{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:06:08Z","timestamp":1760144768299,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,22]],"date-time":"2024-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1716336000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Corrente"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable rare neurodegenerative condition, with 45% of cases showing the symptom of dysphagia; its clinical signs are atrophy, weakness, and fasciculations of the facial muscles, tongue, and pharynx. Furthermore, dysphagia is the main cause of aspiration pneumonia. The traditional treatment for dysphagia varies based on the patient\u2019s difficulty of swallowing. The initial phase consists of dietary consistency adjustments, progressing to alternatives like nasogastric tubes or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) in advanced stages. Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a complementary \u2018hands-on\u2019 approach that has already shown positive results as an add-on therapy in various health conditions. This study is a case report of a man diagnosed with ALS with initial dysphagia, managed with a protocol that extraordinarily included OMT. The patient showed somatic dysfunctions in the mediastinal region, upper cervical region, and occipital area which are all anatomically related to the nervous system, especially the glossopharyngeal reflex. At the end of the rehabilitation protocol, there was a reduction in the swallowing problems measured with Strand Scale and swallowing tests, and the patient reported an improved psycho-physical well-being assessed with the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Assessment Questionnaire (ALSAQ-40). Instead, the neurological function measured with ALSFRS-S remained stable. Although the nature of this study design prevents any causal assumption, the positive results should lead to future randomized controlled trials to assess the effectiveness of OMT as an adjunctive therapeutic proposal to improve the health of ALS patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina60060845","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,22]],"date-time":"2024-05-22T11:03:47Z","timestamp":1716375827000},"page":"845","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Manual Therapy of Dysphagia in a Patient with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Case Report"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"60","author":[{"given":"Ilaria","family":"De Marchi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology and ALS Centre, Traslational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Maggiore della Carit\u00e0 Hospital, 28100 Novara, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9363-9190","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Buffone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Paediatric, Manima Non-Profit Organization Social Assistance and Healthcare, 20125 Milan, Italy"},{"name":"Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, 20126 Milan, Italy"},{"name":"Principles and Practice of Clinical Research (PPCR), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health\u2013ECPE, Boston, MA 02115, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9072-7454","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Mauro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Strada Luigi Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo-Verbania, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Neurosciences \u201cRita Levi Montalcini\u201d, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-6783-2539","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Irene","family":"Bruini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Paediatric, Manima Non-Profit Organization Social Assistance and Healthcare, 20125 Milan, Italy"},{"name":"Research Department, SOMA Istituto Osteopatia Milano, 20126 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9034-7101","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luca","family":"Vismara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Strada Luigi Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo-Verbania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"807","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ncl.2015.07.001","article-title":"Familial Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis","volume":"33","author":"Boylan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Neurol. 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