TMJ is the temporomandibular joints. The TMJ joint helps is connecting the jaw with the skull. Whenever we talk or chew or flex our jaw the joint springs to action. You can suffer from TMJ pain after an accident, due to arthritis, pregnancy and dental problem. Even diabetic is one of the major causes of TMJ pain. The TMJ pain is happening, due to TMJ disorder. The disorder happens for various reasons and the pain in your hinge joint is just one of the symptoms of you suffering from that very disorder.
What are the causes of TMJ pain?
- Trauma IQ – this is the most common cause of TMJ pain which is usually caused to some person who was recently involved in an accident. Therefore, this is something that might happen to many people.
- Dislocation – This is also a common cause of this form of pain where the jaw dislocates itself on impact or due to some other reason. This means that jaw is removed from its proper alignment.
- Arthritis – This is also a common cause of TMJ pain which is often found in most patients. This is mainly an extension of the disease of arthritis.
- Pregnancy – Some pregnant have also been suffering through this pain during later stages in their pregnancy. As during pregnancy, the relaxing hormones are released in excess it causes the jaw to relax and soften and hence might lead to TMJ pain.
- Dental problems – This is something most of us have faced sometime or other. Jaw pain is often also related to dental problems. In this case, you need to consult with a dentist to reduce the pain, and they can fix your teeth and remove the gum infections with proper medication to provide you complete relief.
How would you reduce your TMJ pain with some exercise?
As seen above the TMJ pain can be caused due to various reasons. Since they have so many reasons, you can do some regular exercise to reduce the TMJ pain. Here are a few of the exercises which have been known to reduce the TMJ pain.
- Relaxed jaw exercise
This is one of the most temporary exercises which might help you strengthen your jaw and also to reduce the excruciating TMJ pain. It is a simple exercise which requires you to put your tongue behind your front teeth and open your mouth slowly. You can easily practice this exercise on regular basis and you will get the result within few weeks.
- Forward jaw movement
This exercise is helpful in increasing the mobility of your jaw. This will benefit you in relieving the TMJ pain and also solving your problem of the pain from the root. This exercise essentially involves you to put a ¼ inch object into your mouth and move your jaw forward. If you want to increase the level of difficulty you can increase the height of the objects.
- Goldfish exercise
This exercise is very helpful in releasing the pain from your jaw and also enables you to promote jaw healing. This exercise requires you to place one finger on your TMJ and one finger under your chin while keeping your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Then you are required to drop your lower jaw completely. In order to do a variation of this exercise, you can place your finger on each TMJ and then completely pull your lower jaw down and back.
In order to reduce the TMJ pain this is a common exercise which is prescribed. It is essential to perform this exercise six times to complete one set and perform at least six sets during the day.
