TMJ Treatment
If you’re struggling with TMJ pain, you’re about to find a solution that actually works.
If you’re like many of the people we talk to with TMJ and jaw pain, you don’t know where to go to find relief. You may have talked to providers and not received real answers, tried a night guard or botox, or even gone through an intensive TMJ recovery plan with little to show for it.
We see you.
TMJ pain affects everything you do. Talking, chewing, yawning, and smiling all become energy-draining tasks because you’re constantly calculating how much you can do before you’ll pay for it. These “simple” tasks aren’t so simple anymore.
Physical therapy is extremely effective at treating TMJ and jaw pain! Most people don’t think of physical therapy for jaw problems. Our mission is to make this common knowledge so more people receive the support they need to get their lives back.
Trauma informed.
Resilience focused.
Hope infused care.
TMJ symptoms we treat
There are many symptoms you may be experiencing that are connected to the jaw. Some are obvious, but others may surprise you with their jaw connection!
Here are common things we treat that are related to the jaw:
Jaw pain, tightness, and tension
Jaw popping, clicking, and locking
Clenching and grinding (bruxism), both day and night
Tooth pain
Difficulty yawning, chewing, or talking
Pain with prolonged mouth opening, as with dental procedures
Facial pain
Trigeminal neuralgia
Ear ringing (tinnitus)
Ear fullness
Headaches and migraine
Neck pain and tension
Why jaw dysfunction happens
The jaw, or temporomandibular joint, is a joint with muscles surrounding it, just like any other joint in the body.
The joint and surrounding muscles can get tight, move too much, become irritated, get overworked, and cause pain…just like any other part of the body.
There are physical reasons you can experience TMD (aka temporomandibular dysfunction), such as:
Overuse
Grinding or clenching
Posture problems
Neck pain and tightness
Poor breathing patterns
Tongue weakness and poor tongue posture (yes, the tongue has a posture too)
Swallow dysfunction
Bite alignment problems or bite correction
Facial trauma
Sleep disordered breathing (such as sleep apnea)
AND there are also less direct causes of TMD including:
Stress and overwhelm
Nervous system dysregulation
Past traumas
Pelvic floor dysfunction
The jaw is a very emotional part of the body and is often a place where stress, overwhelm, and trauma manifests. There are also strong connections between the jaw and pelvic floor, both anatomical through fascia and through the nervous system.
This is where our trauma-informed pillar of care not only shines, but is truly necessary for lasting results.
We have seen so many times where someone went through mental or emotional trauma, developed jaw symptoms, was given an oral appliance, and their symptoms got worse. That is because the jaw was never the problem. A dysregulated nervous system was the problem and it manifested in the jaw.
By combining physical therapy treatment to the neck and jaw with stress processing and nervous system regulation strategies, your jaw symptoms can finally go away…for good.
If you’re wondering if your nervous system is contributing to your jaw pain, take our nervous system quiz to find out! As a gift, you’ll receive our free Nervous System Recalibration Guide so you can start supporting your nervous system right away.
How we treat jaw pain and TMD (temporomandibular disorders)
We apply our same trauma-informed, resilience-focused, hope-infused care to the jaw to help our clients finally find lasting relief.
Here are some of the common treatments utilized for jaw physical therapy:
Manual therapy to the TMJ and surrounding muscles, both external and intra-oral
Dry needling
Myofascial release
Breathing drills
Neuromuscular re-education to the jaw, tongue, and neck (aka teaching these body parts how to move optimally)
Tongue posture and strengthening drills
Neck mobility and strengthening drills
Productive stress processing strategies
Stress response awareness
Relaxation and regulation strategies
Posture optimization, both daytime and sleeping posture
Core and shoulder strengthening
Research shows that all people with TMD have problems in the neck that influence the jaw. Simply treating your neck can help your jaw feel better! We are expertly trained to address all these parts of the body to maximize healing.
We understand that receiving jaw physical therapy can be a vulnerable thing. We will help you feel safe and supported at each and every visit.
How jaw physical therapy can help you
If you have not felt heard or supported with past treatments for your TMJ pain, or if you have not found a solution that actually works for you, please do not give up hope! We have helped countless people just like you…lost, confused, losing hope, and exhausted from trying to find a solution that works.
Addressing the root cause of your jaw pain and symptoms is crucial to experience relief that lasts. Our goal is to help you identify the underlying problems and empower you on the road to recovery.
It is extremely common to experience jaw pain, headaches, and neck pain/tension all together. The head, neck, and jaw are intimately connected and can refer pain to each other. What is going on in one area almost always affects another.
We look at all these areas together, as well as lifestyle factors like sleep, stress, exercise, and nutrition, to put together your complete life picture. Your unique story and human experience matters to us. This is crucial to understand so we can support you in the way that is most impactful to you and your healing.
Our Philosophy
At Empower Physio and Wellness, we value trauma informed, resilience focused, hope infused care.
We are trauma informed because people almost always have at least a small trauma experience connected to their current limitation. Trauma is as simple as being in pain or being unable to do something you value. We consider these past traumas, big and small, and how they are currently affecting your life.
We are resilience focused because physical and mental resilience are so important for thriving through life. We guide you in maximizing physical and mental strength so you are equipped with the tools you need to handle future challenges life throws at you.
We are hope infused because hope is sorely lacking in the current health space. We are positive and honest with you about your current limitations and infuse hope in what your future life can look like. The sky is the limit for what you can achieve.
Above all, we are focused on YOU. You get your physical therapist’s full attention because we love getting to know you super well! Our focus is to give you what you need at each session, always thinking outside the box.
