Exercises designed to bring TMJ pain relief

If you’re experiencing chronic pain in your jaw, you may have a problem with your temporomandibular joint (TMJ). A physical therapist can help you find TMJ pain exercises that are designed to provide pain relief. However, you may not know which therapy team to turn to for the most effective jaw pain treatment.

At Advent Physical Therapy, our team is dedicated to helping our patients in west Michigan find the most effective pain relief methods. In fact, we’ve been helping patients meet this goal since 1996. One important lesson we’ve learned during these 23 years in business is that personalized therapy is more effective.

Our process to build you a personalized therapy plan begins with a comprehensive evaluation of your condition. We’ll then take some time to listen to your therapy goals, questions and concerns. The last step in building your plan will be bringing all this information together and determining which of our evidence-based therapies are the best for your plan. For instance, there are a variety of TMJ exercises we may use to help you find jaw pain relief.

Three TMJ pain relief exercises we may include in your therapy plan

The temporomandibular joint has the vital job of allowing your jaw to open and close, and this is important to tasks such as eating, talking and breathing. When you’re experiencing jaw joint pain, these actions can be harder to do, but there are TMJ pain exercises that may offer benefits for you.

One jaw exercise that may benefit you is the relaxed jaw exercise. This exercise is designed to relieve tension built up in your jaw muscles, and it’s very easy to do. First, rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your upper front teeth. Make sure you aren’t pushing your tongue into the roof of your mouth as this will only increase jaw muscle tension. Once your tongue is in position, allow your teeth to come apart by relaxing your jaw muscles. Hold this stretch for at least five seconds, and then bring your teeth back together and repeat for a total of five reps.

A second jaw exercise that can help TMJ issues is chin tucks. Chin tucks are designed to strengthen muscles in the neck that support your jaw. To perform this exercise, stand or sit with your shoulders back and your chest up. Then, pull your chin straight down until it rests on your throat. Hold your chin in this position for three seconds and then relax. Repeat these steps until you’ve completed 10 total reps.

An exercise called “tongue up” is a third exercise used for jaw pain. This exercise is also intended to strengthen muscles in your jaw that may be weak. Begin by touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth, and then, slowly open your mouth as wide as you can without moving your tongue. When you’ve opened your jaws as far as you can, slowly close your mouth again. For the best possible results, try to complete 10 reps of this exercise.

In addition to therapy plans that use these and other jaw exercises, our Advent Physical Therapy team may include other therapies in your treatment plan, such as:

• Soft tissue massage
• Joint mobilization
• Electrical stimulation
• Thermotherapy

Are you ready to find a therapy plan that includes effective TMJ pain exercises? Advent Physical Therapy is here to help you. You’ll just need to take one step to begin getting our help.

Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.