Head Posture Restoration to Relieve Orofacial Pain

35 million Americans are just like Rosa. They present with painful temporomandibular joint
(TMJ) disorder and regular headaches that are affecting their home and professional life.
Influence heating costs . patients dont realize could be the orofacial pain and headaches are
directly associated with their postural presentation. For correction of TMJ dysfunction,
structural head posture restoration is indicated.
Patients suffering from TMJ dysfunction will commonly present with restricted range to move
of the jaw, with reported popping and clicking belonging to the jaw when closing and opening
their mouth. TMJ disorders can vary from a slight irritation to a severely debilitating condition.
Advanced TMJ disorder could affect patients ability to eat, breathe, talk, and sleep, which
enables them to give rise to teeth sensitivities, ear problems, headaches, facial nerve pain
and muscular aches your neck and shoulder region.
Common postural distortion patterns that patients with TMJ disorder present with include
forward head posture, an increased hyperlordosis of the cervical spine, and trigger point
muscle activation of the trapezius muscles. Postural distortion patterns of posture quadrant 1
affect the muscle activation for the jaw and support posterior lower jaw position.
Research demonstrates that correction of TMJ dysfunction requires postural correction of the
pinnacle and cervical spinal cord. Nikolakis et al. (2001) state, a connected with exercise and
manual therapy, correction of body posture, and relaxation techniques significantly alleviates
jaw pain, restricted movement, and impairment.
Wright et 's. (2000) concluded that TMJ dysfunction self-management with postural training
was more effective for correction and relief of symptoms than TMJ self-management alone.
Rosa, an accountant of 10 years, was surprised that her dentist referred her for postural
training to correct her TMJ malfunction. Although skeptical in the beginning, Rosa begin to
realize the important connection between head posture placement along with the correction
of TMJ and orofacial your symptoms.
Rosa had been dealing with dental issues and headaches forever. With the heightened
stress of tax season states that her clenching is the worst and she wakes up every morning
by using a headache from clenching her teeth and jaw all night.
She presented with significant forward head posture on her initial evaluation. Other
significant clinical findings include hypertonicity on the trapezius, pectoral, and suboccipital
muscles bilaterally, trunk flexion, major levels of postural instability at T1 and T4, and
decreased range to move of the cervical spine with right rotation and bilateral head flexion.
Rosa was specialized in her treatment plan of head posture structural restoration. For
complete correction, Rosa completed a 12-week program. Her plan for treatment consisted
of anti-gravity postural correction treatments with a specific postural rehabilitation project.
For postural restoration of forward head posture, Rosa did reverse posture exercises in
which she retracted the cervical spine without resistance and held the situation of maximum
contraction for 5 only a few. She was instructed attempt and do 3 sets of 10 repetitions on a
daily basis. Once she been able to do 3 sets of 10 repetitions she then began doing just as
exercise with effectiveness build her postural fitness.
She was expected to do TMJ specific exercises at home in addition on the cervical reverse
posture exercises. For quite exercise, she was instructed to open her mouth as wide as
possible, not to the idea of pain, but as wide as she can successfully. With the mouth wide
open, she was instructed to mover her jaw gradually to the affected side and hold for 10
moment. Then repeat the exercise 4-5 times.
Next she performed an exercise in which she supported her chin with both hands while
opening her mouth. With the mouth wide open, she would touch the roof of her mouth but
now tip of her tongue, at forward part of her mouth. back brace did this exercise for 10
repetitions to create her postural casual.
When working with patients with orofacial pain, it is required to rehabilitate the jaw with
specific movements to improve articular function. For long-term correction it is necessary to
also correct the head posture of affected person to be in proper alignment. There exists a
interdependent relationship between cervical posture and jaw position that posture experts
have mastered.