earticle

영어

Oral hypofunction is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for swallowing difficulties, malnutrition, and frailty in older adults; however, effective interventions for this condition remain limited. This study investigated the effects of effortful swallowing against kinesiology taping (KT) resistance on the suprahyoid muscles in older adults with oral hypofunction. Twenty-four community-dwelling participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group, which performed effortful swallowing with KT applied to the anterior neck at 70% stretch, or to a sham group, which trained with KT applied without tension. Intervention protocol comprised 30 repetitions per day, 5 days per week, for a period of 6 weeks. Primary outcome was suprahyoid muscle activation, assessed by surface electromyography, and secondary outcome was suprahyoid muscle thickness, evaluated by ultrasonography. An experimental group showed significant improvements in activation and thickness after the intervention (p<.05), whereas a sham group demonstrated no meaningful changes. Post-intervention comparisons further revealed significant between-group differences, with greater improvements consistently observed in the experimental group (p<.05). These findings suggest that KT-based resistance exercise is an effective method to enhance functional activation and structural adaptations of swallowing- related musculature. This approach may provide a novel and practical rehabilitation strategy to counteract age-related decline in swallowing function and promote oral health and safety in older adults with oral hypofunction.