EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PHONOAUDIOLOGY PROGRAM FOR THE REHABILITATION OF DYSPHAGIA FOR CONSISTENCY OF SLUDGE ON THE ELDERLY

The object of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of aphonoaudiology rehabilitation program directed towards the degenerative changes of the neurophysiologic mechanisms responsible for the upper digestive systems of age comprised between 80 and 90 years old, in a regime of internment in a long permanence institution in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which express, bodily, their difficulty in swallowing food of pasty consistency. To achieve such object, the current study was developed by means of an experimental format or design, comprised of a sampling group of 23 elderly people, of both genders, undergoing evaluation by thePhonoaudiology Protocol for Evaluating the Risk of Dysphagia (PARD), pre- and post- intervention procedure. The developed program used the indirect therapy approach based on the adaptative myotherapeutic and myofunctional stimulation, contemplating two isometric and isokinetic orofacial active myotherapeutic exercises, two passive myotherapeutic manipulations for the supra-hyoidal musculature andadaptative cephalic postural maneuvers, associated to the intra-oral olfactive and gustative sensitive stimulation. The changes produced by the phonoaudiology program in the capacity of the individuals in swallowing food of a pasty consistency, were also significant, its statistical proof being made my means of the analysis of the variance carried out on the results on the two instances indicated an F (Pre and Post) = 4.47 and P=0.039.