Effect of Direct Chin-tuck Against Resistance on Swallowing Function

March 15, 2026 updated by: National Taiwan University Hospital
Chin-tuck Against Resistance (CTAR) is a widely used training method in swallowing rehabilitation that strengthens the suprahyoid muscles, enhancing their contraction during swallowing and promoting the anterior-superior movement of the hyoid-larynx complex, thus improving the swallowing process. In 2022, Dr. Meng et al. discovered that for a patient with ineffective relaxation of the cricopharyngeal muscle, swallowing while performing CTAR significantly increased the immediate relaxation of the cricopharyngeal muscle, allowing the contrast agent to enter the esophagus smoothly. This method is named direct Chin-tuck Against Resistance (dCTAR). This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of dCTAR in improving swallowing function, its impact on suprahyoid muscle contraction and hyoid-larynx complex movement, and further explore the relationship between tongue strength and bite force with the effectiveness of dCTAR. The study will recruit healthy subjects and dysphagia patients to investigate the relationship between tongue strength, bite force, and the effectiveness of dCTAR. This study uses ultrasound to measure changes in the cross-sectional area of the suprahyoid muscles and the elevation of the hyoid-larynx complex during swallowing before and after dCTAR; and the changes in these parameters after a total of 10 repeated CTAR training sessions over two weeks.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

    • Taipei
      • Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan, 100
        • Recruiting
        • National Taiwan University Hospital
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18-90 years old
  • Be conscious and able to cooperate with the inspection
  • Patients with dysphagia after stroke (Functional oral intake scale, FOIS 1-6) or healthy subjects (FOIS 7)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Have a history of head and neck cancer
  • Other medical history known to cause dysphagia (such as neck surgery, intubation, etc.)
  • Ultrasound examination cannot be performed if there are wounds, air incisions or other structural abnormalities in the neck

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Post-stroke dysphagia patients
Perform repeated CTAR exercise training for 15 minutes a day for a total of about 10 times in two weeks. After training, the swallowing function (FOIS), the movement amount and speed of the hyoid-larynx complex during swallowing, the thickness and cross-sectional area of the suprahyoid muscles, and changes in tongue muscle strength were tracked.
No Intervention: healthy subjects

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
hyoid-larynx movement
Time Frame: 2-3 weeks
Use ultrasound to measure the movement of the hyoid-larynx complex during swallowing during normal swallowing and dCTAR movements.
2-3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Function Oral lntake Scale
Time Frame: 2-3 weeks
score 1-7, higher indicate better outcomes
2-3 weeks
Tongue pressure
Time Frame: 2-3 weeks
Tongue pressure measured by IOPI
2-3 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 14, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

July 10, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 10, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 13, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2026

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Dysphagia

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