Effectiveness of Chin Tuck Against Resistance (CTAR) Exercise Upon Feeding Performance of Patients with Cerebrovascular Accident

Stroke is a medical emergency. It is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Dysphagia presents in approximately 55% of all acute stroke patients admitted to hospital. In order to improve the overall outcome after stroke it is essential that the feeding performance need to be improved through Chin Tuck Against Resistance (CTAR) Exercise. This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Chin Tuck Against Resistance (CTAR) exercise in improvement of feeding performance among patients with CVA. Methods: A Quasi- experimental study was conducted after obtaining ethical clearance and setting permission. The data was collected after obtaining consent from 70 CVA patients, who were selected by consecutive sampling technique. Pretest data was collected from both the groups by predetermined and pretested tools such as demographic variable Performa, clinical variable proforma and FOIS (Functional Oral Intake scale) through interview and observation method. Chin Tuck Against Resistance Exercise was administered for 8 consecutive days, 3 times a day for experimental group of patients with CVA. Posttest assessment of feeding performance in both the groups was conducted after one week of intervention. Results: Study findings revealed that there was no significant different in mean pretest score of feeding performance in the control group (M=2.63, S.D+1.12) and experimental group (M=2.05, S.D+1.28) with ‘t’ value 1.95(p>0.05).Whereas, there was a significant difference in the posttest scores of feeding performance in the experimental group (M=6.4,S.D+3.25) which was higher than control group (M=3.13,S.D+1.23) with ‘t’ value of 18.22, (p<0.001). It can be attributed to the effectiveness of CTAR exercise to improve suprahyoid muscle activity and tongue pressure Conclusion: Chin Tuck Against Resistance Exercise was helpful in improving the feeding performance upon patients with CVA dysphagia.