Does PT really help TMJ? I have excruciating pain in the right side of my face from a terrible TMJ problem?

I have excruciating pain in the right side of my face from a terrible TMJ problem. The pain radiates from my jaw up to my head behind my eyes and down into my neck, shoulder and upper back. I have been told to go for PT which is a huge commitment- 2xs a week for the next few months.

(I have a really busy schedule already- I have a 14 month old son and I am also a graduate student attending classes and completing field work) I know there are no guarantees - I was just wondering if anyone with a similar problem found it helpful? Asked by newmom1129 47 months ago Similar questions: PT help TMJ excruciating pain side face terrible problem Health.

Similar questions: PT help TMJ excruciating pain side face terrible problem.

It depends on the cause of the TMJ pain If it is from stress and tension....well, you know the answer to THAT one. If it is from a malformation, physical therapy will not help. You will need surgery.

If arthritis runs in your family, there is a chance you are experiencing it there, but that is not that common. It is also possible that you have a cartilege tear or slippage there which may need to be treated. Physical therapy is for regaining the use of muscles or range of motion that have been lost due to accident, illness, or surgery.

I don’t think using your TMJ joint in ANY way but that which is totally necessary for awhile is going to help. Thus I would avoid ’physical therapy. ’ My oldest son had SEVERE TMJ spasming in the sixth grade from tension and was out of school for several weeks and on painkillers at home.

He has not had trouble with it since and he is 34 now. My own experience was much more minor, but also from stress and tension, and required rest and a couple of days of pain meds. As the muscles relaxed, the pain went away.Do NOT chew gum.

Eat softer foods for awhile that do not require much, if any, chewing. Use warm, moist towls against your jaw several times daily. Hot showers will help, too, especially directing the spray onto the face.

One other trick I learned which sounds funny but works reasonably well. Let your jaw hang loose. Just let it hang.

It helps relax the muscles, especially if your head is forward a bit when you do it. This is not a position you want to walk around in public with, but at home, when you are doing your homework or something like that, try it. If the primary cause is muscle spasming from tension, a LITTLE wine before your hot shower will just about erase the pain completely.

Another pain-killing trick I was surprised to find works is cayenne pepper. If you are having trouble falling asleep because of pain, have a bit of something with a little cayenne pepper on it.It doesn’t take much. There is something about the taste of that on your tongue (UNLESS you are consistently used to hot foods, in which case your brain won’t respond), which triggers your brain to release quite a few endorphins, which are the body’s sort of ’morphine.

’ The flood of painkillers will occur about ten seconds after you taste the pepper, but only last ten or fifteen minutes. If you are exhausted and in a lot of pain, though, that is all you need to get to sleep, and the sleep itself will help relax the muscles. Which reminds me -- you may be clenching your teeth at night?

If so, ask your dentist about one of those mouth inserts which prevents this..

I thought I had tmj for years, until I was checked out rather thoroughly by a local oral surgeon and was told I was wrong.My family doctor was quite shocked. Then, a few months after finding that out, I was hit with excruciating nerve pain in my face and found out the pain I had been dealing with off and on for years was what some doctors consider pre-trigeminal neuralgia. It’s a rare disorder of the fifth cranial nerve, and is misdiagnosed a lot of times as tmj, so it’s important to make sure you have a proper diagnosis.

If you have any questions about trigeminal neuralgia, just let me know and I can help you out and give you some guidance. If it is tmj, you should make sure and give a mouth guard a try before physical therapy. They aren’t cheap (mine was $350, and I can’t even wear it now because it hurts to even open my mouth wide enough to put it in,) but it will help a lot more than most people think.

A lot of people grit their teeth in their sleep, or even grind their teeth, and this will help stop that from happening. Sources: my own mixed medical experiences spoiledbeth's Recommendations Eliminate TMJ and Teeth Grinding Amazon List Price: $15.95 Used from: $9.18 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 6 reviews) Dental Hygiene Preferred Complete Night Mouth Guard Kit Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 43 reviews) You can use one of the home mouthguards, but they aren't as good as the ones your dentist would make for you, to be honest. And the directions aren't that clear either...

PT might help, look for someone who does theraputic botox like an ENT specialist, has been shown to help. This will solve your problem in one session if it works and it often does. Good luck .

The celiac diet (no dairy or gluten grains) may help TMJ.

1 In response to all of the questions....Yes I know for a fact that it is TMJ and I wear I night appliance that a specialist made up for me, but the pain is still really bad. I can't take any heavy duty pain killers because I am still nursing my 14 month old son. I have been living on Motrin which doesn't do much.

I saw a neurologist who said that it is not a nerve disorder and that I have multiple spasms in my neck from it.

In response to all of the questions....Yes I know for a fact that it is TMJ and I wear I night appliance that a specialist made up for me, but the pain is still really bad. I can't take any heavy duty pain killers because I am still nursing my 14 month old son. I have been living on Motrin which doesn't do much.

I saw a neurologist who said that it is not a nerve disorder and that I have multiple spasms in my neck from it.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.