5 Techniques for Managing TMJ Disorder Pain At Home

5 Ways to Manage TMJ Pain with Therapy

TMJ disorder can be very painful depending on the individual. Are you one of those people suffering? Do you feel lost in finding a solution to controlling your pain? Well, there are MANY available medical and therapeutic remedies in existence today.

The most obvious approaching to curing your TMJ pain is to go through surgery which your doctor will probably advise you on. This isn't always the best solution for its obvious risks and now with more research on TMJ pain relief, great alternatives to surgery are available.

It's highly recommended that you first seek medical advice on using such holistic methods as opposed to the more conventional treatments. This is a good step as your doctor can provide you with the piece-of-mind you need before proceeding with them.

Here are some techniques and advice below:

Control Stress

The TMJ joint is used a lot for chewing, talking and general facial expressions. It gets especially overused when we are stressed as we tend to tighten our jaws, grind our teeth and tense our faces. This can cause the joints to erode and cause TMJ pains. To relieve the pain, you simply need to start apply various techniques to relax and reduce stress in your life. Yoga, meditation and a good early night sleep all contribute to reducing stress and relieving TMJ pains.

Stretching

Stretching exercises in and around the mouth are best done in the morning after we wake up. Consult your doctor and get exercises for TMJ. They will have knowledge on exercise that can repair, ease tension and stress in your jaw.

Soft Diet

You can reduce your chewing completely by changing your diet. Eat cooked vegetables, smoothies and other softer foods. Chop and slice up your meats, this will reduce the need to chew and reduce use of the TMJ joints which are greatly overused during eating. Chew and chew gently!

Dietary Changes

There are actual food types that can aggravate your TMJ pains simply due to the ingredients and chemicals in them. Such foods are citrus groups that contain a lot of vitamin C, foods with iron content and high sugar foods. It is best to stay away from them all together especially if your TMJ pain is severe. You should try to eat foods that are high in hyaluronic acid found in animal tendons. These are great for improving the health of your TMJ joints.

Posture improvements

Good posture not only improves your overall physical health and self-esteem it also reduces stress in your body. Bad posture can have a detrimental effect on your muscles causing them to tense up and tighten. This can alleviate overall stress in our lives which we definitely don't want. So take breaks during your work especially if you're behind a computer all day.

Use all the above techniques and advice and take full control of your TMJ pain and begin your course to being pain free!