NCT07773025Not yet recruiting
Exploring the Efficacy of the Effortful Swallow Maneuver for Improving Swallowing in People With PD
EFFORT-PD: Exploring the Efficacy of the Effortful Swallow Maneuver for Improving Swallowing in People With Parkinson Disease
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 19 Aug 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a 4-week effortful swallow exercise program helps adults with Parkinson disease who have swallowing problems. The effortful swallow is a swallowing exercise where a person swallows with extra effort. Researchers will compare adults who start the exercise program right away with adults who start the program after a 4-week waiting period. All participants who remain eligible will have the opportunity to receive the exercise program. Participants will have swallowing assessments, including video X-ray swallowing tests called videofluoroscopy. They will also complete questionnaires and take part in a remotely supervised swallowing exercise program with a speech-language pathologist. Participants who remain eligible and take part in the exercise program will use a tongue pressure device during practice. The main study period lasts about 10 weeks. Participants will also complete brief follow-up questionnaires at 6 months and 12 months.
- Status (registry)
- Not yet recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 74 (estimated)
- First submitted
- 14 Aug 2026
- Start date
- 1 Jan 2027
- Primary completion date
- 31 Aug 2029
- Lead sponsor
- University of Alberta
- Diseases
- Parkinson disease
- NCT number
- NCT07773025
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Planned participants: 74
- From 1 Jan 2027 to the primary completion date, 31 Aug 2029
- No sites listed in no country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Other illness
- History of head and neck cancer
- History of radical neck dissection, anterior cervical spine surgery, or neck/oropharyngeal surgery, except tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy
- History of any neurological disease other than Parkinson disease
- History of brain surgery, including deep brain stimulation
Other
- Cognitive or receptive communication difficulties that preclude the ability to follow English-language study instructions
Who the study is looking for
- Age 18 years or older
- Neurologist-confirmed diagnosis of Parkinson disease
- Self-report of one or more swallowing symptoms, such as difficulty managing secretions, coughing during meals, choking on food, or respiratory infection other than COVID-19 in the past 6 months
- Baseline videofluoroscopic swallowing assessment showing prolonged time to laryngeal vestibule closure and/or poor pharyngeal area at maximum constriction on regular-effort swallows with thin or mildly thick liquid stimuli, relative to healthy reference values
Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.