Do you have constant neck pain? Have no idea why it keeps coming back? Wake up with the stiff neck?
“There is a strong correlation between neck pain and jaw dysfunction. It’s something that is often overlooked.”
Is your neck pain chronic? Have you now had it for a long time and feel like you’re going around in circles with it? Are you feeling like the treatment you’re getting is repetitive and only giving you temporary relief?
One thing that is commonly missed when it comes to treating neck problems is TMJ dysfunction. TMJ (temporomandibular joint) is your jaw joint, it is what allows you mouth to open, close and move in all sorts of directions. Often it is also the place where neck problems start.
The joint is just in front of your ear and you can often feel it move around when you open and close your mouth.
If you take a look at yourself in a mirror, you’ll see that a lot of your front neck muscles have some sort or attachment or relationship to the underside of your jawbone. These muscles, believe it or not, help to move and stabilise your jaw.
As a result, there is more to the TMJ than just the muscles around the joint itself. As you can probably tell by now, a lot of your neck movements will also influence the TMJ and vice versa.
So how do you fix it?
TMJ dysfunction can occur for many reasons and isn’t as simple as being hit in the jaw or moving your mouth around too quickly. The muscles of the TMJ can easily be affected by changes in your brain whether it be stress related, food related and many more. Basically, anything that can potentially change brain function has the potential to change how the TMJ functions.
The good news is, TMJ dysfunction isn’t as complicated as it sounds and is something that can often be quickly resolved.
As a practitioner I find it exciting as a quick correction can often give you long term neck stability. This is great as rather than having to constantly have repetitive treatments, often, if the TMJ dysfunction is resolved, cervical stability is rapidly improved resulting in relief.
In fact, I honestly believe TMJ dysfunction is the biggest undetected cause of neck pain in people with chronic neck problems!
So, I have developed this test that is quick, simple and can help determine whether TMJ dysfunction might be part of your problems.
Do you want to know about my cool little test? The test I use in practice every day? The test that seems to shock everyone when I do it…?
Alright, so here’s the quick test you can do:
- Move your neck from side to side and take note of how far you can turn your neck or if there is any pain with that movement.
- Place your left hand on your left TMJ and right on the right side. With your hands placed there, then turn your head from side to side.
- If range of motion of your neck increased or the pain in your neck decreased, then the jaw is involved in your neck dysfunction.
If you notice any of these tests are positive, and you really want to get this stuff sorted out quickly then click the message button and lets arrange an appointment to get things sorted out for you right now!
