YOUR HEALTH: Tastes so good: Ingestion after stroke

On October 24, 2024By Yukito

CINCINNATI, Ohio (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. suffer a stroke each year, or once every 40 seconds. For those who survive, recovery can be long and difficult. We’ve all heard about the difficulty patients can have in speaking and walking, but did you know that three-quarters of all stroke survivors will have difficulty swallowing? Researchers are currently looking for ways to help people eat and drink after a stroke.

Kevin Moss has been riding, jumping and jumping since he was a little boy. A few years ago, Kevin was playing disc golf when something terrible happened.

“I hit a really good shot and felt pain shooting up my spine and into my neck,” Kevin said.

As he reached for the disc, something else happened.

“I almost fell face first into the basket,” hedded.

Kevin suffered a stroke. In addition to learning to walk again, Kevin had to relearn how to swallow.

“Eating and drinking is something we all take for granted and do every day,” said Dr. Brittany Krekeler, a speech-language pathologist at the University of Cincinnati.

Krekeler is conducting research at the university to help.

“Many patients recovering from stroke have what is called oral phase impairment and their tongue is weak,” Krekeler explained.

Krekeler hopes that a linguometer – a home device for measuring tongue strength – may prove helpful.

The device has a pressurized bulb that can be connected to the patient’s smartphone. It gives patients real-time information about how hard they press the bulb with their tongue. They perform exercises three times a day for eight weeks to increase endurance. Krekeler emphasizes that this is only part of the rehabilitation puzzle. Kevin believes that, in addition to oral rehab and surgery, it helped him get rid of his feeding tube.

“Now I eat anything and everything,” he said.

The National Institutes of Health awarded Krekeler a $660,000 grant to launch larger studies using the linguometer. Although the study focuses on stroke patients, there is the potential that this therapy could be used in other people with swallowing problems, such as survivors of head and neck cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

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