THANC (Thyroid, Head and Neck Cancer) Foundation, New York, New York.
Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, New York.
Head Neck. 2019 Nov;41(11):3806-3817. doi: 10.1002/hed.25908. Epub 2019 Aug 12.
Common in head and neck cancer patients, trismus can make speech and swallowing difficult and can compromise quality of life (QOL). Jaw range of motion exercise therapy may prevent or treat trismus in surgical patients. While the importance of these exercises is well-documented, there is little literature regarding the optimal timing of exercise initiation.
A prospective pilot study investigated the effects of early vs late jaw exercise intervention on postoperative jaw opening and QOL measures, which were examined descriptively.
Timing of exercise intervention was not found to significantly impact the measured outcomes. However, provisional, descriptive findings showed that jaw opening was significantly associated with multiple QOL measures, with greater jaw opening associated with improved QOL. For certain QOL measures, this positive association was stronger at earlier time points than at later time points.
The exploratory findings of this pilot study support further research into possible benefits of early jaw exercise intervention.
张口困难在头颈部癌症患者中较为常见，可导致言语和吞咽困难，并影响生活质量（QOL）。颌骨运动疗法可能预防或治疗手术患者的张口困难。尽管这些运动的重要性已得到充分证实，但关于运动开始的最佳时机的文献很少。
一项前瞻性试点研究调查了早期与晚期颌骨运动干预对术后颌骨开口和 QOL 测量的影响，并用描述性方法进行了检查。
运动干预的时间并未显著影响测量结果。然而，临时的描述性发现表明，颌骨开口与多项 QOL 测量指标显著相关，颌骨开口越大，QOL 越好。对于某些 QOL 指标，在较早的时间点比在较晚的时间点，这种正相关更强。
这项试点研究的探索性发现支持进一步研究早期颌骨运动干预的可能益处。
