Quick Overview
A 2016 Seoul hospital study tested EMS plus usual swallowing therapy in nine stroke patients with facial palsy.
Jong-Bae Choi at Kyung Hee Medical Center used 30-minute facial NMES (a niche of EMS), five days a week, for four weeks.
Cheek strength rose from 14.3 to 18.4 kPa. Lip strength rose from 10.6 to 13.4 kPa. Oral swallowing scores improved from 27.0 to 22.2.
Japan’s peer-reviewed Journal of Physical Therapy Science published the numbers.
Those measured gains suggest structured EMS can help face strength and oral function after stroke.
Read the full post for the method, limits, and why this paper is legitimate.
We always provide direct links to the original research at the end of every article so you can review the evidence yourself.
Four Weeks of Facial EMS Linked to Stronger Cheeks and Better Swallowing Scores After Stroke
A small hospital study from Seoul put a simple question on the table.
Can regular electrical muscle stimulation help the face after stroke?
The researchers were not chasing a miracle claim.
They wanted measured change in muscle strength and oral function.
That purpose matters.
Stroke can weaken the lower face and make eating harder.
Food can leak.
Chewing can fade.
A smile can look uneven.
So they tested neuromuscular electrical stimulation, a clinical form of EMS, on the paretic face.
Why this write-up is grounded in real research
This is not a rumour.
It is a peer-reviewed paper from 2016.
Occupational therapist Jong-Bae Choi led the work.
He was based at Kyung Hee Medical Center in Seoul.
That hospital sits inside a major South Korean university health system.
The paper appeared in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science.
That journal is published in Japan by the Society of Physical Therapy Science.
The society has published this title since 1989.
The article is indexed on PubMed.
Japan and South Korea both have long records in hospital science.
This study came from that tradition, not from an anonymous blog claim.
The authors also listed limits.
The group was small.
There was no separate control arm.
Patients were still in the early months after stroke.
Those facts keep the story honest.
What the scientists set out to learn
Purpose: test whether facial NMES, used with usual swallowing therapy, could raise face strength and improve the oral stage of swallowing after stroke.
They enrolled nine adults with facial palsy and oral dysphagia.
Average age was 60.78 years.
There were five men and four women.
Every person had stroke onset within three months.
A video X-ray swallow test had confirmed oral swallowing trouble.
Cognition scores were at least 24 on the Mini-Mental State Examination.
They excluded people with pacemakers, severe aphasia, unstable illness, or skin problems at the electrode site.
How the EMS program was delivered
Each person received EMS plus traditional dysphagia therapy.
Sessions lasted 30 minutes.
They ran five days a week.
The program lasted four weeks.
That is twenty supervised sessions.
The schedule was frequent and consistent.
Clinicians used an EMS unit as explained in the paper.
One electrode set sat on the weaker lower face.
The machine used an 80 Hz pulse rate.
Pulse width was fixed at 700 microseconds.
Intensity rose in 0.5 mA steps.
Staff stopped when the person felt a grabbing sensation.
They also looked for a visible muscle twitch.
Dose ranged from 9.0 to 14.0 mA.
The average intensity was 13.2 mA.
Electrodes targeted the lower face.
The authors said this could reach the buccal branch of the facial nerve.
They also noted possible trigeminal nerve input.
The bright point in the protocol is simple.
They did not dabble once.
They repeated EMS often enough to look for change.
The numbers that moved
Strength was measured with the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument.
That tool records pressure in kilopascals.
Maximal cheek strength rose from 14.3 ± 3.4 kPa to 18.4 ± 2.8 kPa.
Maximal lip strength rose from 10.6 ± 2.7 kPa to 13.4 ± 2.7 kPa.
Those gains were statistically significant at p < 0.05.
Swallowing was scored with the Videofluoroscopy Dysphagia Scale.
The team focused on seven oral-stage items.
Those items included lip closure, bolus formation, and mastication.
The oral VDS score fell from 27.0 ± 5.0 to 22.2 ± 4.3.
On this scale, a lower score means better function.
That change was also significant at p < 0.05.
In plain English, cheeks pushed harder.
Lips held firmer.
Oral swallowing scores improved after the four-week block.
The authors tied those oral gains to face muscles.
Cheeks and lips help keep food in.
They help form a bolus.
They help chewing.
What the paper concluded
The study’s own conclusion was direct.
Electrical stimulation improved facial muscle strength and oral function in these stroke patients with dysphagia.
That is the evidence this paper offers.
It does not prove EMS works for every survivor.
It does show measured progress in this small Seoul group after a structured program.
The hopeful reading is practical.
Weak face muscles were not treated as a lost cause.
With repeated NMES and usual therapy, strength and oral scores moved in the right direction.
Read this the careful way
This article reports a published hospital study.
It is not medical advice.
It is not a product advertisement.
It does not claim a device is approved in Australia for this use.
Stroke care belongs with a qualified clinician.
Facial EMS is not a DIY experiment.
People with implants, skin problems, or unstable illness were excluded here for a reason.
One small study cannot settle the whole field.
Natural recovery can also play a part early after stroke.
Still, the measured cheek, lip, and swallowing scores are on the public record.
The paper’s useful message is this.
A planned, repeated facial EMS program, used with standard swallowing therapy, was followed by stronger oral muscles and better oral-stage scores in these nine patients.
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Research Summary
| Detail | What the paper reports |
|---|---|
| Full title | Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on facial muscle strength and oral function in stroke patients with facial palsy |
| Author and post | Jong-Bae Choi, MS, Department of Occupational Therapy |
| Research centre | Kyung Hee Medical Center, 23 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea |
| Journal and issue | Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 2016, Vol. 28, No. 9, pages 2541–2543 |
| Publisher | The Society of Physical Therapy Science, published by IPEC Inc., Japan |
| Access and identifiers | Open-access CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; PMID 27799689; PMCID PMC5080171; DOI 10.1589/jpts.28.2541 |
| Link to original study | PubMed record · Full text via DOI |
| Stated purpose | To test whether facial NMES (a form of EMS) changes facial muscle strength and oral-phase swallowing after stroke with facial palsy |
| Design and sample | Before-and-after study of nine adults; no separate control group was reported |
| Who took part | Age 60.78 ± 4.76 years; five men and four women; stroke onset under three months |
| Entry rules | Oral dysphagia with central facial palsy, confirmed by VFSS; Mini-Mental State Examination score of 24 or higher |
| Exclusion rules | Cardiac pacemaker, severe aphasia, unstable medical condition, or skin problems at the electrode site |
| Treatment package | Facial NMES plus traditional dysphagia therapy for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for four weeks |
| Device settings | 80 Hz; 700 µs biphasic pulse; intensity 9.0–14.0 mA (average 13.2 mA) until a grabbing feel and visible contraction |
| Where pads were placed | One bipolar electrode set on the paretic lower face, aimed at the buccal branch of the facial nerve and related muscles |
| How progress was measured | Iowa Oral Performance Instrument for maximal cheek and lip strength; VFSS scored with seven oral-stage VDS items |
| Strength results | Cheek strength rose from 14.3 ± 3.4 to 18.4 ± 2.8 kPa; lip strength rose from 10.6 ± 2.7 to 13.4 ± 2.7 kPa (p < 0.05) |
| Swallowing results | Oral-stage VDS score fell from 27.0 ± 5.0 to 22.2 ± 4.3 points, which the authors read as better oral function (p < 0.05) |
| Authors’ conclusion | Electrical stimulation improved facial muscle strength and oral function in these stroke patients with dysphagia |
| Limits they listed | Small sample, possible natural recovery in the subacute period, and no follow-up after the four-week program |
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