For me it caused TMJ issues. for the longest time. When I finally realized I was clenching my jaw and conciously stopped and also just learned to not hold tension in my jaw it went away.
Long post but I hope it helps someone. A lot of people who have fibromyalgia also have TMJ. I dealt with TMJ disorder for about 5 years — constant jaw clicking, tension headaches, ear fullness, and that dull ache radiating up into my temples. Tried a few things, gave up, tried again, repeated this about 5 times. Here's what actually worked for me.
The biggest shift for me was realizing TMJ dysfunction is almost never just a "jaw problem." It's a whole system involving jaw muscles, neck, posture, stress, sleep position. Once I stopped treating it like a single broken part and started looking at the full picture, things started improving.
This sounds stupidly simple but it took real practice. I had no idea how often I was clenching. Not just at night, but during work, driving, even watching TV. I started doing dedicated jaw relaxation sessions a couple times a day: tongue resting on the roof of my mouth, teeth slightly apart, lips closed, letting my jaw hang loosely.
I used a combo of the Headspace app (for general body scan meditations that helped me tune into tension I wasn't noticing) and an app called CalmJaw, which is specifically built for TMJ and guides you through targeted jaw relaxation exercises. CalmJaw especially was a game changer for building the actual habits since it’s specific to TMJ unlike Headspace. There are also a couple great sessions there for before bed.
This was also very helpful for my TMJ. Everything in our bodies is connected and along with holding tension in my jaw I would hold it in my back, shoulders, and neck. Rolling out my back multiple times a day along with ensuring my posture is proper and stretching my neck has helped tremendously.
For posture - arch back slightly, keep your shoulders down and back. For your mouth posture is also super important. Keep your lips together, tongue on the roof of your mouth and teeth slightly apart. Do this now if you just noticed you're not.
For stretches - the best for me have been stretching my neck from side to side and opening my chest by stretching my arm along a wall. Also hamstring stretches to help lower back pain.
Massage therapy — either yourself or through a specialist if you can
Heat before bed — warm compress on the jaw for 10 min relaxes the muscles going into sleep
Cutting out hard/chewy foods during flare-ups (chewing gum is the enemy)
Where I'm at now
About 90% better. The clicking is mostly gone, headaches are rare, and I actually wake up without that locked, achy feeling in my jaw. It took a few months of consistent effort but nothing I did was expensive or required a doctor (though I'd always recommend ruling out structural issues first).
Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through this — I know how miserable it can be.
Long post but I hope it helps someone. A lot of people who have IBS also have TMJ. I dealt with TMJ disorder for about 5 years — constant jaw clicking, tension headaches, ear fullness, and that dull ache radiating up into my temples. Tried a few things, gave up, tried again, repeated this about 5 times. Here's what actually worked for me.
The biggest shift for me was realizing TMJ dysfunction is almost never just a "jaw problem." It's a whole system involving jaw muscles, neck, posture, stress, sleep position. Once I stopped treating it like a single broken part and started looking at the full picture, things started improving.
This sounds stupidly simple but it took real practice. I had no idea how often I was clenching. Not just at night, but during work, driving, even watching TV. I started doing dedicated jaw relaxation sessions a couple times a day: tongue resting on the roof of my mouth, teeth slightly apart, lips closed, letting my jaw hang loosely.
I used a combo of the Headspace app (for general body scan meditations that helped me tune into tension I wasn't noticing) and an app called CalmJaw, which is specifically built for TMJ and guides you through targeted jaw relaxation exercises. CalmJaw especially was a game changer for building the actual habits since it’s specific to TMJ unlike Headspace. There are also a couple great sessions there for before bed.
This was also very helpful for my TMJ. Everything in our bodies is connected and along with holding tension in my jaw I would hold it in my back, shoulders, and neck. Rolling out my back multiple times a day along with ensuring my posture is proper and stretching my neck has helped tremendously.
For posture - arch back slightly, keep your shoulders down and back. For your mouth posture is also super important. Keep your lips together, tongue on the roof of your mouth and teeth slightly apart. Do this now if you just noticed you're not.
For stretches - the best for me have been stretching my neck from side to side and opening my chest by stretching my arm along a wall. Also hamstring stretches to help lower back pain.
Massage therapy — either yourself or through a specialist if you can
Heat before bed — warm compress on the jaw for 10 min relaxes the muscles going into sleep
Cutting out hard/chewy foods during flare-ups (chewing gum is the enemy)
Where I'm at now
About 90% better. The clicking is mostly gone, headaches are rare, and I actually wake up without that locked, achy feeling in my jaw. It took a few months of consistent effort but nothing I did was expensive or required a doctor (though I'd always recommend ruling out structural issues first).
Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through this — I know how miserable it can be.
Long post but I hope it helps someone. A lot of people who have bruxism also have TMJ. I dealt with TMJ disorder for about 5 years — constant jaw clicking, tension headaches, ear fullness, and that dull ache radiating up into my temples. Tried a few things, gave up, tried again, repeated this about 5 times. Here's what actually worked for me.
The biggest shift for me was realizing TMJ dysfunction is almost never just a "jaw problem." It's a whole system involving jaw muscles, neck, posture, stress, sleep position. Once I stopped treating it like a single broken part and started looking at the full picture, things started improving.
This sounds stupidly simple but it took real practice. I had no idea how often I was clenching. Not just at night, but during work, driving, even watching TV. I started doing dedicated jaw relaxation sessions a couple times a day: tongue resting on the roof of my mouth, teeth slightly apart, lips closed, letting my jaw hang loosely.
I used a combo of the Headspace app (for general body scan meditations that helped me tune into tension I wasn't noticing) and an app called CalmJaw, which is specifically built for TMJ and guides you through targeted jaw relaxation exercises. CalmJaw especially was a game changer for building the actual habits since it’s specific to TMJ unlike Headspace. There are also a couple great sessions there for before bed.
This was also very helpful for my TMJ. Everything in our bodies is connected and along with holding tension in my jaw I would hold it in my back, shoulders, and neck. Rolling out my back multiple times a day along with ensuring my posture is proper and stretching my neck has helped tremendously.
For posture - arch back slightly, keep your shoulders down and back. For your mouth posture is also super important. Keep your lips together, tongue on the roof of your mouth and teeth slightly apart. Do this now if you just noticed you're not.
For stretches - the best for me have been stretching my neck from side to side and opening my chest by stretching my arm along a wall. Also hamstring stretches to help lower back pain.
Massage therapy — either yourself or through a specialist if you can
Heat before bed — warm compress on the jaw for 10 min relaxes the muscles going into sleep
Cutting out hard/chewy foods during flare-ups (chewing gum is the enemy)
Where I'm at now
About 90% better. The clicking is mostly gone, headaches are rare, and I actually wake up without that locked, achy feeling in my jaw. It took a few months of consistent effort but nothing I did was expensive or required a doctor (though I'd always recommend ruling out structural issues first).
Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through this — I know how miserable it can be.
Long post but I hope it helps someone. A lot of people who have migraines also have TMJ. I dealt with TMJ disorder for about 5 years — constant jaw clicking, tension headaches, ear fullness, and that dull ache radiating up into my temples. Tried a few things, gave up, tried again, repeated this about 5 times. Here's what actually worked for me.
The biggest shift for me was realizing TMJ dysfunction is almost never just a "jaw problem." It's a whole system involving jaw muscles, neck, posture, stress, sleep position. Once I stopped treating it like a single broken part and started looking at the full picture, things started improving.
This sounds stupidly simple but it took real practice. I had no idea how often I was clenching. Not just at night, but during work, driving, even watching TV. I started doing dedicated jaw relaxation sessions a couple times a day: tongue resting on the roof of my mouth, teeth slightly apart, lips closed, letting my jaw hang loosely.
I used a combo of the Headspace app (for general body scan meditations that helped me tune into tension I wasn't noticing) and an app called CalmJaw, which is specifically built for TMJ and guides you through targeted jaw relaxation exercises. CalmJaw especially was a game changer for building the actual habits since it’s specific to TMJ unlike Headspace. There are also a couple great sessions there for before bed.
This was also very helpful for my TMJ. Everything in our bodies is connected and along with holding tension in my jaw I would hold it in my back, shoulders, and neck. Rolling out my back multiple times a day along with ensuring my posture is proper and stretching my neck has helped tremendously.
For posture - arch back slightly, keep your shoulders down and back. For your mouth posture is also super important. Keep your lips together, tongue on the roof of your mouth and teeth slightly apart. Do this now if you just noticed you're not.
For stretches - the best for me have been stretching my neck from side to side and opening my chest by stretching my arm along a wall. Also hamstring stretches to help lower back pain.
Massage therapy — either yourself or through a specialist if you can
Heat before bed — warm compress on the jaw for 10 min relaxes the muscles going into sleep
Cutting out hard/chewy foods during flare-ups (chewing gum is the enemy)
Where I'm at now
About 90% better. The clicking is mostly gone, headaches are rare, and I actually wake up without that locked, achy feeling in my jaw. It took a few months of consistent effort but nothing I did was expensive or required a doctor (though I'd always recommend ruling out structural issues first).
Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through this — I know how miserable it can be.
