Swallowing Rehabilitation in Adults

Swallowing, or dysphagia, rehabilitation in adults refers to treatment approaches for adults who have acquired swallowing problems. Dysphagia is the term used for a variety of difficulties related to swallowing food and liquid. As such, dysphagia is a symptom of an underlying disease or a health condition. Examples of such underlying causes include stroke, head/neck cancer, dementia, progressive neurologic diseases, trauma, among others. A common feature of all dysphagia is the reduced capacity to eat and drink by mouth. A second common feature is an increased risk for aspiration (i.e., entry of materials into the airway) [Page 1906]as a result of impairments in the swallowing mechanism; this is a major consideration in most, if not all, rehabilitation efforts. Thus, dysphagia rehabilitation focuses on strategies that ...