TMJ: Jaw Pain Solutions

TMJ (Tempro Mandibular Joint) problems are complex and more common than we are aware of. However have you not HAD it you probably have no idea what I am talking about. TMJ stands for Tempro Mandibular Joint. It’s the pivot point of the jaw and many people end up with pain there that is more than a little bit severe.

The anatomy of the area is complex and I am not going to provide illustrations of it but suffice it to say there are muscular connections between the TMJ, the atlas (Top Cervical Vertebra) the hyoid bone that resides in the anterior throat. Stresses can be applied to the area through a multitude of differing impetuses.

At one point I had a Maxo-Facial Surgeon (The MD’s most abreast of this area and its complexities) as a patient who asked me “Are you one of those Chiropractors who claims to work with TMJ ?” I sheepishly responded with “Well… I do and I seem to only be able to help about fifty percent of the people I work with.” She said “Fifty, I can only help about twenty.” So… tough to deal with for sure and clearly she didn’t expect my response, which to me is not a particularly high percentage of success. Guess its all relative.

Unlike many of my other articles there is no fabulous self-fix I can share with you to try for TMJ issues. Chiropractors examine the range of motion and try to correct the side-to-side deviations. Some actually enter the mouth and work on the muscles that are at play with the joint. Surgeons surge…. (OK so this is a procedure I do NOT know exactly what they do in their efforts to assist their patients.)

What I do have for you are some exercises/stretches that seem to alleviate symptoms in some of the TMJ sufferers. You have nothing to lose by trying them in fact you just may find these beneficial.

Oh and let me give a shout out to my stunt model Cynthia without whose natural beauty and charm these photos would look even sillier than they do. THANK YOU Cynthia !

The first one I am going to give you is the forward stretch. You sit upright in a chair with your spine in a neutral position and without moving your neck or body, you simply jut your jaw forward.

The second maneuver I’ll just call the big mouth (Kudos to Rosemary Clooney). Again you sit in a neutral position and without any body movement, simply open wide stretching the mouth as much as possible.

The next maneuver is the TMJ Lateral Shift. Again neutral position to start no body or neck movement allowed. Simply shift the jaw to the left then relax. Then shift it to the right and relax.

The last one is the same as the TMJ lateral shift but, this time add some resistance by placing your palm against the side of the jaw you are shifting toward. Press your jaw into the palm while the palm provides some reverse pressure.

All these exercises are meant to be progressive. Meaning hold times should increase as should repetitions. A safe starting point is fifteen to twenty second hold times for three to five reps per side. As you get used to this PLEASE increase this or you won’t be making any progress.

OK YES !! You have some pain or you wouldn’t be reading this article. I get that. Do not do these exercises if the pain level increases too much. You have to work within your level of tolerance. What you will find is as you do them more and more, the hold time will increase as will the pressures you will be able to exert without the pain increasing. This equates to…. Getting better.

Now my lucky TMJ sufferers, you have some homework to do.

I hope this is helpful to you.