DISCOVERING TMJ
You should go in for TMJ treatment only if you know that you are suffering from this disorder. How can you determine this? Here are a few questions to help you along.
• Do you find it difficult to open your mouth wide?
• Do you experience any grinding or popping sound in your jaw, while eating or talking?
• Does your jaw hurt when you chew food?
• Do you find it difficult to move your jaw up and down?
• Do you often suffer from headache, stiff neck, and unexplained pain in the eye socket?
• Do you find it difficult to turn your head to look straight over your shoulder?
• Do you grind your teeth at night?
• Do you experience unexplained pain in your upper or lower front teeth?
• Do you experience unexplained pain in your ears?
If you have answered ‘yes’ to even any one of these questions, you may be suffering from Temporo- Mandibular Joint pain or TMJ.
TMJ affects muscles in and around the jaw, mouth, neck, temples, and back of the head. Why do these areas hurt if the pain is in TMJ joint? Well, such pain is commonly known as referred pain. This pain gets referred from the muscles that control the action of the jaw. So the pain is not where the problem area is. TMJ treatment is effective once you know that the referral pain is not the real problem area. The therapist knows how to work on these referral areas to de-activate trigger points and release the pain in the muscles.
Stress plays a major role in TMJ. The lower jaw is one place where a lot of energy gets stored in the adjoining muscles. When we are under stress, we grit and grind our teeth. This action contributes to tightening of muscles and creating a cycle of pain. Sometimes this pain grows into a tension headache, which further increases the tension in the muscles and results in increased tendency to grit the teeth. Thus a vicious cycle is formed. Sometimes the pain just refuses to abate. TMJ exercises play a great role in alleviating this pain. These exercises optimize the healing process.
Sometimes the TMJ pain is caused due to extensive dental work. Soft tissue manipulation given by a neuro-muscular therapist often helps to relieve the pain. He uses low pressure massage techniques to work on the cause of the pain. Some therapists use antioxidants to treat this problem. Whatever be the TMJ treatment employed by your therapist, TMJ is a curable problem.
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