Tongue Training Eases Seniors' Swallowing Problems

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - "Lingual resistance exercises" may help prevent swallowing difficulties due to frailty or other age-related conditions, researchers report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dr. JoAnne Robbins and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison note that as many as 40 percent of adults aged 60 years or more may currently have dysphagia, or swallowing problems. Moreover, an exponential increase in the number of people with dysphagia is likely as the geriatric population grows.

The researchers had 10 healthy men and women 70 to 89 years of age participate in an 8-week program of progressive tongue resistance exercise. This involved compressing an air-filled bulb between the tongue and hard palate.

All the subjects, say the team, "successfully and significantly" increased their isometric and swallowing pressures. Moreover, the four subjects who underwent oral MRI scan displayed an average increase in tongue volume of 5 percent, which suggested an anatomical change in muscle mass brought about by the exercises.

The potential for lingual exercise "to improve quality of life in the elderly and reduce healthcare costs," Robbins and colleagues conclude, "is encouraging and warrants pursuit."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, September 2005.