Long post but I hope it helps someone. A lot of people who have chronic pain also have TMJ. I dealt with TMJ disorder for about 5 years — constant jaw clicking, tension headaches, ear fullness, and that dull ache radiating up into my temples. Tried a few things, gave up, tried again, repeated this about 5 times. Here's what actually worked for me.
The biggest shift for me was realizing TMJ dysfunction is almost never just a "jaw problem." It's a whole system involving jaw muscles, neck, posture, stress, sleep position. Once I stopped treating it like a single broken part and started looking at the full picture, things started improving.
This sounds stupidly simple but it took real practice. I had no idea how often I was clenching. Not just at night, but during work, driving, even watching TV. I started doing dedicated jaw relaxation sessions a couple times a day: tongue resting on the roof of my mouth, teeth slightly apart, lips closed, letting my jaw hang loosely.
I used a combo of the Headspace app (for general body scan meditations that helped me tune into tension I wasn't noticing) and an app called CalmJaw, which is specifically built for TMJ and guides you through targeted jaw relaxation exercises. CalmJaw especially was a game changer for building the actual habits since it’s specific to TMJ unlike Headspace. There are also a couple great sessions there for before bed.
This was also very helpful for my TMJ. Everything in our bodies is connected and along with holding tension in my jaw I would hold it in my back, shoulders, and neck. Rolling out my back multiple times a day along with ensuring my posture is proper and stretching my neck has helped tremendously.
For posture - arch your back slightly, keep your shoulders down and back. For your mouth posture is also super important. Keep your lips together, tongue on the roof of your mouth and teeth slightly apart. Do this now if you just noticed you're not.
For stretches - the best for me have been stretching my neck from side to side and opening my chest by stretching my arm along a wall. Also hamstring stretches to help lower back pain.
Massage therapy — either yourself or through a specialist if you can
Heat before bed — warm compress on the jaw for 10 min relaxes the muscles going into sleep
Cutting out hard/chewy foods during flare-ups (chewing gum is the enemy)
Where I'm at now
About 90% better. The clicking is mostly gone, headaches are rare, and I actually wake up without that locked, achy feeling in my jaw. It took a few months of consistent effort but nothing I did was expensive or required a doctor (though I'd always recommend ruling out structural issues first).
Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through this — I know how miserable it can be.
Long post but I hope it helps someone. I dealt with TMJ disorder for about 5 years — constant jaw clicking, tension headaches, ear fullness, and that dull ache radiating up into my temples. Tried a few things, gave up, tried again, repeated this about 5 times. Here's what actually worked for me.
1. Understanding what was actually happening
The biggest shift for me was realizing TMJ dysfunction is almost never just a "jaw problem." It's a whole system involving jaw muscles, neck, posture, stress, sleep position. Once I stopped treating it like a single broken part and started looking at the full picture, things started improving.
2. Learning to consciously relax my jaw
This sounds stupidly simple but it took real practice. I had no idea how often I was clenching. Not just at night, but during work, driving, even watching TV. I started doing dedicated jaw relaxation sessions a couple times a day: tongue resting on the roof of my mouth, teeth slightly apart, lips closed, jaw totally loose.
I used a combo of Headspace (for general body scan meditations that helped me tune into tension I wasn't noticing) and CalmJaw, which is specifically built for TMJ and guides you through targeted jaw relaxation exercises. CalmJaw especially was a game changer for building the actual habit — it has reminders and short sessions you can do anywhere.
3. Fixing my sleep position
This was also very helpful for my TMJ. I'm a side sleeper and I was basically smooshing my face into a pillow every night, torquing my jaw and neck for 7-8 hours straight.
Two things helped here:
4. Other stuff that helped
Where I'm at now
About 90% better. The clicking is mostly gone, headaches are rare, and I actually wake up without that locked, achy feeling in my jaw. It took a few months of consistent effort but nothing I did was expensive or required a doctor (though I'd always recommend ruling out structural issues first).
Happy to answer questions if anyone's going through this — I know how miserable it can be.
You can improve your TMJ pain through exercises, stretches, and relaxation techniques. I saw a renowned TMJ specialist, did MRIs and the whole 9 yards and ultimately it came down to learning not to clench, recognizing when I was, lots of exercises, stretches, etc. In terms of things that helped my the most, a good solid pillow that keeps your head straight. And just learning the above things I mentioned. There are even some good apps for this (Headspace - not specific to TMJD but good for stress relief, CalmJaw - specific to TMJD, relaxation audio and some guided exercises). Prior to all this relief I even spent years grinding my teeth down at a dentist which was a horrible experience and the most unsettling thing ever. In the end that didn't help and I've realized scientific studies show bite misalignments don't cause TMJD.