Stop TMJ Pain Naturally in Reading, PA
Hey guys, Dr. McClimon back with McClimon Chiropractic, and today we’re talking about how to eliminate TMJ pain, or temporomandibular joint pain.
I just want to give you an example of how we like to address the root cause of the problem, and then I’ll get back to how this is going to help TMJ.
One of the common things we see today is a loss of the cervical curve. People are on devices and computers, and we have this forward head posture where we’re constantly looking down at our phones. We’re seeing a loss in the cervical curve because of that.
We could adjust someone every day of the week to improve their structure, but if you continue to look down every single day, you’re probably not going to restore the cervical curve.
How This Applies to TMJ
Now, shifting back over to TMJ, we also can have misalignment of the jaw impacting the jaw joint and the distance between it, creating TMJ pain.
We can make adjustments to improve the alignment of that. However, oftentimes the root cause of TMJ is bruxism, or grinding your teeth. It can be anxiety. It can be stress. It can be osteoarthritis, which is a longer-term thing, or it can be subluxation.
The point is, if it is grinding, for example, and that’s a problem that you have—which you may not even be aware of or know that you do at night—that could be contributing to your TMJ problem.
So we could be sitting here working on the alignment and the structure, but if you keep grinding all night, you’re still going to have TMJ pain.
A Mouth Guard Can Help
One way to address the issue from the grinding is to wear a mouth guard.
The guard gives the teeth and the joint more of a cushion and takes a lot of the stress off the joint because you have that guard in there. That can lessen the inflammation and irritation in the TMJ joint and actually give you relief.
But the point is, if we’re not really addressing the root cause of why it’s there, which could be the grinding, then even the treatment that we do to improve alignment is only going to have so much effect because the root cause is still there, right?
One More Tip
If you have TMJ problems and you do grind, consider getting a mouth guard.
The other thing that can be helpful is doing some ice on the joint. Ice helps reduce inflammation and give you some relief naturally.
So that’s your tip, guys. Talk to you soon. God bless.
