[dools]

I read this last year after going through some pretty weird oesophageal stuff, and I think if it did work it's almost certainly not because they provided the LES with "resistance training".

A sphincter doesn't provide motility along the oesophagus, it tightens and contracts. The angle at which it does this is irrelevant.

If this was indeed successful, a far more likely explanation is that doing this slowed down their eating and put less pressure on the smooth muscle function of the oesophagus during peristalsis and less pressure on the LES, allowing it some time to rest and perhaps get better at sphinctering.