
Nine stroke patients with swallowing difficulties performed three daily exercises for four weeks.
Swallowing scores improved in both the mouth and throat phases. This was a small pilot, so the exercises are not proven to work, but the patients managed them independently.
Key findings
01Nine patients with post-stroke dysphagia performed effortful swallowing, tongue strengthening, and shaker exercises daily for four weeks.
02Swallowing function improved significantly in both the oral and pharyngeal phases after the intervention.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot study with only nine participants, which is too small to draw firm conclusions about effectiveness. There was no control group, so it is impossible to know if the patients improved because of the exercises or simply due to natural recovery over the four weeks. The study did not report dropouts or adverse events. Caregiver supervision was required, but the level of support provided was not quantified.
Declared interests
The paper does not report any funding sources or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that these exercises are proven to restore swallowing function. This was a very small pilot study with no control group, so the improvements seen could be due to natural recovery rather than the treatment itself.