Is your jaw causing your hip pain?

Have you noticed pain when putting on your shoes and socks? Your hips don’t have the same movement they used too? Do you get hip pain? Have you been getting treatment but nothing is changing?

 “Temporomandibular joint dysfunction plays an important role in the restriction of hip motion”¹

“Everybody gets hip pain eventually!” “It’s just because I’m getting older!” “My parents have hip pain so it’s no wonder that I’ve got it!”

These are things I hear all the time and you may have as well if you hang around with people in their 40’s and beyond long enough. Sadly, I’m seeing it more commonly earlier these days!

People may notice it as a loss of range of motion or pain in their hip or a combination of both. It may start as something minor. It then usually progresses over time, slowly stealing quality of life and adding difficulties to everyday activities.

If you’ve had hip discomfort and a change in your hip range of motion, then you’ve probably either seen a health practitioner to get some relief or you’re thinking if you should.

If you are someone who was brave enough to get help AND it was resolved, that’s great, awesome for taking the right action. However, if you are like many I’ve seen over the years, you’ve probably seen multiple practitioners, you’re getting regular maintenance care and you’ve been given a ton of daily stretches and exercises to keep it manageable.

The all too common trajectory for many people like you is a progressive decline and eventual hip replacement when it gets bad enough.

The good news is that the hip joints are not an isolated joint. They are attached to the rest of body and their function is affected by other structures and systems throughout the body – some not so obvious – which often are failed to be addressed or even assessed!

One of the areas that commonly affect the hip is your jaw joint (TMJ). This connection is based upon two associations, one is a fascial tissue connection between the jaw and the pelvis and the other an embryotic connection, or in short, your nervous system. This simply means if the jaw is dysfunctional This often results in hip changes as well.

The jaw like the pelvis is a complex joint. To correct the jaw you need to stabilise the muscles and the ligaments of the jaw plus ensure nerve innervation is unimpeded.

Hip pain and loss of hip range of motion can be a complex dysfunction that can be affected by lots of different structural components and systems in the body. To treat hip pain successfully you need to check and treat all the components if you want to stop the pain and restore the hip range of motion.

Do you want to see my quick 3 minute self test that I’ve had people successfully use to see if jaw dysfunction is part of your hip pain? If so, I’ll put them down below for you.

My 3 minute self-test to determine if you jaw may be a part of your hip movement or pain problem:

1. Stabilize yourself – Stand up near a table or piece of furniture that you can stabilise on
2. Stand on one leg – While stabilising on the table, slowly take the other leg through a full range of motion – forward, backwards, side to side, external rotation and internal rotation – keep yourself tall through the test, i.e. don’t lean to the side or front or back. Pay particular to the range of motion of the hip and if there is pain with any of the movements. Repeat on the other leg. Tip: This can also be done laying down and is sometimes better and easier to do by having someone move your leg for you so they can judge your movement limitations.
3. Gap your teeth – place something between your teeth that you can bite on that’s about 2-3mm thick  e.g. an icy pole stick or some folded up paper – then repeat the full range of motion test described above for both legs comparing the range of motion and the level of discomfort.

If you notice the hip range of motion improves, even the slightest degree, or the level of pain decreases on your movement – it only needs to be a small change – then it’s likely your jaw may be a component of your hip pain and loss of range of motion.

If that’s you and you don’t know where to start, send me a message 👉👉click here👈👈and I’ll help you get started.