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How Can You Relieve TMJ Headaches?
Dr. Arnan Sisson, PT / January 23, 2022
TMJ can cause headache in a number of ways.
However, from treating numerous patients with temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ / TMD) over the years, I've found that these are the three most common ways to prevent these headaches.
Correct Posture
Let's start with the third cause that we discussed above as the first solution: posture.
Correcting your posture is one of the easiest ways to relieve both headaches and TMJ.
And better yet, sometime it has almost immediate effects.
With more chronic cases, it may take awhile to see the effects, but just correcting your posture is a good start.
To do that, sit with your head above your shoulder with your chin tucked.
Sitting or standing in such a manner allows your spine to support the weight of your head instead of your suboccipital muscles.
Additionally, sitting with proper posture causes less tension in the jaw muscles as well as less compression on the tempormandibular joint itself.
Avoid Clenching Your Teeth
The second solution to TMJ headaches is to avoiding clenching your teeth.
That's kind of hard to do at night time when you can't control it.
There are TMJ mouthguards, and they're moderately successful for some people with TMJ.
Additionally, using a properly fit pillow to keep your head, neck, and jaw supported can help keep your jaw in the proper alignment at night.
Here's a helpful tip that you can use to keep from clenching your teeth during the day and therefore prevent TMJ headaches:
When you're sitting, place your your tongue behind your top teethwhen you're not talking or eating.
When you rest your tongue behind your top teeth, it makes it really hard to clench your jaw muscles at the same time.
Trigger Point Release
The third thing you can do to relieve TMJ headaches is doing some self trigger point release.
If you can locate the "knots" or "trigger points" in the masseter and temporalis muscles, and hold a gentle pressure on them, you can get the muscles to relax.
Just hold a gentle pressure on the muscles. You don't want to hold so much pressure that it's causing you a lot of pain.
The pain was so excruciating in my heel I was seriously worried about being able to continue work at the post office.
My physician gave me stretches and massage exercises that didn’t help, and he told me I would probably require surgery for my foot in a few weeks.
I went to this clinic and after one session my pain disappeared! We found my pain was actually coming from my back, and that surgery would have been a waste of money and time.
I feel great now, and even better I didn’t have to do surgery!
Sheila C., Montross
I’ve tried all kinds of shoes; I’ve spent so much money on that stuff. I went to a chiropractor a few times and even did physical therapy once with not much improvement.My back and legs still feel bad. And now I feel like an old lady when I walk. Even my granddaughter holds on tight to me, because she thinks I’m going to fall.Since I’ve been here the sciatica in both legs is completely gone. I can also sit as long as I like, stay independent, and not feel stiff when I get up from a chair!
Ella C., Warsaw
The biggest problem I was having was in the morning. First thing, my back hurt so bad I couldn’t even stand up. I had to sit for 30 minutes before I could even move. I was really scared to move around in the morning, it had a huge negative effect on my life.
I use my exercise and lumbar roll now, and I have zero issues in the morning when getting up. I can now walk down the hall and actually get my coffee pain free. My back feels great, and it’s been a tremendous help for me.
Alleyne D., Colonial Beach
