[Dysphagia] Anodyne for swallowing

[Casper219 at aol.com (Casper219@aol.com)]

An anodyne is something that relieves pain. Anodyne therapy is purported to 
increase circulation and reduce pain by means of a form of infrared light. It's 
difficult yo see what effect it could have on swallowing.
I asked my PT colleague who has extensive insight to applications of infrared 
light (one brand-name of which is Anodyne) about possible implications for 
swallowing.  He had attended a seminar where a PT professor was speaking about 
having used infrared light to improve circulation to the mouth and throat in 
cancer patients, thus preventing some of the lesions that can accompany 
radiation or chemo.  His recollection was that the infrared light was applied to these 
patients so that they did not develop swallowing problems related to the pain 
associated with these lesions.  
In general, infrared light is applied for pain relief, edema control, and 
improved circulation, so if these were issues related to the specific swallowing 
problem, then possibly it would have an effect but I'm thinking that it is a 
stretch. 
Curious where your program manager came up with the question to begin with.  
Mary