The best swallowing technique for tablets

Special swallowing techniques facilitate the use of medication

12/11/2014

Many patients have significant difficulties in taking tablets due to the dosage form of the preparations. Difficulty in swallowing, swallowing and other complaints are not uncommon, especially with larger pills. Now, scientists from Heidelberg University have tested two methods in a study, with which the drug intake is to be significantly facilitated.

Especially children are often reluctant to take tablets, especially if they cause additional discomfort when swallowing due to the dosage form. Not infrequently they do not get swallowed the drugs even with good will. But with the right technology, the tablets are much easier to take, according to the research team led by Walter Haefeli from the Institute of Pharmacology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg.

Two special swallowing techniques examined
In their latest study, the researchers randomized 151 adults between the ages of 18 and 85 to take 16 different shaped placebos and assess their problems. Subjects reported difficulties in swallowing the tablets and capsules, such as gagging, vomiting or a sense of asphyxia. The two forms of administration, in which most of the complaints occurred, the subjects then each again using special swallowing techniques take: the so-called pop-bottle method and the forward-tilting technique. It has been shown that the pop-bottle method has made it possible to substantially improve the swallowing of tablets (60 percent of the subjects indicated this) and that the forward-tilt technique is particularly suitable for taking capsules (89 percent of the capsules) Subjects confirmed this). „Both techniques were remarkably effective (...) and should be recommended on a regular basis“, so the conclusion of the researchers in the magazine „Annals of Family Medicine“.

Pop-bottle method and forward-tilting technique
In the pop-bottle method, the tablet is placed on the tongue according to the researchers and then drunk from a plastic bottle with a quick, sucking motion water. The lips should remain firmly closed around the bottle opening. The plastic bottle gives way to the suction and will possibly dent easily. In the forward tilt technique, the capsule to be taken is also placed on the tongue first, followed by a sip of water in the mouth and the head tilted forward to the chest. During the movement capsule and water are swallowed.

Recommend special swallowing techniques in general
The two techniques have „The swallowing of large oral dosage forms in most participants, regardless of previously existing dysphagia, significantly improved“, write Walter Haefeli and colleagues. For the first time, the benefits of these swallowing techniques are clearly documented by the current study. They can be used in the future specifically to facilitate tablet and capsule uptake and are therefore generally recommended in the opinion of the researchers. However, the study still shows certain weaknesses that should be worked through in future investigations. For example, the sample of 151 subjects was unrepresentative and the amount of water available for ingestion was standardized in the study. For larger tablets, theoretically, more water could facilitate swallowing, the study authors also report. Nevertheless, the study results remain a convincing argument for the use of special swallowing techniques. (Fp)