Temporal Mandibular Joint Self Help

For those inflicted with a tight jaw, grinding of the teeth, biting the inside of the cheek or jaw clicking, then you know how painful it can be when you try to chew, yawn, sing or sometimes even smile.
Here are some self-help techniques that will assist in relaxing the muscles that affect the TMJ and will allow more mobility in the jaw.

Hold 1 – UNDER THE MANDIBLE

Hook your thumb under the jaw line, close to where the mandible begins its upward sweep (near the ear). If you feel around under the jaw line at the back, you’ll find a spot where the thumb just seems to settle into a little notch. It’s very subtle. Basically you are looking for a spot under the jaw that could feel very tender and ”zingy”. You actually want that zingy quality, bordering on pain, because when the body feel becomes aware of tenderness, it begins to send healing energy to that area, which then awakens the tissue and the release begins. The quality should be zingy, still in the ‘it hurts so good’ range. Hold this spot until the zinginess seems to begin to dissipate.
Feel around under the jaw for any other spots that are tender or slightly painful and hold those until the tenderness diminishes. . It’s best to only hold one side at a time.
You are working on the supra-hyoidal muscles that pull the jaw down in an inferior direction. By holding the muscle, you begin to soften it and gain more mobility and flexibility in the hyoidal muscles.

Hold 2 – UNDER THE EARS

Raise your elbows up parallel to the ground and feel for a zingy spot directly underneath the lobe of the ear in the soft squishy part (the stylus process). Imagine that your index fingers can meet in the center of your head. Hold the zing and wait for the sensation to dissipate.
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Hold 3 – UNDER THE CHEEKBONES

The cheekbone looks like a checkmark, coming down from the side of your nose and shooting back up towards your ear. You want to find the lowest part of the check mark, or in other words, the most inferior aspect of the zygoma. Once found, apply gentle pressure upwards on the bone. It could feel very tender and almost painful. Remember, you are going for the zingy quality, holding the pressure until the tenderness lets up.
In this technique, you want to disengage the zygoma by bringing space to the sutures at the temporo-zygomatic arch, and at the maxilla-zygomatic suture.
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ANOTHER CHEEKBONE TECHNIQUE
Using a clean finger, hook up under your cheek flesh, on top of the gums of the teeth. Go as far back as you can to the place where there is tenderness – that zingy quality – and hold the area, pressing a little superior until the zing begins to dissipate. You are on the pteregoid muscle and by putting a little upward pressure in it, you can disengage the zygoma, which will relax the temporal bone.
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Hold 4 – THE CORNER OF THE NOSE
At the very corner of the nostril, where the nose curves under the opening to the nostril, there feels like there is a little dip in the bone. It’s almost like the finger just slips into the indent in the bone. If you apply pressure here, you can feel the radiation of zinginess down into the top of the teeth. Here you are stimulating the maxillary palate and opening the suture in the middle of the maxilla. Only do one side of the nose at a time, and wait for the tingly sensation to release.
 
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Hold 5 –“HOME ALONE”
To allow the muscles to relax and release, place the part of the hand where the fingers meet the palmar surface, right above the lower jaw. Your jaw should be slack and mouth slightly open. Bring an inferior drag down on the jaw by letting the weight of the arms become heavy and pull down. Hold this position until you feel the jaw readjust in the socket and move more freely.
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Hold 6 – EAR PULL
By holding the ‘meat’ of the ear (the strongest part of the cartilage) and gently pulling the ear out and back (anterior & lateral), you can affectively distract the temporal bone out from its relationship to the other bones. This releases the membranes under the temporal bones and allows fresh cerebral-spinal fluid to cleanse and nourish the area and it eases the pressure of the mandible in the temporal condyle, which should help releive some of the pain.
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CORK IN MOUTH
This is a weird one that I saw on Oprah the other day. Apparently Dr. Oz said that if you put a cork in your mouth and passively bite down on it, the cork will help realign the mandible in the condyle, and will ease tension. Oprah actually had the cork vertically in her mouth as a demonstration!
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MASSAGING THE JAW
Bring the tips of your finger to the space just under your ears and make small circular movements with the pad of your fingers. The pressure should be light, but deep enough to engage the muscles. Work all along the area, massaging in front of the ears, behind the ears and down along the jaw line.