TMD/TMJ Facial Massage

What is TMD/TMJ

Temporomandibular joint disorders, more commonly known as TMJ, are usually the result of inflamed and painful chewing muscles around your jaw. For some, it's a once-in-a-while issue that can come from too much chewing, like indulging in a piece of gum all afternoon. For others, however, TMJ disorder can be a chronic issue that results in constant pain and discomfort.

The cause for this chronic condition is relatively subjective, but may be linked to stress fractures, an imperfect bite, tooth grinding or tooth clenching related to stress. Luckily, a TMJ massage can act as an effective, non-medicinal way to deal with TMJ pain. Here are three specific facial massage that can help you address the underlying issues no matter what the cause.

We use deep pressure to relax and ease muscle tension on your jaw and around the face with rubbing, pinching, kneading, stretching, tapping and other movements to help circulate, promote healing and relieve pain.

Kneading Massage

Kneading massage involves using fingers to provide a constant, circular motion against the joints and muscles that are most affected (and the likely culprits) of TMJ pain. To apply this massage, according to Wroclaw Medical University, we locate the masseter muscles in your lower jaw: directly behind your molars and just below your cheekbone.

We start by touching the corner of your mouth and then working the fingers back toward your ear until we feel a flat plane of bone. We can massage this area by pressing gently with two or three fingers and moving in a circular motion, this warms the muscles and improves lymph function, an important bodily system that helps to flush out buildups of waste. In other words, stimulating your lymph nodes can remove these irritating materials as we massage with fingers to increase blood flow to the affected area. We continue until you find some relief, and experiment with different areas of the jaw muscles to broaden the recovery process.

Friction Massage

Some find that pressure alone is enough to realize pain relief, but it needs to be done correctly and in the right place. Friction massage works well on the mandible muscle, which is the lower portion of your jaw just below the masseter, found along your jaw line.

Stretching Massage

Stretching TMJ massage to further the relief process and effectively "exercise" the muscles most responsible for TMJ disorders. This massage is done with two thumbs parallel to your jaw line, just above the mandible muscles. We press on this muscle as we drag the thumbs down against your jaw, slowly stretching the muscle away from your maxillary (upper jaw). We also stretch and massage the mandible muscle by placing two fingers of one hand on the mandible and two fingers of the other hand on the masseter muscles. We press with fingers toward each other, until the tips of the fingers are in the line between both muscles. We hold them for a few seconds before relaxing.

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