Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder (TMD) is an epidemic that can affect a large number of us without our knowledge.
Have you ever suffered from headaches and wondered why? Is your neck constantly stiff? Are your teeth sensitive? Do you have odd sensations in your ear like ringing, buzzing, or the feeling of water in the ear? These are just some of the symptoms that may occur with TMD.
Your jaw is a very mobile joint and can be used thousands of times a day. We never go to the gym to "work-out" our jaw muscles, rarely do we stretch the jaw to loosen the muscles and keep it healthy. It's not even a thought for most of us to put our hands on our chin and fall asleep at the desk... Yes, we all have those days.
With as complex and intricate as our temporomandibular system is, why don't we take better care of it?
Because! Many times it doesn't present as just jaw pain. We let it go untreated because it's our neck that hurts, not our jaw. It's our head that hurts, not our jaw. Your teeth my hurt, but it's not your jaw.
What you have to understand is that your jaw is part of a system. When that system is operating incorrectly it may show changes up or downstream of the problem. When your computer is working slow, the speed isn't the problem, it's the process that's causing the slow down that is the real issue. Not to say headaches are not annoying, but they are a symptom of something much more elusive.
At Allen Family Chiropractic, here in Kennewick, we strive to be the best in the region for working actively and passively with the jaw to improve it's function and decrease your discomfort. Treatment can take some time because of the amount we use our TMJ system, and it may require working with several different medical professionals (i.e. massage, dentist, MD) in conjunction with Dr. Nickolas Allen, DC.
The bigger question you should ask yourself is "Why have I not called about this sooner?" The early after the initial onset of injury the better to be seen by us. We injuries to tissue are fresh we can guide them along the healing process to ensure proper joint biomechanics are kept up, instead of allowing scar tissue to set in, muscles to tighten and the jaw to lock.