Do you ever suffer from:
- Pain or tightness in the face and jaw area
- Clicking of the jaw when yawning
- Clinching or grinding of the teeth at night
- Jaw pain/discomfort after prolonged dental work
- Regular un-explained headaches
Any of these may well be due to malfunction of the “Temporal Mandibular Joint” or TMJ
The TMJ is the most complex joint in the whole body. Located just below the ear it allows us to open and close the mouth, move the jaw from side to side and the chin forward and back. It has a greater range of movement than any of our other joints. A massive 50% of sensory and motor brain cells are devoted to the TMJ. An imbalance here can have a knock on effect on many different areas of the body including the hips and lower back. There are several different muscles involved with the TMJ and some of these can tighten and spasm on one or both sides of the jaw. We tend to hold a lot of tension in the jaw area without even realising it. A simple self-help tip is to gently massage the muscles beneath the cheeks on both sides of the face.
In Kinesiology we have a more detailed treatment for TMJ disorder where we check to see exactly which muscle is responsible for the tension. We then work along that muscle to “turn it down” or relax it. We can also check if TMJ might be associated with pain or discomfort in other areas of the body. In many cases re-setting the TMJ muscles can have a very positive impact on the entire body through the release of stress and tension.