With our fast paced life and high personal expectations, we tend to carry a lot of tension in our jaw. This usually involves our tongue being plastered to the roof of the mouth and/or pulled back toward the throat (more about the tongue in my next blog) and our jaw clenched.
TMJ Dysfunction is a broad term often associated with: pain in the muscles involved with chewing, popping and clicking noises in the jaw, grinding teeth at night, and headaches.
From my clinical experience the 2 main causes of TMJ dysfunction is stress, and misalignment.
What happens to the body when we are chronically stessed? Think of a flight/flight response and you get the idea.
Misalignment can be influenced by many things: scoliosis, trauma to the jaw or teeth, and postural/behavioural habits.
Do some of your own detective work:
Take a look in the mirror to see if your lower lip is shifted to the right or left of your upper lip. This could be a clue to an imbalanced use of your jaw.
Do you tend to prefer one side of your mouth to chew on? Do you find yourself tilting your head one way a lot? Do your headaches start on one side of your head? All these indicators could be contributing to your TMJ issues. By knowing what you are doing, you can change what you do!
Try this short YouTube lesson from Feldenkrais Practitioner Cathy Paine to ease some of your jaw tension.
TMJ Dysfunction is a broad term often associated with: pain in the muscles involved with chewing, popping and clicking noises in the jaw, grinding teeth at night, and headaches.
From my clinical experience the 2 main causes of TMJ dysfunction is stress, and misalignment.
What happens to the body when we are chronically stessed? Think of a flight/flight response and you get the idea.
Misalignment can be influenced by many things: scoliosis, trauma to the jaw or teeth, and postural/behavioural habits.
Do some of your own detective work:
Take a look in the mirror to see if your lower lip is shifted to the right or left of your upper lip. This could be a clue to an imbalanced use of your jaw.
Do you tend to prefer one side of your mouth to chew on? Do you find yourself tilting your head one way a lot? Do your headaches start on one side of your head? All these indicators could be contributing to your TMJ issues. By knowing what you are doing, you can change what you do!
Try this short YouTube lesson from Feldenkrais Practitioner Cathy Paine to ease some of your jaw tension.
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