Jaw Joint
The jaw is attached to the skull by strong muscles and ligaments. Poor resting postures and functional patterns such as breathing, chewing and swallowing can unbalance these jaw muscles.
Our bodies are amazing at adapting to dysfunctional patterns however the imbalance of the muscles are likely to influence jaw joint dysfunction (temporomandibular joint or TMD). There are a wide range of symptoms which can be associated with Jaw joint Dysfunction, such as:
- Clicking , popping, pain of the jaw on opening or closing the mouth
- Headaches, migraines, earaches, sinus problems, face pain
- Tooth problems such as grinding, wearing, breaking teeth
- Musculo-skeletal pain and associated problems such as, neck/arm pain, back/pelvic pain, dizziness and pain in other joints associated with compensatory muscle/joint tension.
In order to rehabilitate Tempormandibular dysfunction (TMD) it is important to identify the tension related to the pain generator, reduce the tension and teach the patient how to keep the tension from returning. A MyoDynamic TMD therapy programme includes six goals to programme
- Learn new resting positions
- Work the old soft tissue pattern
- Restore original muscle length
- Restore normal joint mobility
- Restore normal body balance
- If symptoms return work on the above again.