Also called: Dysphagia
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Swallowing Disorders
If you have a swallowing disorder, you may have difficulty or pain when swallowing. Some people cannot swallow at all. Others may have trouble swallowing liquids, foods, or saliva. This makes it hard to eat. Often, it can be difficult to take in enough calories and fluids to nourish your body.
Anyone can have a swallowing disorder, but it is more common in older adults. It often happens because of other conditions, including:
- Nervous system disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy
- Problems with your esophagus, including GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease)
- Stroke
- Head or spinal cord injury
- Cancer of the head, neck, or esophagus
Medicines can help some people, while others may need surgery. Swallowing treatment with a speech-language pathologist can help. You may find it helpful to change your diet or hold your head or neck in a certain way when you eat. In very serious cases, people may need feeding tubes.
It sits within Digestive System.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Swallowing Disorders
2,411 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Optimizing Dysphagia Treatment Delivery in Acute Care: A Hybrid Efficacy Implementation TrialVanderbilt University Medical Center
- Standardizing Swallow Pressure MeasurementsUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison
- The Esophageal String Test as a Diagnostic Screening Tool for Eosinophilic Esophagitis Among Africans With Dysphagia in Mali and the United StatesNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
- Wearable Biofeedback for Swallowing Disorders Rehabilitation in Stroke and Parkinson DiseaseUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Ultrasound vs. Nasofibroscopy for Evaluating Dysphagia After Extubation in the ICUHospital H+ Queretaro
- The Use of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in the Rehabilitation of Post-Stroke Dysphagia During the Subacute Phase in Hospitalized Patients: A Randomized Clinical TrialJuliane Lisboa Pereira
Research already completed
- A Study to Check the Safety of Dexlansoprazole and Learn if it Can Treat Symptomatic Nonerosive Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Children 2 to 11 Years OldTakeda
- Endoscopic Classification of Fundoplication Integrity Predicts Pathologic RefluxIRCCS Policlinico S. Donato
- Multi-Center Study of Panosyl-Isomaltooligosaccharides Adjunctive to PPI Therapy to Treat GERDMicrobiome Health Sciences
- Effects of CTAR and PNF Exercises on Swallowing in Multiple SclerosisSanko University
- Early Feasibility Study of the Neovasc Tiara™ Mitral Valve SystemShockwave Medical, Inc.
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- DysphagiaAmerican Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery
- Dysphagia (Difficulty Swallowing)Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Diagnosis and Tests
- Barium SwallowNational Library of Medicine
- Dysphagia TestsNational Library of Medicine
- Dysphagia: What Happens during a Bedside Swallow ExamJohns Hopkins Medicine
- Fluoroscopy/Modified Barium Swallow StudyNational Jewish Health
- Upper GI EndoscopyNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Living With
- Swallowing ProblemsAmerican Cancer Society
Related Issues
- GlobusInternational Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders
Genetics
- Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Deglutition DisordersNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Deglutition Disorders. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Swallowing Disorders, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.