Hi everyone! I'm Priya Mistry, the TMJ doc and today i'm going to talk to you
about TMJ relief from the comfort of your own home. What can you do from the comfort of your
own home to help relieve TMJ symptoms? One exercise that helps reduce the pops and the
clicks within the jaw joint is called the six by six exercise. For the six by six exercise,
you wanna start with your teeth edge to edge as if you're biting off a thread. This position can be
kind of hard to tell just by feel if you're in the right position, so standing in front of a mirror
to actually verify that your teeth are edge to edge is a good idea. Once you get to that edge
to edge position, you want to open wide and then go back to that edge to edge position six times,
six times a day. That's why it's called the six by six. It's easy to remember. Definitely don't do it
seven, eight, nine times a day. You can overdo it and irritate the joint. And remember to keep
your teeth edge to edge. That's a very vital part of this exercise. Another thing to keep in mind
is that this exercise does not work quickly. It can take several months or even years
to help reduce or eliminate jaw joint noises with this method. First and foremost, you can do muscle
releases or myofascial release on yourself from the comfort of your own home. Myofascial
release... This technique involves applying sustained pressure to tissue in order to increase
range of motion and to eliminate or decrease pain. Let's start with the lateral pterygoid. This is a
muscle that I call the troublemaker because it can refer pain to the head, to the jaw, into the ear,
behind the eye, and even to specific teeth. The lateral pterygoid muscle is also a key player
in clenching and bruxing activity. To release this muscle on the left side, you'll use your right
pinky. And vice versa. So you take your pinky again, you twist your hand so that the nail is
facing towards the teeth. Once you're inside the mouth and the pad is towards your cheek,
and then I'm just going to go as far back and up as I can. You'll see that I'll open wide to
begin with, and then i'll close about halfway to increase access way back there. So here we go...
I hit the spot!
Change the angle.
Once you've applied pressure in one spot for 10 to 15 seconds, change the angle of your
pinky and go for it again. So you can do this changing the angle two or three times and I
wouldn't recommend doing this lateral pterygoid release more than one to two times per day.
And that's really it. Let's move on to releasing the masseter muscle. The masseter is the largest
and most powerful chewing muscle. To release this muscle effectively, there's one technique that we
do from outside the mouth, and then there's one that we do inside the mouth. Basically,
what you do is you just take your middle knuckles, which are these guys, and you place them right
underneath your cheekbones. Then you run your fingers with inward pressure all the way down to
the angle of the mandible. Use as much pressure as you can handle. This muscle is big and it's
often overworked, especially if you're watching this video. You're watching it for a reason.
So you can do this one multiple times a day, three or four times each time. You do it
and it really helps to relieve any tense or fibrotic areas that build up in the masseter
muscle. If you don't want to use your fingers, you can also use this handy dandy jade roller. This
jade roller is great because it does the exact same thing. You can apply pressure inwards as
you support the other side of your head and then go all the way down to the angle of the mandible.
Now let's go inside the mouth. You release the masseter by running perpendicular to
the fibers of this muscle. For this release, you'll need your pointer finger and your thumb
finger. Same hand, same side. Take your pointer finger and go as far back inside as you can.
So run along your inner cheek until you hit bone. Once you hit bone, then use your thumb to grab
the outside and give it a little pinch. Once you've got a good grasp on that deep masseter,
then sustaining that pinch, come slowly forward. Then you go back in and you grab everything a
little bit lower at a different level. Give it a little pinch and come all the way forward. You can
do that as many times as you need to as long as you run the entire length of the masseter which
goes from the cheekbone all the way to the angle of the jaw right here. So let me put my glove on
and demonstrate that. So basically you're going to take your pointer finger and your thumb back...
Ah!
Feels good!
So again, the masseter release the outside and the inside... You can do
multiple times a day, more than I would recommend doing the lateral pterygoid release.
The next muscle we're going to release is the temporalis muscle which is a large
fan shaped muscle and is a key player in clenching and bruxing activity just like the
masseter and the lateral pterygoid. To release this muscle, you can use your middle knuckles.
You can use your fingertips. Or you can use that jade roller. So basically what you're going to
do is take your fingertips and start right at the base of that muscle where it starts and go
all the way up and back with pressure inwards. You can do that a few times. Feels really good.
Another way to release just the anterior or forward fibers of this muscle is to find the
little indentation behind your orbital bone and your cheekbone. So kind of feel your cheekbone,
feel your orbital bone, and go just right behind. Do the same thing on the other side and just apply
inward pressure for 10 to 15 seconds at a time. This is where many of us hold a lot of stress and
tension. This is typically where tension headaches are or begin so releasing that temporalis muscle
can help quite a bit with those tension headaches. For more relief, be sure to kick bad habits.
No gum chewing, no pencil or pen chewing, don't rest your hand against your jaw when you're awake,
or when you're sleeping, and try to limit your caffeine intake. Try to limit it to one to two
cups of coffee per day or one to two cups of tea per day. Lastly, if you're having a TMJD flare-up,
avoid tough or chewy foods. You can never have TMI about TMJ. Thank you!