Motor Imagery Exercise and Tongue Strength

Summary

This research study is a six-week treatment pilot study to compare the effects of different exercise types on measures of tongue strength and swallowing pressure in typically aging older adults. Typically-aging older adults represent a group "at risk" for dysphagia secondary to sarcopenia of striated musculature important to swallowing. Participants at all study sites will be randomly selected into one of four study exercise groups. At some study sites, the investigators will also determine cortical activation patterns differences during motor execution and motor imagery of tongue exercises between the groups using near-infrared spectroscopy. The results of this study will inform refinement/further development of the mental practice protocol to use with patients with dysphagia in future studies.

Conditions

• Dysphagia

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Active Jaw Exercise with Relaxation

This is the control group that will complete exercises unrelated to the primary outcome measures.

BEHAVIORAL

Active Tongue Exercise

This is the active comparator group that will complete exercises already shown to increase tongue strength measures.

BEHAVIORAL

Active Tongue Exercise + Mental Practice

This is an experimental group that will complete active tongue and mental tongue exercises to assess effect on tongue strength measures.

BEHAVIORAL

Mental Practice Tongue Exercise

This is an experimental group that will complete mental tongue exercises only to assess effect on tongue strength measures.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• James Madison University

  collaborator OTHER

• Texas Christian University

  collaborator OTHER

• Loma Linda University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of South Florida

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sarah Hegyi Szynkiewicz, PhD · USF Sarasota-Manatee

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Max Age

89 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-12-19

Primary Completion

2019-12-31

Completion

2019-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations