Relationship Between Resultant Force Vector Acting on Human Organs From Food Bolus and the Bolus Configuration During...

This study investigates the forces exerted on organs during swallowing, specifically focusing on identifying forces other than those resulting from direct organ contact. Using a swallowing simulator based on the moving particle method, we simulated the swallowing process of healthy individuals upon the ingestion of thickened foods, which were simulated as shear-thinning flow without yield stress. We extracted the resultant force vectors acting on the organs and shape of the bolus at each time interval. The simulation results confirmed that the bolus originates from tongue movement and is transferred between the oral cavity and pharynx, with each organ's coordinated movements with the tongue occurring at their respective positions, as indicated by the balance of the resultant force vectors. Utilizing the information about the resultant force vectors obtained through simulations, we calculated the physical parameters of impulse, energy, and power. The variations in these physical parameters were aligned with the behaviors of both the biological system and the food bolus during swallowing. The force values calculated from the simulations closely approximate the theoretical values. Furthermore, the forces calculated from the simulations were relatively smaller than the force values derived from pressure information, such as that from high-resolution manometry and tongue pressure sensors. This difference can be attributed to the simulations extracting only the forces exerted on the organ by the food bolus. Force information on organs has the potential to provide a new interpretation of conventional mechanical indicators such as manometry and tongue pressure sensors.