Treating jaw pain with TMJ exercises in physical therapy

Feeling pain in your jaw when chewing? Does the pain spread into your head and cause headaches? Is your jaw often sore when you wake up in the morning? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may have a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. 

The TMJ is what most of us refer to as the jaw joint. It allows us to chew, talk and perform many other normal daily tasks that involve opening and closing our mouths. Physical therapy can be a helpful option for treating jaw pain, and therapeutic exercises for your TMJ can be the root of your therapy plan. Here are two TMJ exercises that your physical therapist could include in your physical therapy plan:

Tongue stretch

One effective TMJ exercise that could be included in your physical therapy plan is the tongue stretch. Don’t be fooled by the name, though. Your tongue might be doing the moving during this exercise, but you should also feel a good stretch in your jaw joint. However, your physical therapist will caution you to start with a light stretch and stop using this — or any other — exercise if you feel pain. 

Steps for doing the tongue stretch

• Hold your head and neck in good posture, and open your jaws as wide as you can. 

• Stretch your tongue up and back until it touches a soft place on the roof of your mouth. 

• Apply pressure to this spot with your tongue, but don’t allow your jaws to close.

• Hold this stretch for about five seconds.

• Then, stick your tongue out of your mouth as far as you can, and hold for five seconds again.

• Take a short break to rest your tongue and jaw before repeating these steps two more times. 
  

  Resisted jaw opening

Building up the muscles of your jaw can be another goal of TMJ physical therapy exercises. The increased muscle strength may help hold your jaw in better posture, which can help reduce your jaw pain. One exercise your physical therapist may recommend to build jaw strength is resisted jaw opening. 

Steps for doing the resisted jaw opening exercise

• Start with your head and neck in good posture, and place your pointer finger on the bottom of your jaw. 

• Slowly open your jaws while pressing lightly upward with your finger. 

• Hold for five seconds when your jaws are fully open.

• Slowly close your jaw, and then repeat these steps until you’ve done 10 to 15 repetitions. 

Advent Physical Therapy can help you find more TMJ exercises and other treatment options for your jaw pain

Want to learn more about physical therapy for TMJ disorder that can reduce your jaw pain? Our specialists at Advent Physical Therapy are ready and willing to help you. We offer complimentary screenings that can reveal the root cause of your jaw pain. Our team is also adept at building personalized therapy plans designed to decrease jaw pain and prevent it from returning. 

We even offer therapy options that can help you if you’re stuck at home. For instance, you can meet with one of our physical therapists one-on-one in your home during an at-home care session. In addition, you can meet with our team through an online virtual therapy session. Our team can even help you treat your jaw pain if you don’t have a doctor or dentist’s referral. 

Contact our team today for more information about our therapy options for jaw pain or to schedule an initial appointment.