title: Comparison of treatment effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation and thermal-tactile stimulation on patients with sub-acute dysphagia caused by stroke.
abstract: [Purpose] The effectiveness of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in the rehabilitation of swallowing remains controversial. This study compared the effectiveness of neuromuscular electrical stimulation and thermal tactile oral stimulation, a traditional swallowing recovery treatment, in patients with sub-acute dysphagia caused by stroke. [Subjects and Methods] Subjects of the present study were 55 patients diagnosed with dysphagia caused by stroke. This study had a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. [Results] Analysis of pre-post values of videofluoroscopic studies of the neuromuscular electrical stimulation and thermal tactile oral stimulation groups using a paired t-test showed no significant difference between the two groups despite both having decreased mean values of the videofluoroscopic studies after treatment. [Conclusion] This study's findings show that both neuromuscular electrical stimulation and thermal tactile oral stimulation significantly enhanced the swallowing function of patients with sub-acute dysphagia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Language Pathology, Nambu University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Haewon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Byeon
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Jeju Seogwipo Medical Center, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyeung Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Koh
keywords: Dysphagia; Neuromuscular electrical stimulation; Thermal tactile oral stimulation