Efficacy of exercises to rehabilitate dysphagia: A critique of the literature.

Purpose: This review critiques the benefit of commonly used rehabilitative exercises for dysphagia.

Method: Common goals of rehabilitation for dysphagia and principles of neuroplasticity are introduced as they apply to swallowing and non-swallowing exercises. A critique of published studies is offered regarding their evidence for showing benefit from the exercise.

Result: One of five swallow exercises had preliminary evidence for long-term benefit and two of four non-swallow exercises have strong evidence for long-term benefit.

Conclusion: Only a minority of exercises prescribed for patients with dysphagia have sufficient evidence for long-term improvement in swallowing.