Strategies & exercises

Mendelsohn maneuver

Also written as Mendelsohn, Mendelsohn swallow, Mendelsohn technique.

A swallowing technique in which the voice box is held in its raised position during the swallow to keep the food passage open longer.

Every time you swallow, your voice box (larynx) lifts up and forward for a moment. That lift is part of what pulls open the top of the esophagus, the tube to the stomach. In the Mendelsohn maneuver, the person deliberately holds the voice box at the top of that lift for a beat before letting it settle back down.

ASHA describes it as designed to elevate the larynx and open the esophagus during the swallow to prevent food or liquid from falling into the airway. ASHA also describes the action itself: the patient holds the larynx in an elevated position at the peak of hyolaryngeal elevation — that is, at the highest point of the lift.

This is a trained technique, not an intuitive one. Most people cannot feel or control that lift without coaching, so it is usually taught step by step, sometimes with hands-on cueing or with feedback from equipment. ASHA notes that some maneuvers require following multistep directions and may not be appropriate for patients with cognitive impairments.

An SLP may consider the Mendelsohn maneuver when the timing or the opening at the top of the esophagus is part of the clinical picture. If it appears in your report, it reflects reasoning about your swallow specifically. Your SLP may teach it to you and check how you are doing it — reading the description here is not the same as being trained in it, so do not practice it on your own.