TMJ Relief Through Expert Physical Therapy with
Dr. Katelyn Renard, PT, DPT, OCS 🌟👩⚕️ 🤗
The temperomandibular joints (TMJ) are the joints that connect the top of your skull with the lower jaw. Many people suffer from TMJ dysfunction and are completely unaware that physical therapy can help with their symptoms!
Common symptoms of TMJ dysfunction include:
- Jaw pain/tension
- Headaches
- Ear pain
- Popping/clicking in the jaw
- Difficulty chewing
- Difficulty opening mouth fully
- Concurrent neck and upper back pain
Commonly, high anxiety and stress as well as poor posture can exacerbate TMJ problems. The good news is, physical therapy can help eliminate TMJ pain! Your physical therapist can educate you on relaxation and stress management techniques, diet modifications, sleeping positions, posture, and other external factors that can help reduce stress on the TMJ muscles and joints. Additionally, your PT can assess what specific muscles are contributing to your symptoms and can treat the painful and tight muscles with manual therapy including dry needling, soft tissue mobilization, and joint mobilization as needed. Dry needling in particular has been found in the literature to be effective at managing pain in patients with TMJ disorder.1
At Elite Muscle Recovery, we treat the whole person and will consider all impairments and factors that could be aggravating your pain. From there, we will make a personalized plan to help you achieve your goals!
If you are suffering from symptoms of TMJ disorder, please reach out to us! We’d love to help you get relief!
Source:
1. Kietrys, D. M., Palombaro, K. M., & Mannheimer, J. S. (2014). Dry needling for management of pain in the upper quarter and craniofacial region.Current Pain and Headache Reports,18(8).https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-014-0437-0
Talk soon!
Kind regards,
Dr. Katelyn Renard, PT, DPT, OCS