Category: dysphagia research

dysphagia research

Swallow with CTAR (S-CTAR) Poster presented at DRS 2017 @ Portland, Oregon

Yoon Wai Lam
S-CTAR Poster

Life has been so busy since I came back from DRS 2017. Finally, I have some time to put up this blog.

I was honored to be invited to present a research poster at DRS this year.

This is probably one of the best year for dysphagia research representation from Singapore as we have 2 oral presentations from Singapore General Hospital and 1 poster presentation (presented by me) from National University of Singapore.

My poster presentation was on Swallow with Chin Tuck Against Resistance (S-CTAR). 

Some of the happy moments at DRS:

  • Portland, Oregon is really beautiful and … cold. 
  • Finally get a chance to meet my Facebook pal, Nabil from Canada in person. We share a common interest in dysphagia. Lots of interesting discussion on dysphagia via WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. 
  • Get to meet some old friends and made more new friends from all around the world. 
  • managed to take a selfie with Dr Reza Shaker!
  • Happy to know that CTAR or Chin Tuck Against Resistance is a well known and well like exercise in USA and Brazil. Brazil Speech Pathologists informed me that they have started research on CTAR! I really hope that clinical study on CTAR will be out soon. 
  • Most Speech-Language Pathologists were excited to know that S-CTAR can be used as a task specific exercise and foresee that they will use it in their dysphagia therapy or management. 

Portland Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland
Portland, Oregon

    • With Dr Shaker
    with Dr Reza Shaker
    Nabil = my FB Pal
    My FB Pal, SLP from Canada – Nabil
    Kotomi - SLP from Japan
    Kotomi Sakai – SLP from Japan
    Brazil SLP
    SLP from Brazil
    Poster presentation
    Demonstrating CTAR to a dentist from Japan
    Demonstrating CTAR & S-CTAR
    Demonstrating CTAR and S-CTAR
    I am a new DRS Member
    I am a new DRS member.
    Ironing sandwich
    This is new to me… Ironing sandwiches?!!!

    I was asked a few interesting questions on CTAR. One of the few interesting question is: are there any devices in the market that you think is good to be used to perform CTAR? I think this is an interesting question as we have seen quite a number of devices (different type of balls, hand held devices etc) being introduced to the market since the first paper on CTAR was published in 2014.

    Click  S-CTAR Poster to download the poster that I presented at DRS 2017.

    I will list out all those questions and answers in separate post soon. 

    To end this post, I would like to congratulate and express my appreciation to all the DRS committees for this successful and enlightening meeting. 

    Cost effective treatment, dysphagia research, Dysphagia Therapy, Singapore, speech therapy singapore, speech-language therapy, Swallowing Problem, Teaching, Uncategorized

    Second Publication on Chin Tuck Against Resistance (CTAR)

    Yoon Wai Lam

    We are happy to announce that the follow up study on CTAR has been published online (online first version) in Dysphagia Journal.

    Original Paper

    Dysphagia

    pp 1-11

    First online: 02 February 2016

    Evaluating the Training Effects of Two Swallowing Rehabilitation Therapies Using Surface Electromyography—Chin Tuck Against Resistance (CTAR) Exercise and the Shaker Exercise

    • Wei Ping Sze 
    • , Wai Lam Yoon
    • , Nicolas Escoffier
    • , Susan J. Rickard Liow

    Abstract

    In this study, the efficacy of two dysphagia interventions, the Chin Tuck against Resistance (CTAR) and Shaker exercises, were evaluated based on two principles in exercise science—muscle-specificity and training intensity. Both exercises were developed to strengthen the suprahyoid muscles, whose contractions facilitate the opening of the upper esophageal sphincter, thereby improving bolus transfer. Thirty-nine healthy adults performed two trials of both exercises in counter-balanced order. Surface electromyography (sEMG) recordings were simultaneously collected from suprahyoid muscle group and sternocleidomastoid muscle during the exercises. Converging results using sEMG amplitude analyses suggested that the CTAR was more specific in targeting the suprahyoid muscles than the Shaker exercise. Fatigue analyses on sEMG signals further indicated that the suprahyoid muscle group were equally or significantly fatigued (depending on metric), when participants carried out CTAR compared to the Shaker exercise. Importantly, unlike during Shaker exercise, the sternocleidomastoid muscles were significantly less activated and fatigued during CTAR. Lowering the chin against resistance is therefore sufficiently specific and intense to fatigue the suprahyoid muscles.

    Details of the journal can be found at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00455-015-9678-2

    We are happy to announce that we are starting our third CTAR research at the National University of Singapore.

    CTAR research 3
    CTAR research 3 in progress

    materials for CTAR 3
    Materials used in CTAR 3