Eating and swallowing
- Introduction
Eating and swallowing is a complex act which involves the coordination of over 30 different nerves and muscles that all under the control of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
CJD is a progressive neurological condition with widespread central nervous system degeneration, this leads to loss of functions including disruption to the swallowing function which is known as dysphagia.
To understand dysphagia, we need to understand the processes of how we swallow.
- Stages of normal swallow
Oral Prep Oral Phase Pharyngeal Phase Oesophageal Phase - Anticipation and awareness
- Smell/look of food
- Salivary response
- Getting lips ready to
receive a piece of food/cutlery
- Taste
- Chewwing, moving
food around the mouth - Collecting into a ball
in the middle of the tongue - Transporting food backwards
towards the throat
- Swallow trigger
- Suspension of breath
- Closure of airway
- Propel food through pharynx
- Squeezing food through from top
of the oesophagus into the stomach by peristalsis