SWALLOWING AND SPORTS PERFORMANCE

Published On: October 20, 2018Categories: InsightsComments Off on SWALLOWING AND SPORTS PERFORMANCE

During my training in osteopathy, the treatment of swallowing had not been sufficiently specified, it seemed that the topic was not so important, but then I collided with the reality of my two children who had to improve their quality in the gesture of swallowing, to facilitate the work of the orthodontist. This forced me to study this area of the body to better understand its relationship with the stomatognathic and then postural apparatus.
Two notes on the anatomical and physiological development of the tongue: it begins to develop in the embryonic phase in the fourth week, its development is closely linked to the innervation of the hypoglossus, it is the first structure that forms of the buccal cavity. Its activities are already present during maternity: The sucking reflex is already present at the 10th week of uterine life; at 13 weeks, the fetus swallows; At 5 months he sucks his finger.

The brainstem has neurophysiological control of tongue mobility as early as the 60th day of intrauterine life. In the first years of life, swallowing has an atypical physiology, around 6/8 years old it turns typical, its physiology changes with the appearance of definitive molars.

Motor innervation is represented by:

From the mandibular branches of the trigeminal, the facial and the hypoglossus, the trigeminal also innervates the antagonist swallowing muscles, the muscles that close the mandible.
from the glossopharyngeal and vagus, which innervate the muscles of the pharynx and esophagus.

What movement does the tongue make when swallowing?

The tip of the tongue comes into contact with the palatine wrinkles, the middle portion of the tongue comes into contact with the hard palate, the posterior portion assumes a 45° angle against the pharyngeal wall to allow the food bolus to proceed towards the digestive system. During this process, the levator muscles of the jaw are contracted, the muscles of facial expression are not used during swallowing.

Swallowing saliva is an unconscious function, it occurs about every 30 seconds in wakefulness and every minute in sleep, more or less around 1600-2000 times in 24 hours.

The tongue forces the palate when swallowing from a minimum of 700 gr. to a maximum of 3000 gr. If you take an average of 1800 gr. of pressure for each swallow and multiply it by 2000 times, the result is that 3,600,000 gr. of intermittent pressure are discharged on the palate and teeth over a 24-hour period.

The tongue is the best orthodontic appliance.

The lingual functions are: the sucking reflex, swallowing, breathing, chewing, phonation, posture and balance.

What causes tongue dysfunction?

In the first phase of life, dysfunctions that can disrupt the physiology of the tongue are often determined by intrauterine positioning or during childbirth. The occiput often tends to undergo intraosseous dysfunction at the base of the occiput and causes compression of the hypoglossal canal, with effects on the nerve itself. Dysfunctions of the lateral masses of the occiput affect its functionality.

Ossification of the occiput after birth

The anterior intraoccipital or basiocciput synchondrosis between the base part (associated with the anterior 1/3 of the condyles) and the lateral parts (associated with the posterior 2/3 of the condyles) begins to ossify around the age of 2 years and ends, fusing completely at the age of 8/10 years

Posterior intraoccipital synchondrosis fuses during the 3rd year of life. The transverse occipital suture or Budin’s synchondrosis, between the supranuchal and intranuchal portions of the scale, begins to ossify from 1 year of age and ends by fusing between 4 and 7 years of age.

In adults, the physiology of swallowing may be disrupted by ascending fascial dysfunctions of the internal (visceral) fascial chains. Let’s make a brief description of the internal fascial chains, in each case they are divided into three: the peripheral internal fascial chain, the mixed internal fascial chain and the central internal fascial chain.

The peripheral internal fascial chain starts from the perineum, goes up through the peritoneum and the transverse fascia, arrives at the diaphragm, and goes up through the endothoracic fascia. It connects to the upper thoracic diaphragm and here follows the external superficial fascial chain inserting itself at the base of the occiput.

The mixed internal chain starts from the perineum, goes up through the umbilico-prevesical aponeurosis and connects to the navel, at this level it goes up through the fascia trasversalis, from here it connects through the round ligament of the liver and the sickle cell ligament. From the diaphragmatic dome it rises through the pleura or through the central chain. The connection with the hyoid bone is through the middle cervical fascia perturbing its physiology, at this level we find important and opposed torsion parameters wrapped in the physiology of the hypoglossal nerve. The mixed internal chain can disrupt the physiology of the tongue by creating torsion parameters.

The internal central fascial chain starts from the perineum and goes up through the peritoneum and all the supporting tissues of the abdominal organs. From the diaphragm it goes up to the mediastinal area, involving all the supporting tissues of the pericardium. It rises to this level through the peripharyngeal fascia. At the level of the cervical it has connections with the middle and deep cervical fascia. Then he makes contact with the hyoid bone and its close relationship with swallowing. Its dysfunctions tend to bring down the body of the tongue.

An atypical swallowing, which pushes the teeth until they move (open bite), this swallowing must be treated in a mixed way with orthodontic collaboration and osteopathy that tries to find the primary lesion that has disturbed the physiology of the tongue.

A swallow that has a slight contact on the palatine wrinkles, but the tongue in its middle part has no contact with the palate. From a medical point of view, it is a swallowing that does not disturb the centric occlusion, since the tongue does not push and move the teeth. This is the most common case that can disrupt the athlete’s performance.

Swallowing that does not push properly on the palate disrupts: primary breathing movement, breathing, posture and balance.

Because?

During swallowing the tongue pushes on the upper jaw, this thrust indirectly induces both the ethmoid and the sphenoid, through the pterygoid wings. These thrusts set the sphenobasilar symphysis in motion.

The thrust of swallowing on the upper jaw allows us to breathe better than the nasal bones, in sports good breathing is essential especially in endurance.

Incorrect swallowing tends to require cervical compensation and over time the head moves forward and can be one of the causes of the loss of cervical lordosis, but it is not the only cause.

During swallowing, there is stimulation of the nuclei of the hypoglossal nerve, the facial nerve and the trigeminal nerve, which send afferents to the nucleus of Deiters, also called the lateral vestibular nucleus. The most important supraspinal center for postural control is the nucleus of Deiters. The lateral vestibulo-spinal bundle originates from the lateral vestibular nucleus of Deiters

The lateral vestibular nucleus tries to maintain the center of gravity between the feet (in the standing position) or just in front of the feet (in locomotion) and to keep the head horizontal. During walking, the vestibulospinal bundles perform a selective activity towards the motor neurons of the quadriceps that marks the pace.

Subjects who do not tend not to push on the palate with the tongue will have problems in many athletic gestures for example: they will have bad starts in swimming competitions, to hit the head we need the stabilization of the cervicals through swallowing, jumping on horseback, standing on pointe in ballet, during descents by bicycle and many other cases.

Balance fatigue will be compensated with an increase in the concentric tone of the muscles, and the quadriceps is the victim par excellence.

In conclusion, if we want to achieve an excellent athletic performance, swallowing must not be neglected.

Scritto da : Paolo Desirò

Share this insight!!!