How to rehabilitate for swallowing difficulties after stroke?

  The normal swallowing process is divided into 3 phases, oral phase, pharyngeal phase, and esophageal phase. In stroke patients, the obstacle is mainly the oral and pharyngeal phases, because of the paralysis of the lips, buccal muscles, tongue and soft palate, food flows out from the lips of the mouth, the internal pressure of the mouth cannot be raised sufficiently, the food mass has difficulty moving to the pharynx and upper esophagus through the mouth, the muscles at the entrance of the esophagus cannot be relaxed, the entrance of the esophagus is not fully opened, etc., which prevents the food mass from entering the esophagus, and the soft palate Poor elevation of the soft palate can lead to backflow of food into the nasal cavity and into the trachea by mistake.  The first step in treatment is to ensure the intake of food, nasal feeding, etc. Swallowing training can be carried out after the patient is clear, can follow instructions and has stable systemic symptoms. Massage cheeks, upper lip, lower lip, shrink lips; can use a small cotton swab or toothbrush to induce tongue action, lip action; use tongue depressor to press and slide on the tongue; tongue against tongue depressor; press tongue to make the central tongue depression; pronunciation training; do frowning, eye closing, cheek puffing, smiling and other various expressions; practice whistling, flute blowing, bubble blowing action; practice neck rotation, lateral flexion to prevent neck extension position contracture.  Food types: liquid food is easy to move in the mouth, but prone to misabsorption, solid food aggravates oral phase disorders, but easy to stimulate the pharyngeal reflex and less misopharyngeal. Both easier to move in the oral cavity and less prone to misabsorption of food, homogeneous density, appropriate viscosity, not easy to loosen, easy to deform when passing through the pharynx and esophagus, not residual on the mucosa can first be trained with jelly-like, homogeneous paste food, such as jelly, egg custard, batter, sesame paste, etc.. You can start with a small amount and gradually increase.  It is safer to have the trunk at 45° or more to the bed when eating, with the head slightly flexed forward and the food offered on the midline so that the patient can smell and see it. After the spoon is entered, firmly press downward and backward in the front 1/3 of the tongue and dump out the food, then quickly withdraw and immediately close the patient’s lip he jaw so that the head is lightly flexed to facilitate swallowing.