Let us bring joy and peace back to your life. With our expert guidance, you can get back to the life you love faster and with more ease than if you tried to figure it all out yourself.
We got you. Let us take the guesswork and shopping around out of the equation so you can get back to doing the things you love with the people you love most.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
A TMJ physical therapy evaluation is similar to our typical evaluation, just targeted at the head, neck, and jaw. We will talk with you about your history, lifestyle factors, and goals, then move into the hands-on evaluation. We will look at how your jaw and neck move, feel the surrounding muscles, and complete any other special tests we deem important based on your specific case. If you are comfortable with it, we will perform an intra-oral assessment to feel some of the deeper jaw muscles and the mobility of the temporomandibular joint itself. We also assess for tongue tie and sleep disordered breathing, as these things can play a big role in TMD.
Then, we will then explain everything to you so you fully understand, outline your personalized plan to recovery, and start with treatment on the first visit.
-
TMJ treatment with your physical therapist will be customized to you! It will likely include hands-on work such as dry needling, myofascial release, trigger point release, and joint mobilization. This is always paired with strength and mobility drills targeted at the tongue, jaw, and neck. We often prescribe breathing drills to improve breathing and core stabilization strategies. Once you are feeling and moving better, we layer on strength training to really lock in all the progress you’ve made and get you strong.
-
Absolutely! The neck and jaw are very connected, both structurally and functionally. Research shows that everyone with jaw problems also has neck problems.
-
We see this pattern very often, so you are not alone. There are several reasons why your night guard or oral appliance made your jaw pain worse. The appliance may not have been the correct one to address the underlying problem. Oral appliances can be effective, however a good appliance prescribed for the wrong problem can make you feel worse. Additionally, if you grind and clench your teeth, sometimes you grind MORE with a night guard because your body is “exploring” this new thing in your mouth…and it does so by clenching and grinding.
Additionally, if your jaw problems started after stressful or traumatic events, there is likely nothing wrong with your jaw. The jaw is just where the symptoms are manifesting. This means that an oral appliance won’t fix the problem. Deeper nervous system healing must occur to successfully address the jaw problems.
-
Absolutely! The neck and jaw are very emotional parts of the body. Unprocessed stress and nervous system dysregulation can absolutely manifest in the head, neck, and jaw.
-
Common signs of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) include:
Jaw pain and tension
Popping and clicking
Headaches
Neck pain and tension
Difficulty opening and closing the mouth
Difficulty with yawning and chewing
Grinding and clenching
Tooth pain
-
Our goal is that you always feel supported during jaw physical therapy. There are some manual therapy techniques that may feel uncomfortable, however it should always be a “productive” discomfort. This is like when you get a massage or rub a muscle knot and it “hurts so good”. Our clients nearly always feel immediate relief from manual therapy. We are always communicating with you during treatment to make sure you are comfortable and tolerating everything well. You are always in control. We are big believers in shared decision making, meaning we explain all treatment options and mutually agree on what to implement.
Several manual therapy treatments we use to treat jaw pain involve accessing muscles and joints from the inside of the mouth. This is called intra-oral treatment. Many of our clients like intra-oral treatment, however if you are not comfortable with this it is not necessary.
-
We love for our clients to start feeling a noticeable improvement within the first few visits. This means that we are implementing the right treatments. If you ever aren’t noticing an improvement, then we adjust our treatment approach to achieve the desired results.
-
This depends on how long your jaw dysfunction has been going on and how severe it is. The more intense the problem, the longer it will take to recover. We usually start seeing clients weekly for 4-6 weeks, then space visits to every other week, and monthly for a total of 3-6 months. That being said, we are always happy to work with you to come up with a plan that fits your needs.
-
Nope! You can contact us to get started with jaw physical therapy right away.
-
Of course! You can start with checking out our FAQ page for additional answers.
If you still have questions, we would love to answer them!
Please call or text us at (614) 423-9731 or email our client experience manager, Joanna, at info.empowerphysio@gmail.com.
You can also book a free discovery call with one of our physical therapists for specific questions about your current condition and to see if we would be a good fit to work together.
We can’t wait to chat with you!
Our process at Empower Physio and Wellness
-
Calm
Let’s be honest, you’re here on our website because you want to get out of pain. That’s why calming pain is our first step. Once we have a very clear picture of what the problem is, we implement simple and effective strategies to start bringing your pain levels down right away. We don’t believe that you have to do 15 exercises every day for three months in order to start seeing results. Most of our clients start feeling better after the first one or two visits.
-
Retrain
Most aches, pains, and injuries come about because of movement compensations over time. That’s why it is important to re-train and optimize the way your body moves. We also focus on re-training your brain and nervous system to better process stress and optimize recovery so that you build overall resilience.
-
Empower
Once you are feeling and moving better, it’s time to get you strong! Stronger people are harder to kill (literally…studies show strong people have a 25% less likelihood of premature death). Current research emphasizes the importance of muscle strength, so in this phase we are locking in all the great work we did in the first two phases with building muscle strength. And we don’t mean 2-lb curls. We prescribe robust, total-body strength in a way that is super accessible to you.
-
Empower PLUS
At this point, you are feeling awesome! We see it all the time that our clients want to do things they never thought they could do- go on an adventure vacation, play on the ground and run around with their grandkids, do a 5k race or even a half marathon, be active and present in the moment (instead of analyzing if they’ll pay for it the next day)…the options are endless. We are here to support you throughout life, help you continue to feel great, and offer body tune-ups–bodies need regular attention just like cars do. Whatever you need, we got you.