Use of Kinesiology taping for swallowing difficulties in people recovering from brain tumour surgery

Intervention The control group will receive standard dysphagia care, while the intervention group will receive both standard and kinesiology tape applications. Routine dysphagia care consists of oral exercises (e.g., repeated dry swallowing five consecutive times, followed by a 10-second rest period. This sequence will be repeated a total of 10 times), compensatory techniques (e.g., chin tuck, head rotation, and head tilt), swallowing therapeutic maneuvers (e.g., supraglottic swallowing, super-supraglottic swallow, effortful swallowing, and the Mendelsohn maneuver), and other exercises used to improve swallowing physiology (e.g., the Shaker exercise and Masako maneuver). This routine will be implemented in one daily session, four days a week, for four weeks. Sessions will last approximately 30 minutes, resulting in 16 sessions. Sessions will be led by a team of two senior nurses specialized in rehabilitation, experts in dysphagia care, and trained in kinesiology taping application, with more than 10 years of clinical experience. A 5 cm wide, 0.5 mm thick kinesiology tape will be applied as follows: Participants will sit upright in a chair with their head and neck in a neutral position. The anterior neck will be cleaned with an alcohol swab for optimal tape adhesion. Team members will customize an I-shaped tape and a reverse V-shaped tape. The hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage will be marked with a pen. First, an I-shaped tape will be applied by pulling it downwards to the level of the thyroid notch to wrap around the thyroid cartilage and attach it to the sternum. Second, the team members will attach a reverse V-shaped tape from the hyoid bone to the superior medial surface of the clavicle on both sides. Finally, they will cover the hyolaryngeal complex horizontally to restrict its movement throughout swallowing, ensuring the tape is securely attached. The tape will be applied daily for 4 weeks with an application at approximately 70-80% tension. Concomitant treatments and medication Participants can continue their routine medications for underlying diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. However, the use of additional benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, and anti-epileptics that may impact their swallowing function is permitted only if deemed necessary. If a participant takes medication that could affect their swallowing ability, it will be documented in the case report form. Adherence to the intervention will be monitored through the number of sessions attended and the percentage of enrolled participants who completed the final program assessments, as recorded in the patient diary.