NCT06383091

Impact of Manual Therapy on Laryngeal Function Following Total Thyroidectomy

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

In this clinical trial, the investigators are seeking to learn if a course of voice therapy, including neck massage, stretches and pain science education in addition to voice exercise and scar massage will effectively treatment patient complaints of swallowing or voice changes after total thyroidectomy as compared to voice exercise and scar massage alone. The main questions it aims to answer are: Will neck massage, stretches and pain science education reduce patient complaints of swallowing changes after total thyroidectomy? Will neck massage, stretches and pain science education reduce patient complaints of voice changes after total thyroidectomy? Will neck massage, stretches and pain science education reduce patient complaints of scar tethering and quality changes after total thyroidectomy? Will neck massage, stretches and pain science education improve quality of life after total thyroidectomy? Participants will: Participate in 4 visits with the participant's endocrine/laryngology surgeon. One prior and 3 after surgery for endoscopic evaluation and tests. Participate in 5 Speech-Language Pathology Sessions for intervention exercises and tests. One prior and 4 after surgery. Complete a journal of the participant's Home Exercise Practice

Conditions

• Total Thyroidectomy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Anterior Neck Manual Therapy	Manual massage applied to the anterior neck, including hyolaryngeal elevators, depressors, sternocleidomastoid.
BEHAVIORAL	Pain Neuroscience Education	Description of how the pain system works from a neurobiological level, discussing the biopsychosocial model that influences pain.
BEHAVIORAL	Neck Stretches	Bilateral cervical side bending, cervical extension and bilateral rotational neck stretches held for 20 seconds x3.
BEHAVIORAL	Scar massage	Digital manipulation of the scar itself in circles.
BEHAVIORAL	Voice Exercises	Stemple Voice Exercises
BEHAVIORAL	Placebo Anterior Neck Manual Therapy	Will apply extremely light manual contact to the anterior neck, including hyolaryngeal elevators, depressors, sternocleidomastoid.
BEHAVIORAL	Placebo Pain Neuroscience Education	Will discuss how pain will as a result of the surgical intervention.
BEHAVIORAL	Placebo Neck Stretches	Will ask patient to look down as a neck stretch held for 20 seconds x3.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-06-03
• Primary completion: 2027-12-01
• Completion: 2027-12-01
• First posted: 2024-04-25
• Last updated: 2025-06-15

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States