Exercises for dysphagia

[john_z]

Hi to everyone, last week we had a visit to a speech therapist.,My father will start speech therapies in September, unfortunately the speech therapist will not be available in August.Till then, she showed us some simple exercises that we can do at home.I 'd like to share them with you and i hope they will be proved helpful.Let's start!

1. Keep your mouth closed and with your forefingers pull the edges of your lips till they are are a straight line.Stay like this for 10 seconds.Repeat for 5-6 times.

2. Pucker your lips and keep them in this position for 10 seconds.Repeat for 5-6 times.Practically, it's the opposite move from the above.

3. Get your tongue out your mouth as more as you can.First, move your tongue down so the edge touch your down lip.Repeat for 5-6 times and them move your tongue up so the edge touch your upper lip.Repeat.Now, move your tongue left and right, at the edge of your lips.Remember, your tongue must be out of your mouth.Repeat.

4. Put a straw in a glass with little water.Now, try to make some bubbles.Repeat.By far the most amusing exersice!The speech therapist told us that instead of this exersice we can make these (but i prefer to do all of them, there is nothing to lose) ; a) Light a cigarette lighter before the face of the patient.Now he/she blows and the lighter turns off.Repeat for 5-6 times. b) Inflate your cheeks with air and keep this position for 10 seconds.Repeat.

We must do these exercises 3 times a day and each exersice must have 5-6 reps.I hope they offer even a little help.I also hope my english are understandable!Best wishes, John.

[jillannf6]

hi jphn

your english is excellent as usual

if i can understand it hoefully ohters can follwo my v dyslexic typign

and good luck with the speech exercises for your father

lol JIll

[DianneH]

Wow, these are really good ones! I have printed them off to do with Mum. I think she will love them! Thank you John.

[ConstantineElias]

Thanks, John, for providing this insight into dysphagia excercises. It will certainly be very helpful to people with this problem.

In the U.S. and in England, there are therapists trained in DPNS (Deep Pharyngeal Neuromuscular Stimulation) which was developed by Karlene Stefanakos, M.A. CCC-SLP. This procedure has been used throughout the world for twenty years by professional SLPs and was the basis for the NIH study along with compensatory strategies for the evaluation of other therapies in dysphagia. It was considered a 'traditional' treatment in the study by M. Kiger. It may be of some assistance to your father.

[john_z in reply to ConstantineElias]

Thank you very much for this information, ConstantineElias, i am gonna check this out, it seems interesting.

[ConstantineElias]

You're welcome. If you need anything feel free to contact me.