Chiropractic Care: A Natural Alternative for TMJ Pain Relief

The two joints that connect your lower jaw to your skull enable you to chew, talk, and yawn. When that connection is harmonious and healthy, these complex hinges, called your temporomandibular joints (TMJ), open, close, and slide side to side without a hitch.

However, if they become damaged or misaligned, you can experience a cascade of symptoms, from jaw pain and limited mobility to locking. While those symptoms clearly indicate a jaw problem, other symptoms aren’t as obvious. For example, TMJ disorders, sometimes called TMJ or TMD, can lead to headaches, neck and shoulder pain, dizziness, ear pain and ringing, and vision problems. 

TMJ affects up to 35 million Americans, and many don’t realize it because they don’t see an obvious connection between their symptoms and their jaw. 

We do.

Dr. Hipp understands that your jaw joints and muscles affect your face, ears, head, and neck, and a misaligned TMJ puts all those body parts at risk. Fortunately, Dr. Hipp’s extensive experience with TMJ means she can determine the root cause of your alignment problems and treat your condition without medication or surgery. 

If you have TMJ, Dr. Hipp focuses on your jaw joints, muscles — particularly the masseter, temporalis, pterygoid, and suboccipital muscles — and your top two neck vertebrae. These areas greatly affect your jaw joint and don’t work properly when things are out of alignment.

Here’s how chiropractic care at Dr. Hipp’s Chiropractic in San Francisco, California, addresses your TMJ.

Soft-tissue therapies

Tight muscles can trigger TMJ or result from it. Either way, they compound the problem. Dr. Hipp uses massage therapy techniques to ease tension, untrap compressed nerves, and relieve pain.

Specifically, she targets the masseter, a thick muscle deep in your upper jaw responsible for chewing. You can feel it flexing by placing your hand on your cheek and opening and closing your mouth. She also works on the temporalis, a thinner, clam-shaped muscle on each side of your head that also plays an important role in chewing. It covers a larger area, including your temples.

We may prescribe homework so you can release jaw-muscle tension between visits and help strengthen and align your jaw.  Laser therapy is another handy tool used to reduce inflammation and promote tissue healing.

You can apply the same exercise to the temporalis, using all four finger pads, as it's a broader muscle. Use the same movement and pressure as the masseter exercise, but apply less pressure since the temporalis is thinner. Do three sets of this exercise on your temporalis three times daily for TMJ jaw pain.

It’s best to leave the more complicated pterygoid muscle to Dr. Hipp. The pterygoid release technique involves applying leverage between the cheek and teeth. This technique may feel uncomfortable since the pterygoid muscle is often weaker than the masseter or temporalis.

Chiropractic adjustments

Dr. Hipp evaluates your jaw alignment, finds the source of the TMJ dysfunction, and determines the best treatment. If your TMJ can benefit from a chiropractic adjustment, she establishes which side of your jaw joint opens less fully and which opens second so she knows which side needs work first. 

She starts by adjusting the stuck side of your jaw, followed by the other side using a gentle motion. After the adjustment, she reassesses your jaw joint and often finds that it's realigned. 

Dr. Hipp also evaluates your neck alignment. Studies show that cervical spinal manipulation involving a high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust approach can significantly reduce your TMJ symptoms. In fact, manual mandibular therapy, including the soft-tissue and cervical alignment Dr. Hipp performs, is considered the most effective conservative treatment for alleviating the pain and disability of TMJ. 

If you’ve been struggling with TMJ and don’t know where to turn, consider expert chiropractic care to realign your jaw and relieve your symptoms. Call Dr. Hipp’s Chiropractic to schedule, or book online.