Zachary Benavides
Message 1 of 1
I care for a client who has just recently came to us from a nursing home. He is a 19 yr. old male who is NPO and fed through a mic key g-tube. He takes robinul to help control secretions and it has recently come to my attention that he used EMS on his throat when in the nursing home. At that time, Zach had very little problem with dysphagia and could eat a diet of pureed foods and other soft foods and thickened liquids. I have also researched application of EMS to the throat as treatment for dysphagia and found that, in many cases, it alleviated some or all of the swallowing difficulties. I was concerned with a report by a Dr. JoAnn Levin who claimed that a VitalStim EMS machine should not be used on the anterior neck and laryngeal areas of the throat. We use a Tone-A-Tronic 10 channel EMS machine on all of his muscles including facial ones but do not know if it is safe to use on the throat for dysphagia. I would also greatly appreciate input on placement of the EMS pads on the neck. Any help??