The Role of Exercise Programs for Dysphagia Patients

Excerpt

In the last ten years there has been a slowly increasing interest in the effects of exercise programs to improve various types of dysphagia. As in other aspects of treatment for swallowing disorders, exercise programs have generally been tailored to meet the specific abnormalities of the patient. The article in this issue on the Shaker exercise is an excellent example of this process. The designer of the Shaker exercise, Dr. Reza Shaker, is to be congratulated for the manner in which he and his research group have carefully examined the potential of the Shaker exercise to date. First, his laboratory at the Medical College of Wisconsin contributed to our understanding of the normal function of the upper esophageal sphincter, including the role of hyolaryngeal motion in the opening of the upper esophageal sphincter [1‐3]. Then they examined the effectiveness of the exercise in improving hyolaryngeal lifting and upper esophageal sphincter opening in normal older individuals [4]. He also examined the effectiveness of the exercise in improving swallow function in patients who had not eaten orally for at least 3 months [5]. …