Dysphagia affects millions of Americansand cannegatively effect their health and their social lives. ASHA’s speech-language pathologists (SLPs) help people with a variety of swallowing issues and co-occurring diagnoses. In recognition of National Dysphagia Month, we’re featuring some new and trending resources on swallowing in adults.
Dysphagia Awareness and Exercise Regimens
Awareness of Dysphagia: An Integrative Review: To know the best way to talk to people about dysphagia, you need to understand what they know about the condition. Results show that awareness and knowledge of dysphagia are low, even among health care professionals and those who are or likely will be affected by it.
Effects of the Head Lift and Recline Exercise Regimens on the Neuromuscular Control of Functional Swallowing in Older Adults: An Electromyography Study Revealing Potential Differential Mechanisms: Although the head lift exercise regimen can help adults with dysphagia strengthen muscles and improve swallow function, performing these exercises on the floor can bother some patients. The authors of this study developed an exercise that people with dysphagia can perform while seated—its effectiveness can be compared to the effectiveness of the head lift exercise.
The Latest on Swallowing Instrumentation
The Application of Ultrasound Evaluation of Swallowing to the Analysis of Hyoid Kinematics in Healthy Swallows: Although ultrasound has been used as an imaging tool in dysphagia for more than 40 years, it still has not been fully adopted into clinical practice. This article outlines a recording protocol for an ultrasound evaluation of swallowing function—clinicians can use this protocol to capture the motion of the swallowing mechanism.
What About Foods? The Influence of Food Texture on the Safety, Timing, Kinematics, and Efficiency of Pharyngeal Phase Swallowing in Healthy Adults: Researchers use videofluoroscopic swallowing studies (VFSSs) to examine how healthy young adults ingest different food textures. The findings suggest that you should use VFSS with solid food such as a cracker to learn more about swallowing efficiency.
Harmonization of Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing Practice: Pragmatic Implementation of Outcomes-Focused Procedures in the Acute Hospital Setting: Although SLPs use flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) to assess dysphagia in acute-care settings, there is no standardized procedure or interpretation protocols. These authors worked with a team of SLPs in a hospital to improve consistency and clinical decision making by following common guidelines to harmonize their work.
Outcomes of Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing Implementation in Acute Care: Read about the introduction of FEES into an acute-care setting and how its use impacted the hospital’s existing VFSS services. FEES proved to be a complementary tool in this setting, resulting in improved timeliness and increased flexibility for clinicians.
Even More on Swallowing in ASHA Journals
If you’re looking for more on swallowing in children, check out our post from last month in honor of National Speech-Language-Hearing Month. You can find more tools on ASHA’s Dysphagia On-the-Job Resources webpage, including templates that you can use to develop instrumentation guidelines and advocate for the tools you need.
These articles and resources can help you continue to provide high-quality care to people with dysphagia. We hope you can join us this month in celebrating the important role that you and other ASHA members play in helping people with swallowing issues every day!
