Primary Lateral Sclerosis Clinical Trials

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The Impact of Dysphagia Exercise on Oropharyngeal Swallowing Function in Patients With ALS

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Procedure
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

This study is testing a tongue exercise program for people living with ALS to see if it can help support speech and swallowing. All participants will receive the treatment, and researchers will measure changes over time by comparing each person's results to their own earlier results. People who join the study will have two in-person visits and four weekly telehealth sessions with a speech-language pathologist. During these sessions, participants will practice tongue resistance exercises, complete speech and swallowing tasks, and answer surveys about their experience. They will also use a small device at home to measure tongue strength and swallowing. The exercise program involves pressing the tongue against a device several times a day, five days per week, for five weeks. Researchers want to learn if this program is safe, practical, and helpful for people with ALS.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Maximum Age: 99
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• Diagnosis of possible, probable, or definite ALS (El-Escorial Revisited)

• Lingual exercises naïve

• Impaired lingual strength generation compared to normative data

• EAT-10 score \<3

Locations
United States
Florida
Nova Southeastern University
RECRUITING
Davie
Contact Information
Primary
Raquel Garcia, SLP.D.
rw602@nova.edu
17863994053
Backup
Lauren Tabor Gray, Ph.D.
lauren.taborgray@nova.edu
9549145447
Time Frame
Start Date: 2026-05-01
Estimated Completion Date: 2029-01
Participants
Target number of participants: 20
Treatments
Experimental: Dysphagia Exercise Intervention
This study arm will test a proactive dysphagia exercise program using lingual manometry and isometric lingual strength training in people with ALS (pALS). The intervention is designed to maximize lingual strength, improve speech intelligibility, enhance swallow safety and efficiency, and support patient-reported swallowing and quality-of-life outcomes in individuals with minimal decline in tongue function.
Sponsors
Leads: Nova Southeastern University

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov