Can a Chiropractor Help with TMJ?
TMJ is an acronym that stands for “temporomandibular joint”. This is the hinge joint that connects your jaw to the skull. You have two of them: one on each side of your head, just under your ears. The smooth sliding of this strong jaw joint is what enables you to chew, eat, talk, yawn and otherwise open and close your mouth. So, technically, everyone has two TMJs, but about 12 percent of Americans have problems with theirs. These problems are called “temporomandibular joint disorder”, or TMD, but most people still just call it “TMJ”. This problem is characterized by jaw pain, stiffness and even locking in one or both of these joints. The pain can be so bad that it may be associated with headaches, facial pain, ear pain or even neck pain. It can be completely distracting and make it hard to eat, talk, swallow, sleep or think! Some patients even experience the frightening symptom of the jaw locking shut as well. If you’ve been wondering, “Can a chiropractor help with TMJ?” you are in luck, because the answer is “Yes!” As a Knoxville chiropractor, I have helped many patients heal and recover from TMJ over the years. If those symptoms sound all too familiar to you, schedule an appointment right away for assistance. To learn more about TMJ, read on:
What Causes TMJ?
There can be a number of causes behind TMJ disorder, and it’s important to have an experienced TMJ chiropractor diagnose what is going on in your particular case so that the correct TMJ treatment can help you get the jaw pain relief you need. Here are some potential TMJ causes that might apply:
Arthritis—Arthritis is an inflammation in the joints, which is what makes any joint in your body susceptible to this condition, if you have it. Chiropractic care and an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can help reduce TMJ problems associated with arthritis.
Injury—I have treated many TMJ disorder patients who started having jaw pain and stiffness after some sort of head or neck injury. In fact, TMJ can be a secondary problem connected with a whiplash injury.
Stress—Several of my patients have had stress-related TMJ disorder as well. For some people, stress causes them to clench their jaw during the day, or even grind their teeth in their sleep (something called “bruxism”), which puts a lot of excess stress on the jaw joints, leading to jaw pain and locking. In addition to localized stress on the jaw joint, stress can also cause other posture and spinal alignment problems that can lead to TMD and other aches and pains. Chiropractic adjustments and stress-relief techniques are very useful for these patients.
In each of these cases, stress on the temporomandibular joint leads to the disorder and the pain. Also, in each of these cases chiropractic care provides successful, non-surgical and drug-free pain relief treatment that leads to long-term healing in the jaw joint.
A Frequent Underlying Cause of Jaw Pain in TMJ
Something else you might have noticed from the above causes of TMJ disorder is that they are usually associated with stress, injury or inflammation. Chiropractic care can address each of these things naturally because these problems are usually caused or complicated by a spinal misalignment. This is something called a spinal subluxation, and it can cause jaw misalignment and inflammation too. I go into a lot more detail about what a subluxation is and how it causes pain in this blog article.
This is why the answer is “Yes!” to the question, “Can a chiropractor help with TMJ?” If you have jaw pain and stiffness, it is important to get treatment from a TMJ chiropractor who understands the full scope of the problem, listens to your story and addresses the underlying reasons you are having the pain. For example, let’s consider the following potential problems that might be causing your jaw pain:
For some patients, they have suffered a whiplash injury in a car accident (or sports injury or any other injury where you could receive whiplash injury). While this injury typically manifests in the neck, any nerves pinched in the neck because of the injury may also be serving other areas of the body, especially those in the head, face and jaw. This is why headaches and TMJ are frequent follow-on symptoms of a whiplash injury. Furthermore, it isn’t only the vertebrae in the neck that are misaligned and pinching nerves that serve the jaw, face and head. A typical whiplash injury also strains the neck muscles, tendons and ligaments, which can cause them to get stiff and sore. And because these tissues are connected to tissues in your face, jaw and head, these muscles and joints may also become stiff and sore as well. Everything is connected, which is why chiropractic care can be so helpful. As a chiropractor, I look for the root cause of pain and treat the origin point of pain, which can then help relieve the pains connected to it.
Now let’s look at the stress causes of TMJ disorder too. Stress is one of the biggest causes of TMJ, and so many other health problems that I treat in my patients today! For TMJ disorder specifically, many of my stressed-out patients subconsciously tighten and clench their jaws when under pressure. But it doesn’t stop there! Many of my patients experiencing unreasonable stress levels tend to hunch over their desks or phones, or as they’re driving to and from work. A lot of them fall asleep in non-optimal positions that compromise their neck and spinal alignment too. All of this pent-up stress can do three things to the temporomandibular joint:
First, all of that muscle tightness can spread into the jaw joint, causing pain and stiffness there.
The poor posture habits caused by stress can pinch nerves in the neck and upper back that impact the function of facial and jaw tissues.
In some patients, the stress causes them to subconsciously grind their teeth in their sleep, which puts even more stress on the jaw joints, and even damages their teeth!
As a TMJ chiropractor, I will carefully diagnose the reasons behind your jaw pain and create a personalized treatment plan that helps address your injury or inflammation from the very root: from a spinal subluxation level. This will help release pinched nerves, so they can send healing resources to your jaw joint and supporting soft tissues. In addition, we can use other therapies to help relieve the stiffness, inflammation and soreness in those soft tissues, so they can relax and allow your jaw joint to function properly and painlessly. This drug-free and non-surgical TMJ pain relief regimen is highly successful, and it can help get you back to eating, talking and sleeping comfortably.
Your Knoxville TMJ Chiropractor’s Self-Care Recommendations for Jaw Pain Relief
In addition to chiropractic adjustments and therapies that we do here in our Homberg Chiropractic and Wellness office, it is important for TMJ disorder patients to take steps at home to continue their healing process for optimal results. So, in addition to spinal adjustments, I often recommend that my patients do the following to keep their healing on track:
Initially, it is best to eat softer foods that do not require as much chewing action for the jaw. This is about allowing the jaw joint and surrounding tissues to rest and relax as much as possible for the time being, as the healing process takes place.
Use ice packs occasionally on the affected jaw to reduce inflammation and swelling.
Avoiding a lot of jaw movement for a while is also important. This means that you might want to limit talking, at least until your jaw is feeling better. Send an email or a text instead (using proper posture in both cases)!
Do the gentle stretching exercises and jaw massage that I will show you how to do in the office. It is important to do these stretches and massages regularly to continue the soft-tissue healing process.
Learn some stress-relief techniques that can help you stay calm and relaxed so that you are less likely to start clenching muscles anywhere in your body, including your jaw. Meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, etc.are all good places to start, but do something that works for you and that you can do on a daily basis to keep your stress levels down.
Pay attention to your posture everywhere. Are your pillows and bed providing the correct neck and back support for posture-neutral sleep? Do you need extra lumbar support for your car or couch? Do you need a reminder to sit up straight at your desk? As a chiropractor, I can provide all kinds of ideas on maintaining proper posture in a wide variety of situations so that you can eliminate the problems caused by poor posture, one of which is TMJ disorder!
With a combination of chiropractic adjustments and self-care at home, we can help you get effective, long-lasting, drug-free, non-surgical TMJ pain relief that may well help you feel better in other areas of your life as well!
Searching for a “TMJ Chiropractor Near Me” in Knoxville?
If you have been struggling with TMJ jaw pain and aren’t sure where to turn, schedule an appointment with the TMJ chiropractor Knoxville families trust for effective, safe pain relief! There is no reason to continue suffering and struggling with this difficult condition, especially when chiropractic care and self-care together can be so effective at providing natural pain relief. So, if your search query of “TMJ chiropractor near me” brought you here, don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment right now, and we can help you start to heal! We look forward to seeing you and helping you feel better soon!