Measures of Tongue Function Related to Normal Swallowing

Abstract

The availability of objective measures of tongue function presents a possible supplement to the clinical dysphagia evaluation. The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of normal tongue physiology during swallowing and maximum isometric tasks, establish a preliminary database of tongue function variables, and determine if differences existed among the variables as a function of age, gender, or varied bolus consistency. Ninety subjects, divided into age and gender groups, participated in tasks that determined maximum isometric tongue pressure, mean tongue pressure during swallowing, and percentage of maximum isometric pressure used during swallowing. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and analyses of variance were computed to analyze the data. Results indicated that males had significantly higher maximum isometric pressures than females, and the youngest group had significantly higher maximum pressures than the oldest group. Mean swallowing pressures and percentage of maximum isometric pressures used during swallowing differed as a function of bolus type but did not differ as a function of age or gender. In addition, maximum isometric pressures were correlated with mean swallowing pressures, and mean swallowing pressures and percentage of maximum isometric pressures used during swallowing were correlated between consistencies.

A model experiment to understand the oral phase of swallowing of Newtonian liquids

“…The pressure and the total work provided by the tongue 15 during the squeezing action of different jelly-type foods was recently studied (Yokoyama et al, 2014) and maximum pressures were measured in the range 5−40 kPa. Other groups (Nicosia et al, 2000;Youmans and Stierwalt, 2006) reported previously similar figures and highlighted also that pressure varies along the tongue position and is higher at the back. The mean peak tongue pressure 20 was also found to remain similar across different age groups, although maximum tongue strength was found to decrease with age (Youmans and Stierwalt, 2006;Utanohara et al, 2008).…”

“…Other groups (Nicosia et al, 2000;Youmans and Stierwalt, 2006) reported previously similar figures and highlighted also that pressure varies along the tongue position and is higher at the back. The mean peak tongue pressure 20 was also found to remain similar across different age groups, although maximum tongue strength was found to decrease with age (Youmans and Stierwalt, 2006;Utanohara et al, 2008). Clavé et al (2006) showed that brain damage or neurodegenerative conditions result in decreased tongue pressure, decreased bolus kinetic energy and increased transit time.…”

“…Results (Yokoyama et al, 2014;Nicosia et al, 2000;Youmans and Stierwalt, 2006;Clavé et al, 2006). The movement of the roller induces a normal displacement of the soft membrane holding the liquid, toward the rigid top wall, similarly to the tongue approaching the palate.…”

Análise da pressão da língua em indivíduos adultos jovens brasileiros

“…This fact can be justified, because, in these tasks, the participants had to press the bulb as much as possible; from the three measurements taken, the highest value was considered (13,14,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) . Therefore, even though the values in the elevation task did not differ between the genders, the factor more muscle mass in the tongue, besides height and weight (11,12) , among male participants may have contributed for the similar values found in these tasks.…”

In vivo observations and in vitro experiments on the oral phase of swallowing of Newtonian and shear-thinning liquids

“…To this end, the bolus oral with in vivo measurements from several past studies (Yokoyama et al, 2014;Nicosia et al, 2000;Youmans and Stierwalt, 2006). This in vitro configuration is therefore selected to reproduce the in vivo observations.…”