Massage for a sore jaw - TMJ

If you’re experiencing pain, stiffness and clicking noises in your jaw, you might be one of the 15 per cent of adults who are thought to have TMJ or temporomandibular joint problems. TMJ, which is known medically as TMD (temporomandibular joint disorder) affects more women than men, and tends to affect people from the ages of 20 to 40.
Symptoms of TMD Include:

• Pain in one or both of your jaw joints, your face or neck
• Earache
• Pain when you chew
• Stiff jaw muscles
• Difficulty with fitting your teeth together.

   A clicking noise, while it can be a symptom, doesn’t necessarily mean you have TMD – many people experience popping and clicking noises with their jaws, and it’s only likely to be caused by TMD if you have one or more of the other symptoms also.
    The good news is that most of the pain you get from TMD can be treated without needing surgery, and massage can help treat the cause of the problem, which relieves the symptoms. Sometimes the pain can come from something as simple as grinding or clenching your teeth, and if this case especially, regular massage therapy can really help to make a difference by counteracting the stress that’s making you grind your teeth.
   Back in 1981, a dentistry study found that the teeth-clenching and grinding which often leads to TMD reduced when the masseter facial muscles were massaged.
Stress Relief Can Lead to TMD Relief
    We all know of the studies into massage as an effective stress reliever and its role in reducing anxiety, tension and stress has been reliably proven over the years. Massage leads to lower cortisol levels and increases in the amounts of feel good hormones such oxytocin and serotonin. The feeling of total relaxation that can be induced by regular massage is the key to reducing stress-related habits like teeth grinding.
Home Massage for TMD
   Specific techniques can help the symptoms as they flare up, too. Try massaging your jaw with a kneading type pressure – use your fingers to make a constant, circular motion against the joints and muscles that are most affected.  Find the masseter muscles in your lower jaw – these are directly behind your molars and sitting just below your cheekbone.  Start the massage by touching the corner of your mouth, then working your fingers all along your jaw until you feel a flat plane of bone. Massage the area by pressing gently with two or three fingers in a circular motion. Massaging like this helps to warm up the muscles and also stimulates the lymph function, flushing out stagnant fluids at the same time.  Keep going with the jaw massage until you feel some relief from the pain.
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