Background:
People with dysphagia (swallowing disorders) usually have difficulty transporting food or liquids. This is manifested, for example, by food or liquid entering the lungs (aspiration).
Dysphagia can have various causes, such as neurological diseases, muscular diseases, radiation treatment, tumors in the oropharynx, postoperative conditions, or psychogenic causes.
There are several exercises that can be used to treat pharyngeal dysphagia.
Project description:
For a medical book on the subject of dysphagia, we created a series of illustrations on exercises that are helpful in the treatment of dysphagia. These exercises aim to strengthen the muscles of the swallowing tract and improve coordination during swallowing.
The illustrations showed each of the exercises in two phases of execution. The illustrations were designed in grayscale to better show the location of the suprahyoid muscles, which form the muscular basis of the floor of the mouth.
Three types of therapeutic exercises were shown:
The Shaker exercise is also called the head-lift exercise or supraglottic exercise. In this, the patient lies flat on the back with the head and neck straight and the shoulders flat on the surface. Then the head is slowly lifted and held for about 30 seconds.
In the CTAR (Chin Tuck Against Resistance) exercise, the patient sits upright on a chair and the head should be held straight. Now, for example, the palm of the hand, or as in our example, a ball, is held under the chin. While the patient now tilts the head down (Chin Tuck), a resistance affects the muscles of the floor of the mouth and trains them.
To perform the EMST (Expiratory Muscle Strength Training) exercise, one needs a special device that provides adjustable resistance as one breathes into the mouthpiece and exhales the breath. The EMST exercise is usually performed by placing the mouthpiece in the mouth and trying to exhale as hard as possible against the resistance to close the larynx. The resistance can be adjusted depending on the patient’s ability.
Project details illustrations therapy dysphagia:
Content: 6 illustrations
Utilization: Medical reference book
Specifications: DIN A5, landscape
Client: Dr. Dziewas, Dr. Warnecke, Universitätsklinikum Münster
The rights of use of the images shown here belong to the client, use is not permitted. The images are protected with watermarks
Illustrations exercises dysphagia
