[Dysphagia] [asha-div13] Query from nurse re throat massage

[mbuckie at dmc.org (Buckie,Marcia)]

Not to make light of the exchange, but during my CFY I had a patient on
an inpatient rehab unit who had a CVA (details regarding site of lesion
fuzzy) who swore if his wife shook the loose skin under his chin (which
he referred to as his "gullet") he could swallow better.



-----Original Message-----
From: dysphagia-bounces at b9.com [mailto:dysphagia-bounces at b9.com] On
Behalf Of JoAnn Eaton
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 18:09
To: Clarke-Goertz, Kim (PAPHR); dysphagia list
Subject: Re: [Dysphagia] [asha-div13] Query from nurse re throat massage

Query from nurse re throat massageHi Kim,
In my initial dysphagia training many long years ago, one of the
approaches touted to help patients intitiate a swallow was "throat
massage". I think the theory was to provide tactile feedback. However,
I've never been able to get it to work, so don't use it and use other
approaches. I still get that technique when covering for other
therapists however. Rather than say it's a stupid idea, I use the
following response.
"You know, I've tried that technique to facilitate swallowing ever since
I first learned of it years ago, and I've never been able to facilitate
or cue a swallow with that approach. Have you tried it and does it work
for you? "  The usual response is 'No". So then we go on to another
technique. If the answer is "Yes", I'll say, "Would you show me what you
are doing to trigger a response? I haven't been able to figure out how
to use that approach effectively."  I've never had a nurse able to
demonstrate efficiacy. Usually we can use another approach that isn't
quite so invasive with persons with whom it will work.
I've never seen it covered in any manual as an effective approach, but
sometimes old myths are perpetrated forever within our own inservice
materials because we as SLPs are adapting someone elses old stuff and
not doing our own.
JoAnn
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Clarke-Goertz, Kim (PAPHR) 
  To: Division 13 Discussion List 
  Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 4:35 PM
  Subject: [asha-div13] Query from nurse re throat massage


  Hello All, 
  I had this question asked of me today and my initial response was
negative, in that I would not consider throat massage, what do the
members of the listerv think?

  A RN requested that one of my students (who is an employee of the
KTHR) massage the throat of a gentleman who was pocketing food-in order
to get him to swallow. I told her that this was not a good practice and
that I would not do this throat massage to initiate the swallow of
someone who pocketed food- was I right and if so is there anywhere that
is covered in the manual or elsewhere that I can refer to for my
students?

  Kim 


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