Cutting-Edge Therapy to Resolve Dysphagia Issues Through the Aspire2 Approach
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Cutting-Edge Therapy to Resolve Dysphagia Issues Through the Aspire2 Approach
Ella Clayton
Vertis Therapy partners with SpectraMed to provide the best care and treatment for patients suffering from dysphagia. Dysphagia is difficulty swallowing, and can impact a patient’s eating, communication, and may be painful. Dysphagia can affect people of all ages but is most common in older adults. Treating dysphagia is important to provide patients with the best quality of life possible.
Spectramed’s product Aspire2 helps treat symptoms of dysphagia through the use of electrical stimulation. Vertis Therapy uses Spectramed’s Guardian Way® technique. The Guardian Way® treatment sessions can be extremely short, lasting only 30 minutes. During the treatment neuromuscular electrical stimulation and surface electromyography is used to promote greater strength, timing, and reeducation of swallowing and facial musculature. This treatment can improve the speed of swallowing, reduce the occurrence of aspiration, strengthen weak swallowing muscles, prevent muscle disuse atrophy, and reeducate muscles.
The Guardian Way® isn’t just effective, it’s also an enjoyable experience for patients. Feedback is displayed throughout the process to help the patient understand the treatment, and create a tangible goal for them to aspire to. Animations create an engaging format for patients, and different games have been designed for the treatment. There are three different games that address three different types of muscle function: strength, endurance, and coordination.
The Guardian Way® is a completely safe, cutting edge technique that helps provide a better quality of life for its patients. Speech-language pathologists at Vertis Therapy proudly employ the Guardian Way® to treat dysphagia and provide the best level of care possible.