A new method for tongue rehabilitation with computer games: Pilot study

Background Lingual exercises are commonly used in clinical practice for swallowing rehabilitation. Associating lingual exercises with computer games increases motivation, which influences tongue motor performance. Objective To investigate the effects of tongue movement direction; resistance force level; repetition number; sustained tongue contraction duration; age and gender on tongue motor performance in healthy adults using computer games. Methods An observational pilot study was carried out at a university laboratory. Nine healthy adults, aged 22 to 38 years, used an intra-oral joystick controlled by the tongue to play four computer games. The participants had to reach 12 targets that appeared on the computer screen using the intra-oral joystick. Motor performance was measured by the number of attempts to score and the time during which the target force was maintained. Tongue motor performance was compared among tongue movement direction, resistance force level, game round number, and continuous force application time on the target, age and gender. Results The number of attempts depended significantly on the direction, continuous force application time on the target and age. The time during which the target force was maintained depended significantly on the direction, continuous force application time on the target and game round number. There were no significant differences in the comparisons by gender or by resistance force level. Conclusions It was seen that young adults had their best performance in the downward direction, on the third round, holding the force for a shorter time. The performance deteriorated as age increased.