Effectiveness of Physiotherapy Intervention for Mouth Opening in Surgically Treated Patients for Oral Cancers

Restricted mouth opening can be induced by surgical treatment. Restricted mouth opening and pain may impede biting, chewing, speech, laughing, yawning, oral hygiene and may have an impact on quality of life. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of manual physiotherapy in mouth opening and pain after surgery in oral cancer. The study design was randomized control trial. Total 30 consecutive patients who had undergone surgery and were referred for physiotherapy rehabilitation were included in the study. Participants were randomized in two groups, Group A (Experimental group) and Group B (Control group). Participants of both groups were assessed on 5th post-operative day (POD) which included measures of mouth opening using vernier caliper and pain in the form of Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). All the participants underwent 10 days of exercise protocol. On 15th POD mouth opening and pain intensity measures were measured again. While comparing between two groups, average increase of mouth opening for Group A and Group B was (12.00±4.47) and (4.93±2.57) respectively, which was statically highly significant (p value<0.001). Average decrease of pain for Group A and Group B was (-2.26±0.88) and (-1.26±0.45) respectively, which was statically highly significant (p value<0.05). The study showed definite positive effect of physiotherapy intervention in surgically treated patients for oral cancers.