TheraSIP Oral Motor Fitness is a progressive resistive oral exerciser for the treatment of swallowing,
sialorrhea and oral myofunctional disorders. By definition, a progressive resistance exercise is a set of
exercises that helps strengthen muscles by exercising them against resistance that progressively increases as
the muscles get stronger. Although this type of training often involves the use of resistance bands, free
weights, and weight machines, TheraSIP uses a set of three micro-sized straws which require pressured
sucking of thin liquid.
Using effortful pressured sucks, swallowing practice is possible as well as oral motor exercise of the
lips, the cheeks, the tongue, and the soft palate. Traditional swallowing exercises such as the tongue
hold, the effortful swallow, or the Mendelsohn maneuver can be performed using TheraSIP. Oral
motor resistance exercise of the oral phase of the swallow also helps control saliva for patients who
drool or experience sialorrhea by tightening lip seal. Exercising with the micro-resistive straws helps
achieve a normal resting relationship between the tongue, lips, teeth, and jaws for those with orofacial
myofunctional disorders. Repetition is key to this tool in that the amount sucked is equivalent to the
saliva in the mouth, allowing safe repetitive hard swallow drills. The resistance straws come in three
sizes. A lip block is provided to keep the straws in the correct position rather than too far into the
mouth. The micro-resistive straws can be inserted into an optional clear outer straw if the outer
diameter of the straws is too difficult. The patient is required to suck as hard as possible, and the
amount drawn can be measured and monitored by the clinician. The exercise of sucking involves lip
seal, velo-pharyngeal seal, laryngeal seal, and activation of the suprahyoid muscles, particularly the
mylohyoid and the digastric muscle (Ratovsky et al., 2012). The act of effortful pressured sucking
(EPS) ensures the exercise has specificity and the three straws of different sizes allows the exercise
to be increased in difficulty. Normative information (Clark et.al. 2014) regarding the amounts typically
drawn by adults are provided.
Included in the kit is:
a 50ml graduated cylinder for measuring amounts sucked
a set of three resistance straws of three levels of difficulty and a clear outer straw
a lip block
a recording card
normative Information
cleaning brush
TheraSIP Swallowing & Oral Motor Fitness COMPLETE comes with the TheraSIP Oral Motor FITNESS and a Set of TheraSTRAWS.
