IQoro Review for Acid Reflux – My Honest Opinion

If you didn’t know IQoro is a device that can be used to stimulate and strengthen muscles from the mouth, throat, esophagus and all the down to the stomach.

The whole basic premise of IQoro is when a lot of these muscles are strengthened and stimulated this leads to an improvement in people’s symptoms with acid reflux.

Keep in mind I had tested Iqoro myself and done the research regarding how it helps people with acid reflux and LPR predominantly. So, I will be delving into that side of things and how it all works here in my IQoro review.

Iqoro Basics

If you read the IQoro website when it comes to explaining their product it’s particularly meant to help acid reflux especially in the sense when someone has a hiatal hernia. For people who know definitively that they have a hiatal hernia it most likely you will benefit from using an IQoro device.

Not to say that people who have acid reflux or LPR (silent reflux) can’t get a benefit from actually using it as well.

When you read about problems caused by a hiatal hernia they include, acid reflux, heartburn, lump in throat feeling, difficulty swallowing food, gas, excessive mucus, long lasting cough, and chest pain. The thing here is that basically all if not most of those symptoms are indicative of LPR. But does that mean that anyone who has LPR has a hiatal hernia? Well, no it doesn’t, but this clear correlation with symptoms shows the correlation. Therefore, I became interested in IQoro to see if it can help people with silent reflux and acid reflux who don’t have a hernia, and, to see if the correlation mentioned improves symptoms for people without a hernia.

Before I go deeper into it I should firstly explain how you use an IQoro device. As you can tell from the picture it basically is a mouthguard like device where you place in into your mouth in front of your teeth (and you pull outwards without biting your teeth together) for 10 seconds for 3 times with 3 seconds breaks in between.

You do this 3 times per day (with at least 2-hour gap between exercises). So total “exercise” time is roughly 2 minutes per day. A good thing about it that it’s not uncomfortable to do or anything like that, so it’s simple to do and not uncomfortable to use unlike some other acid reflux devices.

When you start out I would suggest with half the recommended time for at least 3-5 days. This way your muscles can get used to it more easily before doing the full time as suggested. I initially did the full recommended time per day, and I had some discomfort in the muscles in the back of my throat and mouth for the first 2-3 days, hence my suggestion.

Medical Studies Findings

I want to talk about different medical studies and how the IQoro device helped patients – of course again focusing on people with acid reflux.

The first study I want to mention is this study where patients with hiatal hernia used the device. The conclusion of the study showed that when using the device, it can and will help improve symptoms for people with a longer-term hiatal hernia.

The important thing to note here is that all patients had a hernia, so this is indicative that for anyone who has a hernia it’s worth trying out, especially thanks to the improvement recorded here. It’s also important to mention that patients had to use the device for around 6-8 months to see the improvement and initially when using the device, you may see no improvement. So, it’s basically a buildup effect over time.

Another study was done on 43 patients. 21 had hiatal hernia and the other 22 patients didn’t have a hernia. The main problem for these patients was esophageal dysphagia and reflux symptoms. If you don’t know esophageal dysphagia is when food has the feeling of getting stuck in the throat or in the chest. Anyone who has LPR knows there is some correlation there and some people who have LPR can develop a similar symptom just like that. This is something worth noting that the study didn’t mention.

The results for that study where good, 86% of patients saw improvement in symptoms. An important thing to note here was that there wasn’t any notable difference between the 2 sets of people (1 with the hernia and 1 without). This is interesting because this implies the device can help people without a hernia and makes it something to even consider for people with acid reflux or LPR. Regardless or not if you have the food getting stuck problem, though for people with that symptom this device is definitely worth your attention it seems. This test too ran for 6-8 months.

Another study showed that the IQoro device helped people with hiatal hernia regardless of if they were obese or not.

A final study helped people with misdirected swallowing which was related to esophageal retention and hiatal incompetence. Interesting enough in this study symptoms improved included swallowing, hoarseness, cough, esophageal retention and globus sensations (lump in the throat).

I mention these symptoms improved again because even though these patients all had hiatal hernia there is a clear overlap with symptoms that improved that also match silent reflux symptoms.

My Own Personal Use of IQoro So Far

When it comes to IQoro overall I like the principles and simplicity of things here. It’s not invasive or uncomfortable and doing the exercises daily is quite simple and effortless after a few days of doing them.

I have currently been using the IQoro myself for 3 months at current time of writing. I have yet to notice any significant improvement in symptoms when it comes to LPR (keep in mind I have not been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia). Though I still want to reserve my judgement until I have been using it for the recommended timeframe of 6-8 months, which I will later update my thoughts on here in this article.

IQoro is currently priced at £149 or roughly $205 USD. I wish they priced the device a little more affordably, it does seem overpriced considering I can’t imagine the mouth guard to cost them more than £5-10 ($10-15) to make. Though I should say they have done the research on the area so I assume that has been incorporated into the cost and if you use the device and get any decent improvement in symptoms that price will no longer be a problem.

If you are based in Europe or the UK it should be possible to get it shipped directly from IQoro.com. If you are based in the US there is no direct way to have the product shipped. You may have to choose a seller through a 3^rd party site like eBay for example, which is a bit of a hassle.

Should You Try IQoro or Not?

I think it depends on where you are when it comes to acid reflux, let me explain:

If you Have a Hiatal Hernia:

If you have a hernia and symptoms relating to that I think you absolutely should try the IQoro device. The evidence all points to it being helpful for people with a hernia.

For People with LPR:

If you have LPR (silent reflux) I think it’s worth trying the IQoro device if you have some overlapping symptoms as are indicated to be also improved by using it. The symptoms I am talking about include acid reflux, heartburn, globus sensation (lump in throat), difficulty swallowing, belching, excessive mucus, chronic cough, and chest pain.

If you do have LPR or what you believe to be LPR before using and trying IQoro I would first suggest making adjustments to your diet.

Firstly, try to eliminate the trigger foods for acid reflux. If that doesn’t help try a low acid diet like my Wipeout Diet Plan. On top of that drink only alkaline water. And finally consider taking Gaviscon Advance after meals and before bedtime. If after following these steps you still don’t have any improvement or want a bigger improvement I think IQoro is worth trying.

For People with Heartburn/GERD:

I think for people with heartburn and GERD it’s less likely that the IQoro may help you. Mainly due the symptoms not overlapping as much. The only real overlapping symptoms are heartburn and chest pain here.

So, I would anticipate that IQoro would be less likely to help you, but it still could be worth a shot if you have already tried other important measures just like with LPR – it’s important to make diet changes first and follow a low acid diet like my Wipeout Diet. As there is no real downside to using the IQoro I think it’s worth a try after trying a diet like this.

A 9 Month Update

After using IQoro for 9 months I have decided to stop. I didn’t see much if any benefit for me personally. As I mentioned before I don’t have a hiatal hernia so whether the device was the perfect fit for me was not clear. But I wanted to give it a go nonetheless.

Of course I haven’t seen an improvement. Though my same advice still stand that if you have a hiatal hernia this device is 100% worth trying out. If you have LPR I still personally think it’s worth a try. And for other people with more general acid reflux or GERD personally I wouldn’t suggest you spend your money on this.

If you have any further questions about IQoro or different ways to treat your acid reflux consider a consultation sesssion here.