Desenvolvimento de um sistema protótipo para medição objetiva das forças linguais em humanos

Abstract

This work presents the development of a system for the measurement of the axial forces produced by the human tongue. A prototype was developed which reproduces the underlying principles of the methods normally adopted in clinical procedures, with the advantage that it allows the phonoaudiologist to obtain objective measurements of these forces. This work also presents an analysis based on the repeatability and the reproducibility of the forces in an attempt to select which of these forces can be employed as parameters for diagnosis and as success indicators of therapies. Preliminary results indicate the mean force as the most reliable parameter.KEYWORDS: Instrumentation, Biometrics, Force measurement, Reproducibility, Repeatability. RESUMOO presente trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um sistema para medição da força axial da língua humana. Como diferencial, o protótipo desenvolvido apresenta concordância metodológica com a prática clínica fonoaudiológica, no que diz respeito ao teste aplicado para a percepção da tensão lingual. O trabalho também verifica quais os pontos notáveis de força devem ser utilizados como parâmetros para a análise clínica, justificados a partir de testes de reprodutibilidade e repetitividade, numa tentativa de selecionar quais desses pontos podem ser empregados como parâmetros para o diagnóstico e como indicadores do sucesso de terapias. Resultados preliminares apontam para o uso da força média como medida mais confiável para a clínica fonaudiológica.

Development and Clinical Application of Instruments to Measure Orofacial Structures

“…Data obtained in this research was compared to other studies that used the same assessment direction in maximum voluntary contraction (Kydd 1956;Posen 1972;Dworkin et al 1980, Mortimore et al 1999Motta et al 2004;Barroso et al 2009;Lambrechts et al 2010). The values obtained in this research were similar to the ones achieved by Kydd (1956) (maximum force: 23.13 N), Posen (1972) (maximum force between 6 N and 25 N), Dworkin et al (1980) (maximum force was 32.9 N for men and 27.5 N for women), Mortimore et al (1999) (maximum force: 26± 8N for males and 20± 7N for females), and Motta et al (2004) (maximum force between 21.1 N and 25.7 N and average force between 17.4 N and 20.6 N), and higher than those obtained by Barroso et al (2009) (average force between 3.55 N and 13.24 N) and by Lambrechts et al (2010) (average force 1.66± 0.06 N).…”

“…The values obtained in this research were similar to the ones achieved by Kydd (1956) (maximum force: 23.13 N), Posen (1972) (maximum force between 6 N and 25 N), Dworkin et al (1980) (maximum force was 32.9 N for men and 27.5 N for women), Mortimore et al (1999) (maximum force: 26± 8N for males and 20± 7N for females), and Motta et al (2004) (maximum force between 21.1 N and 25.7 N and average force between 17.4 N and 20.6 N), and higher than those obtained by Barroso et al (2009) (average force between 3.55 N and 13.24 N) and by Lambrechts et al (2010) (average force 1.66± 0.06 N). However, in the study by Barroso et al (2009), the sample was composed of subjects with tongue strength classified as normal or slightly reduced in the qualitative assessment, which probably resulted in lower tongue force values, combined with the fact that the age range of the sample included individuals older than 60 years. According to Crow and Ship (1996), a reduction in muscle mass happens after 60 years of age due to atrophy and loss of motor neurons.…”

“…Another study made with FORLING (Barroso et al 2009) quantified tongue force of 10 subject aged between 14 and 80 years whose tongues were classified as normal or as having a small deficit in force and found average force values between 3.55 N and 13.24 N and maximum force values between 4.97 N and 19.96 N.…”

Influência de altura, peso e índice de massa corporal na força axial da língua

“…The evaluation was performed using FORLING, an instrument developed by the Group of Biomechanics Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (7)(8)(9)(10)28) . The evaluation was performed with the person seated with supported back and feet, and hands resting on the base of the equipment.…”

“…In some studies this force is measured by means of the movement of protrusion against resistance (2,(6)(7)(8)(9)(10) . Such movement involves the contraction of the genioglossus and the intrinsic muscles of the tongue, the first being more important for the anteroposterior positioning and the last ones for the generation of protrusive force (11) .…”