The TMJ and Migraine Connection

Do you suffer from migraines or cluster headaches? If you do, you might be one of the estimated 10.8 Million people who suffer from TMD (Tempomandibular Joint Disease). While victims of migraines often resort to popping pills, lying in darkened rooms, and shutting down all activity completely until the pain subsides, new research is showing that these sharply focused headaches may actually originate in the jaw and can be taken care of at the source!

TMJ
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the hinge joint that connects the lower jaw (mandible) to the temporal bone of the skull. Like other synovial joints in the body, the TMJ is predisposed to similar degenerative alterations as a result of frequent and everyday stress.

Common symptoms of TMD are generalized orofacial pain, chronic headaches and earaches, jaw dysfunction, which include hyper- and hypo-mobility, locking of the jaw, painful clicking and popping sounds when opening and closing the mouth, and difficulty talking and chewing. Frequently, the first approach is resting the jaw, physical therapy, and eating only soft food. In some cases talking is even discouraged. When these jaw-limiting actions don't work, a mouth splint used at night can sometimes resolve the problem. If the painful and obnoxious symptoms persist, people with TMD may turn to TMJ dental and surgical specialists. Conventional treatments include TMJ arthroscopy and various types of surgery, TMJ implants, injections of botulinum toxins, and cauterization. All of these are invasive and somewhat risky, and treat the immediate problem while largely ignoring future consequences. Although surgery is an option, there is a more advantageous and less invasive procedure that can eliminate these ongoing problems.

Prolotherapy for the Jaw
Many painful and persistent problems can be directly linked to ligament and/or tendon weakness or degeneration. With this understanding, several physicians have begun to focus directly on the joint and/or tendon for ground zero for healing and repair. They do this by using a therapy that, although has been around for decades, is often overlooked by mainstream medicine.

Prolotherapy, a dextrose-based injection therapy, has been shown in one double-blinded animal study over a six-week period to increase ligament mass by 44%, ligament thickness by 27%, and the ligament-bone junction strength by 28%. (1) Another animal study confirmed that prolotherapy induced the normal healing reaction that occurs when an injured tissue is healing itself. In this study, the prolotherapy caused the circumference of tendons to increase by approximately 25% after six weeks time. In human studies on prolotherapy, biopsies performed after the completion of treatment showed statistically significant increases in collagen fiber and ligament diameter of up to 60%. (2)

How Does Prolotherapy Work Specifically in the Jaw
In the 1930s, a physician by the name of Louis W. Schultz found that by using Prolotherapy on the jaw that:

- There was no alteration of the normal joint cavity; the proliferation occurred in the ligaments.
- There were no gross changes in the ligaments other than their thickening.
- Lymphocytes infiltrate the area injected within 30 minutes.
- Proliferation of tissue can be seen in four to six days.

Although these results are over 60 years old, today's results are just as amazing. Injections to the TMJ can repair and strengthen the ligaments and significantly reduce the pain associated with the degeneration and weakness of the joint. It can heal the TMJ and prevent future recurrences. If you suffer from pain in your jaw and have recurring headaches, you should be evaluated for TMD. If you have it, you may want to research the possibility of Prolotherapy as a immediate and long-term treatment.

1. Liu Y. An in situ study of the influence of a sclerosing solution in rabbit medical collateral ligaments and its junction strength. Connective Tissue Research. 1983. 2: 95-102.

2. Maynard J. Morphological and biomechanical effects of sodium morrhuate on tendons. Journal of Orthopaedic Research. 1985. 3: 236-248.