TemporoMandibular Joint Dysfunction is a condition in which an unknown problem of the jaw causes pain, tightness, or clicking/popping in the joint or related muscles. People may know TMJD also as teeth grinding, bruxism, lock jaw, and more. Often people aren't even aware they have jaw issues until it gets too problematic. I find even if people feel fine and we work on one side of the jaw they are amazed but how much better the joint and movement feels. Unfortunately this is because the tightness you experience in your daily life is what you consider "normal" and thus it doesn't feel dysfunctional until you have it relieved.
What are some signs and symptoms of TMJD?
Teeth grinding or bruxism
Clenching the jaw
Chattering of jaw/mouth
Tightness and pain with movement or at rest
Jaw deviates as you open
Popping and clicking of the jaw
Lock jaw
Poor sleep
Neck tightness
Bite marks on inside of mouth or tongue
Things that can contribute to TMJD include, but are not limited to:
Tight and overactive/underactive muscles
Poor jaw mechanics
Jaw ligament issues
Software and impact dysfunctions
Emotional stress
Poor sleep mechanics (mouth breathing)
Cervical spine alignment
Level Up has a large variety techniques and tools to assist the healing process and help you overcome chronic TMJ dysfunction. These techniques include:
What are the muscles of the jaw?
Muscles of the jaw can have a variety of movements including: depression and elevation (closing and opening jaw), medial and lateral deviation (side to side movement), retraction and protraction (forward and backward). These movements of combine to give our jaw the 3-d movement we need for talking, eating, breathing, and more.
These jaw muscles that produce movement include:
Masseter and Temporalis
Medial and Lateral Pterygoid
Digastic & Suprahyoids (Geniohyoid, Stylohyoid, Mylohyoid)
Infrahyoids (Sternothyroid, Thyrohyoid, Sternohyoid, Omohyoid)
Intraoral Massage & Swedish Massage
Massage therapy is a great way to work on the muscles both inside and outside the mouth. Many people try and work on specific muscles outside the jaw but this may hit only a small portion of the muscles.
Intraoral massage is a soft tissue approach of working on the muscles inside the mouth. This is performed with a glove for a safety/hygienic barrier. One of the other benefits of intraoral massage is it allows the practitioner to do a palpatory assessment for P-DTR and we can go straight into testing and treating them while working internally.
When clients come to see me I prefer to have clients work on their own jaw in between sessions. For this reason we go over how to work on your own muscles internally. This also gives you the tools needed to treat your own pain and tightness as it arises which I believe is essential to give you control
Swedish Massage allows us to work externally which allows us to focus on more muscles outside the jaw or ones that influence the jaw/neck mechanics.
Future intraoral massage for the sinuses and cranial bones
Level Up is improving it's intraoral massage work with advanced classes related to sinuses and cranial bones. This should help improve the results of people suffering with breathing issues, sleep problems, migraines, headaches and more. Keep an eye out for future blogs regarding this treatment and how it can benefit you.
Cupping Therapy on Jaw
Massage cupping or cupping therapy is a great to help release the muscles of the jaw and mouth from the outside while hitting deeper. This is done by using a facial cup and seal (usually but not always oil) to help create a lift of the tissue allowing for deep and relaxing work while providing a variety of benefits
What are the benefits of facial cupping?
· Stimulates lymphatic system.
· Increases blood flow to tissue.
· Helps release adhesions in face.
· Relax muscles and fascia surrounding the face and skull.
· Create space for the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
One of my favorite things about facial cupping is how easy it is to perform on yourself making it a great self-care technique for any client.
In the next blog we go over how P-DTR can treat TMJD and Photobiomodulation can be used to improve the recovery process.
View Level Up's Approach to TMJD and Jaw Pain Part 2 here: Coming Soon
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