THERMAL APPLICATION REDUCES THE DURATION OF STAGE TRANSITION IN DYSPHAGIA AFTER STROKE

The present study had two purposes. The first was to provide variabili ty data on objectively measured durational parameters of swallowing as accomplished by dysphagic patients secondary to stroke. The second wa s to examine the short-term effects of thermal application on these sa me durational measures. The study employed a cross-over design with ea ch dysphagic stroke subject swallowing 10 times in both untreated and treated conditions. Two findings emerged: (1) swallowing durations in the 22 dysphagic stroke subjects were highly variable within and acros s subjects and have distributions that were nonnormal with nonhomogene ous variances; (2) thermal application reduced duration of stage trans ition (DST) and total swallow duration (TSD). Implications of these fi ndings are discussed.