Exercise Therapy for Cancer Treatment-Induced Trismus in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Radiotherapy and Oncology
Shao, C. H., Chiang, C. C., et al. (2020).
Radiotherapy and Oncology, 151, 249-255.
This systematic review and meta-analysis investigates the effects of mouth-opening devices and exercises on trismus in patients with head and neck cancer.
Yuan’s General Hospital of Taiwan
From database inception to July 2020
Randomized controlled trials
13
Findings demonstrated that exercise therapies incorporating the use of jaw-mobilizing devices (e.g., TheraBite, EZ bite, Jaw Dynasplint) were associated with significant improvements in maximal interincisal opening (MIO) for individuals with cancer treatment-related trismus. MIO improvement was 4.48mm (95% CI: 0.20 t 8.75) after 5-10 weeks of treatment with the TheraBite device, 6.00 mm (95% CI 2.77 to 9.23) after 3-month treatment with the TheraBite device and 14.20 mm (95% CI: 10.73 to17.67) after 3-month treatment with the EZ bite device. However, therapies including mouth-opening exercises and/or devices did not have a significant impact on post-intervention incidence of trismus overall. Limitations to this review include heterogeneity between included studies and small sample sizes. The authors additionally mention that the use of jaw-mobilizing devices may be cost prohibitive for some patients. Further research is indicated.
