`Short-Term Effectiveness of a Swallowing Exercise for the Elderly Using Day-Care Services

Abstract

Purpose: The research purpose was to investigate the short-term effectiveness of exercise intervention to improve pharyngeal functions in the elderly using day-care services. Methods: Subjects were totally 84 elderly people. The participants were analyzed at 2 points: baseline and 2 weeks after the starting date of the study. This exercise comprised pronunciation practice, a pushing exercise with crying out in a loud voice, and a falsetto exercise. A questionnaire of ingestion and deglutition functions was also answered at 2 points. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS J16.0. The intervention duration of this study was from February 2 to March 4, 2008. Results: The average participant age was 82.4 ± 8.6 years. Comparing the evaluative items of the swallowing functions at 2 points, significant differences were observed in the movement of the upper and lower sides of the tongue, optional cough, consecutive pronunciation [ta], hoarseness, and the RSST test. The total frequency of participation in this programmed exercise was significantly related to lip and tongue movement, pronunciation [ka], and utterance time. A positive change of feeling was observed in the score of the 2 items. Conclusion: The results of this study showed very useful hypothetical information about intervention to arouse pharyngeal functions for the elderly using day care services.

Research trends on dysphagia among Korean older adults in long-term care facilities: A scoping review

“…The participants in the selected articles were exclusively older adults in long-term care facilities, with the number of residents ranging from 34 to 395, and three articles [27,38,39] specifically targeted older adults with stroke. The Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS) was the most frequently used instrument for dysphagia evaluation in six articles [9,15,26,27,36,38]. The Swallowing Symptom Questionnaire and Iowa Oral Performance Instrument were used in two studies [38,39].…”

“…Six articles [15,27,28,36,38,39] included dysphagia intervention programs. These articles were analyzed based on interven-(Microsoft Corp.) were used to organize the main contents according to the predefined forms from the two researchers.…”

“…Research has primarily focused on dysphagia related to the community [22], community-dwelling older adults [23], hospital inpatients [24], and users of welfare centers [25]. Studies targeting Korean older adults in long-term care facilities began with the research by Park [26], including the development and application of dysphagia intervention programs within facilities [27], the development of assessment tools for dysphagia [28], and surveys on related factors [29]. However, there is a lack of scoping and systematic reviews on this topic.…”

Oral Rehabilitation Using the Lip Muscle Trainer: A Narrative Review

“…Dysphagia is aggravated by common diseases like neurological diseases, cancer, and so on. Aging is associated with physiological hypofunctions in the normal pattern of swallowing due to decreased neuromuscular reserve with aging [28], loss of all teeth in some elderly, low masticatory efficiency, gradual loss of cross-sectional area and density of jaw muscles [29], decreased tongue muscle volume and pressure (which is the force required to move chewed food to the pharynx), downward shifted position of the larynx in some older people, the spread of the cavity of the pharynx, the delayed time and size of the opening of the upper esophagus sphincter [28].…”

A narrative review on the use of lip trainer (Patakara) in oral rehabilitation

“…Ageing-associated physiological hypofunctions occur in many physiological processes of the body including swallowing. This changed swallowing process in the elderly occurs due to the declined neuromuscular reserve [29], teeth loss, less-efficient mastication, decreased density and cross-sectional area of jaw muscles [30], declined volume and pressure of tongue muscle (it produces the adequate force to transit the chewed food parts to the pharynx), down-shifted location of the larynx in some geriatrics, the overspread of pharynx cavity, and the large-timed and small-sized opening of the upper-oesophageal sphincter [29].…”