Development of Musculoskeletal Model for Evaluating Swallowing Function

Abstract

Swallowing, or deglutition, is well known as a process to transport bolus of food from mouth to stomach, whereas it is difficult to understand its physiological mechanism because it involves in complex neuromuscular coordination. In order to understand swallowing mechanism in terms of muscle activity, we develop a musculoskeletal model in which muscles around the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage are represented as wire actuators. The changes of muscle lengths are calculated to estimate muscle activities during normal swallowing as a static analysis using the musculoskeletal model. The results of this study would contribute to provide greater insight into swallowing and to improve treatments for dysphagia.