I went back through my last 25 patients' charts and noted the top things that they report aggravate their TMJ symptoms. As you may know, TMJ disorder is a complex disorder and can be aggravated by various factors, and understanding these aggravating factors can help you manage your symptoms and prevent the condition from worsening. In this blog post, we will discuss the top aggravating factors of TMJ disorders.
1.) Stress
Stress and anxiety can also contribute to TMJ disorder. When you are stressed, you may clench your jaw or grind your teeth, putting pressure on the jaw joint and exacerbating your symptoms. Additionally, stress can cause muscle tension, leading to pain and discomfort in the jaw area. Practicing stress management techniques, such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing, can help reduce your stress levels and manage your TMJ disorder symptoms.
2.) Sitting Prolonged Periods
It can specifically aggravate TMJ disorder because it is harder to maintain good posture when sitting. When you slouch or hunch your shoulders, it can cause tension in your neck and shoulder muscles, which can affect your jaw muscles and lead to pain and discomfort. Maintaining good posture by sitting up straight, keeping your shoulders relaxed, and avoiding craning your neck can help reduce the pressure on your jaw joint and improve your symptoms Teeth Grinding and Clenching
3.) Clenching and Grinding
One of the most common aggravating factors of TMJ disorder is teeth grinding or clenching. This can put a lot of pressure on the jaw joint, leading to pain, discomfort, and other symptoms. If you grind your teeth at night or clench your jaw during the day, your dentist may recommend wearing a mouthguard or a splint to reduce the pressure on the jaw joint. I have also felt if you improve nasal breathing and resting mouth posture this seems to reduce clenching both day and night.
4.) Eating
Chewing hard or tough foods, such as gum or steak, can put a lot of pressure on your jaw joint, leading to pain and discomfort. If you have TMJ disorder, try to avoid hard foods and opt for softer options, such as cooked vegetables, mashed potatoes, or soups. Another thing noted is alcohol or inflammatory foods. Some patients report that when they eat certain foods that cause inflammation this aggravates their TMJ symptoms.
5.) Lifting
Many clients report that lifting heavy objects causes increased jaw pain. We believe this happens for 2 reasons primarily. We notice that people clench or shift their jaws when lifting heavy objects. You can relieve this by practicing placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth in the “no” position as if you were trying to say the word “no”. In this case, your teeth will be apart 5-10mm. If you have a question we have videos on Tiktok and youtube pages.
Another reason that lifting heavy may affect jaw pain is the use of the neck muscles. When we lift anything heavy we need to make sure we don’t shrug our shoulders or use our neck muscles in excess. It is beneficial to watch yourself in the mirror when you move your arms overhead and make sure you are not overly using neck muscles. When you raise your arms up your head should not tip to one side or turn.
Conclusion
TMJ disorder can be a frustrating condition at times, but understanding the aggravating factors can help you manage your symptoms and prevent the condition from worsening. If you experience any of the symptoms mentioned above, you can do something about it with some habit changes. If you are having difficulties with TMJ disorder and a home treatment program sounds good to you we have developed a home program for people that do not have access to physical therapy that specifically addresses the common deficiencies we see over treating hundreds of clients with TMJ syndrome. It's easy to follow and effective. www.treatmytmj.com
Spend time doing things you enjoy with people that you care about.
Dr. Josh
Which one(s) of these affects your TMJ?
Stress 😨
Sitting 🪑
Clenching/Grinding 😬
Eating 🍕
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