Is jaw pain affecting your everyday life? Adaptive Chiropractic Melbourne can help! Let us provide you with holistic and effective jaw pain treatment that will ease your discomfort and transform your life for the better.
TMJ Chiropractor Melbourne
Understanding Chiropractic Treatment for TMJ Pain
TMJ pain or temporomandibular joint syndrome, can be incredibly painful. It hurts to talk, it hurts to eat sometimes, or it hurts to just open your mouth. When the jaw pain is bad, it can even lead to headaches and tension around the neck, in some cases.
Chiropractic treatment of the TMJ joint focuses on relieving tension in the muscles around the joints, using trigger point therapy to alleviate the jaw pain associated with TMJ. In some cases, misalignment of the jaw that results from bad posture or a pre-existing back problem can cause TMJ pain.
Here at Melbourne Adaptive Chiropractic, our approach to TMJ treatment caused by misalignment in your neck and upper back is to perform chiropractic adjustments on your spinal joints around these problematic areas. We also use cranial therapy to help alleviate tension in the skull to further improve painful TMJ symptoms. Our team of TMJ treatment professionals will be able to teach relaxation techniques to help loosen your jaw muscles and relieve pressure, as well as recommend dietary and lifestyle changes to improve your quality of life. After a detailed assessment of your condition, our Melbourne TMJ practitioners will look to identify the source of the discomfort and provide the right treatments and suggestions that will help and alleviate pain.
Common symptoms of jaw pain or TMJ
Temporomandibular disorder refers to a group of conditions that affect the joints and jaw muscles which connect the jawbone to the skull. The symptoms of temporomandibular joint dysfunction can vary widely in intensity, frequency, and duration. Common symptoms include:
- Pain or tenderness: The pain associated with TMJ disorders often feels like a dull ache but can sometimes be sharp. It can be felt in the jaw joint itself, the muscles controlling jaw movement, or the surrounding areas. The pain may intensify during activities that involve the jaw, such as eating, yawning, or speaking.
- Clicking or popping sounds: This is not always associated with pain. The sound comes from the disc inside the joint moving out of place. While many people may hear a click or pop from their jaw from time to time, it’s recurrent, loud sounds, especially those accompanied by pain or limited jaw movement, that can indicate a temporomandibular joint disorder.
- Jaw locking: This refers to an inability to fully open or close the jaw. It can be temporary and might resolve on its own after some time or with gentle movements. In more severe cases, it can be persistent and may require intervention.
- Limited range of motion: People with TMJ disorders may find it difficult to open their mouth wide, such as when yawning or eating larger foods. This can be due to pain, muscle stiffness, or internal joint derangement.
- Changes in bite: This can manifest as a sudden realization that the upper and lower teeth don’t align properly anymore. It might feel like the teeth are “off” or don’t fit together as they once did.
- Ear symptoms: TMJ dysfunction can mimic ear infections, leading to pain deep within the ear, hearing changes, or even tinnitus. This is because the TMJ is located just in front of the ear, and problems here can impact the surrounding structures.
- Headaches: TMJ-related headaches often feel like tension headaches. They typically start at the temples or back of the head and can radiate forward. The pain can be due to tension related to the jaw muscles or referred pain from the joint itself.
- Facial swelling: This can be a result of acute or chronic inflammation around the joint area, making one side of the face appear larger than the other. This can be due to inflammation within the joint or surrounding tissues.
- Chewing difficulties: Eating can become a challenge, either due to pain, misalignment of the teeth, or a combination of both. Some people may find it uncomfortable to chew harder foods or may be wary of opening their mouths too wide.
- Neck and shoulder pain: This can result from the body compensating for jaw misalignment or muscle imbalances. The muscles in the neck and shoulders might become strained or tense.
TMJ dysfunction can arise from various causes, including trauma, arthritis, bruxism (teeth grinding), or even genetic predispositions. Treatment options can range from conservative measures like chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, medications, and oral devices to more invasive options like surgery, depending on the severity and cause.
A TMJ Chiropractor Who Truly Cares for Your Wellbeing
Adaptive Chiropractic is committed to taking a holistic approach to chiropractic care including TMJ treatment. Not only do we use safe yet powerful chiropractic techniques, providing fast and effective pain relief in the treatment of jaw pain and TMJ dysfunction, but we also want to support you in reaching and maintaining optimal health.
Our founder Dr Clarence Ho is passionate about wellbeing and preventative care. In addition to focussing in jaw pain treatments, spine related treatments and back pain massage, he and his team also assist patients with pregnancy related pain, migraine treatment, sports remedial massage, deep muscle massage and posture correction. At our Melbourne CBD clinic we treat a wide range of people, from infants to senior adults and elite athletes.
Easy access and quality care in our Melbourne CBD clinic
Located on Little Collins Street, right in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, Adaptive Chiropractic provides effective jaw pain treatment in a warm and inviting practice. Our founder and chiropractors have lived and worked in Melbourne for many years, and are uniquely positioned to understand and enhance the health and wellbeing needs of the local community living and working in the Melbourne CBD and inner Melbourne.
For your convenience, we offer early morning, lunch time and late afternoon appointments. Our clients come from all walks of life, from high-stress corporate jobs to active sports athletes and we understand that stress can be a major negative impact on overall health and quality of life. Through state-of-the-art scanning technology, our team at Adaptive Chiropractic Melbourne CBD is committed in providing you the highest quality in chiropractic care. Our specific and holistic techniques will help to not only alleviate TMJ related symptoms, but also improve the overall wellbeing of an individual, ensuring that they feel better both mentally and physically.
Experiencing jaw pain or other TMJ related symptoms? Contact us for more information, or make an appointment to see one of our experienced Melbourne jaw professionals today.