TMJ pain is triggered by a variety of reasons. It is possible that you may not know exactly what is causing your TMJ problem. It may be a good idea though to perform a TMJ exercise if you are fairly sure that the pain in your jaws is caused by bad posture or stress. A good TMJ exercise can ease the muscles and help your jaw function in much the same way as it did before.
It is also a good idea to use exercise as a natural alternative to surgery or medications like corticosteroids. A typical TMJ exercise is non invasive and safe to perform when followed precisely. There are fewer chances of complications.
Using Your Jaw
Most people think that it's enough to talk and to chew to exercise the jaws. The problem though is that these typical uses of the jaw may not always be gently performed. In other words, you may be abusing your jaws if you repeatedly clench your teeth, open your jaws too much or bite on hard food. A TMJ exercise is different because it usually involves gentle and focused movements.
Caution
As mentioned, there are different causes of TMJ so each person would therefore need different kinds of solutions. You can make sure that you have a tailor suited exercise by asking the advice of your doctor or several doctors for that matter.
Common Exercises
There are many styles and forms of TMJ exercises. As already mentioned, the type of TMJ exercise you use should fit your particular condition. Here are some examples of TMJ exercises for specific complaints:
- For jaws that click, a good exercise would be to close your mouth and let your tongue touch your palate. Move your tongue back with your mouth still closed. Gently open your mouth until your tongues moves away. Keep your mouth open for a few seconds before closing. Do a couple of repetitions.
- For jaws that shift sideways, exercise by gently opening and closing your mouth in front of a mirror to see that it closes up right and not shift to the side. Simply make the effort to gently open and close your mouth properly. Do not force your muscles too much though. The idea is to repeat the exercise for a few days until you get to move your jaws correctly.
- To ease the tension in the jaw muscles, a good exercise would be simple stretching. Simply open your mouth downward and gently close it. Alternate this movement with opening and closing your mouth to the left and right. Again, do not force your jaws. Work to open them as comfortably as you can.
What You Can Do with Exercise
Aside from using a good TMJ exercise you can also use other natural alternatives to treating TMJ. You may for example apply cold and hot compress on your jaw area. You can also practice relaxation technique to ease the stress that may be a contributing factor to your TMJ problem.