Exercise Cure for TMJ

[Guest guest]

Does your face hurt? Because it's killing me!

How many times did my brother say that to me during our growing-up years? Flash

forward... now 43, he just told me that he paid $800 for a custom-made mouth

guard " appliance " to wear while sleeping to treat his sore jaw, which was

diagnosed as temporomandibular joint disorder (commonly referred to as TMJ or

TMD). After teasing my brother a bit about " payback time, " I decided to play

nice and see if I could learn anything that might be helpful to him -- or anyone

else, as this is a very common problem.

I called S. Kaplan, DMD, associate clinical professor at Mount Sinai

School of Medicine, New York City, who wrote The TMJ Book. Dr. Kaplan told me

that a common cause of TMJ is stress-induced grinding and clamping of the teeth,

especially while sleeping. This irritates the muscles (and sometimes, though

less often, the jaw joint). The result is headaches and soreness on the sides of

the face and sometimes other symptoms, too, such as a clicking noise when you

open or close your mouth. If you have these symptoms, Dr. Kaplan urged

consulting with a dentist experienced in treating the issue -- he/she will

tailor your treatment based on an examination.

Dr. Kaplan told me that since TMJ is usually related to muscle tension, there

are a number of jaw-relaxation exercises that people can do at home to relieve

the pain. He shared several that may not only help soothe the discomfort but

could in fact solve the problem if muscular irritation is what's causing your

TMJ.

TMJ Exercise Plan

Dr. Kaplan suggested doing some stretching exercises to help release tension

from your jaw when you experience pain... if you find that they don't help or

even make matters worse, check in with your dentist, because you may need more

aggressive treatment.

Jaw Muscle Stretch

Open your mouth just a bit. Place the palm of your right hand on the right side

of your jaw, meanwhile sliding your lower jaw toward your hand. Push gently

against it, creating resistance to the sideways movement -- hold for five

seconds. Now repeat this with your left palm against the left side of your jaw.

Do this five times on each side.

Isometric Jaw Exercise

Relaxing your mouth, protrude your lower jaw forward, straight, while placing

your palm against the chin, creating resistance. Hold for five seconds. Repeat

five times.

Neck Stretch 1

Turning your head to the right to rotate your neck, take two fingers of your

left hand and place them on the left lower jaw, pushing slightly to gently

stretch your neck muscles. Hold for five seconds. Now rotate your neck to the

left while placing gentle pressure on the right lower jaw, again using two

fingers to push and gently stretch the neck muscles. Hold for five seconds.

Repeat five times for each side.

Neck Stretch II

Standing up, extend your head back gently so that you are looking at the

ceiling... you should feel a gentle stretch in your throat. Hold for five

seconds. Now drop your head forward so that you are looking down at the floor,

again feeling a gentle stretch, this time at the back of your neck. Hold for

five seconds. Repeat five times.

Neck Stretch III

Bend your neck to the right side, lowering your right ear to your right

shoulder. Place two fingers on the left temple area and exert gentle pressure

until you feel a stretch in your neck. Hold for five seconds. Now do this on the

other side, using two fingers on your right temple to exert gentle pressure

until you feel a stretch. Repeat two times on each side.

Mouth Muscle Massage

Place three fingers of each hand on their respective temples. In a circular

motion, gently massage the temporalis muscles for about 10 seconds, being

careful not to exert too much pressure. Repeat two or three times. Similarly,

try this massage on the jaw, placing your hands just in front of and below your

ears, which massages the masseter muscles.

Dr. Kaplan's Other TMJ Tips

Dr. Kaplan offered a few other suggestions as well...

Avoid hard, crunchy or chewy foods (including salads) because these require

side-to-side jaw motion.

Don't chew gum, and try to avoid opening your mouth wide, including when

yawning. (Place your hand under your jaw to restrain this natural impulse.)

Don't rest your chin in your palm or cradle the telephone between your ear and

shoulder.

Try to keep your teeth slightly apart with your tongue relaxed between them as

often as possible (say to yourself " lips together, teeth apart " ).

Soothe pain with a hot compress. To make one: Run hot water over a washcloth for

a few minutes, wring and apply. Or you can buy microwavable hot compresses in a

pharmacy.

Dr. Kaplan said that these measures are often enough to solve the problem

completely... too late for my brother who already shelled out for his fancy

mouth guard, but if you have TMJ, you may want to give this routine a try first.

Source(s):

S. Kaplan, DMD, associate clinical professor at the Mount Sinai School of

Medicine, New York City, and author of The TMJ Book (Pharos).