Jaw Stretching Exercises for TMJ pain relief
Oral and facial pain disorders are common and sometimes debilitating conditions involving the head, face, and neck. Patients often experience symptoms including limited opening, joint locking, painful chewing, facial pain, or headaches.
Exercises can reduce pain, improve coordination of masticatory muscles, reduce muscle spasm and hyperactivity, restore original muscle length, strengthen the muscles involved, increase jaw mobility, relax the jaw and promote tissue repair and regeneration.
These exercises may ease TMJ symptoms.
These exercises must be done four to six times per day to be effective. You should also use moist heat for 10–15 minutes prior to stretching the muscles.
Posture training helps keep the jaw, neck and head muscles relaxed. It is important to begin all jaw and neck relaxation and stretching exercises by relaxing the head. Poor posture puts tension on the muscles of the temporomandibular joints, and may aggravate TMD symptoms.
1.Relaxed Jaw Exercise - Rest your tongue gently on the top of your mouth behind your upper front teeth. Allow your teeth to come apart while relaxing your jaw muscles.
2. Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Gently open your mouth as far as you can without moving your tongue. Slowly open and close your mouth five times.
3. Jaw Stretching Exercise - Place fingers lightly over jaw joints. Open and close your mouth slowly, feeling the range of jaw joint opening and closing. Start with slight to moderate opening. As you improve, the range of opening and closing will increase. Both right and left jaw joints should move simultaneously and smoothly as you slowly open and close. Repeat the exercise 10-12 times.
4. Lateral Jaw Stretching Exercise - This exercise is similar to jaw exercise and should be repeated 10-12 times. The movement should be controlled by using your fingers and hands to help avoid excessive movement and to offer slight resistance. It is important to coax, not force jaw movements.
5. Forward and Backward Jaw Stretching Exercise - Use your fingers to guide and offer slight resistance to forward and backward jaw movements. Use your thumb to help guide and gently coax the lower jaw forward. Coax your jaw until you feel discomfort; hold the position for several seconds, then proceed with backward jaw movement. Use your index finger to gently push your jaw backward. Repeat the exercise 10-12 times.
6. Neck Stretching Exercise - Tuck in your chin and place your index finger on your upper lip. Stretch the back of your neck by guiding your head backward and upward. Use your finger to gently coax and guide head and neck movement. Repeat 10-12 times, slowly.
What other things do I need to remember?
Never bite your fingernails
Never bite your lower lip
Avoid biting on your front teeth
Avoid jaw clenching. Keep your upper and lower jaw teeth apart when at rest
Avoid gum chewing
When doing TMJ exercises, start slowly. You may feel some pain at first, but it should be tolerable and gradually improve. If the pain isn’t tolerable, consult your doctor. You should do TMJ exercises when you’re relaxed. If you do them when your muscles are tense, it may defeat the purpose.
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