Dry Needling for Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) at All Care Physio
Temporomandibular disorders refer to joint pain or dysfunction to the jaw joints, which are located either side of your head. These symptoms include pain, pain with mouth opening, joint sounds, difficulty opening, clenching, burning, or locking.
Females are twice as likely to suffer with TMJ pain than males.
The muscles that control the jaw are used repetitively daily but they can become overused with stress, clenching, poor motor control of the jaw or as a result of TMJ pain itself. These muscles can become a cause of pain themselves.
Management of TMD can be multifactorial to achieve a result for our clients of decreasing pain and increasing function of the jaw.
One of our techniques is dry needling of the bigger muscles of the jaw to relieve tension, decrease painful trigger points and improve the motion of the jaw.
Dry needling is a technique where we insert acupuncture needles into the trigger points of specific muscles based on our specific assessment. The treatment response relaxes tight muscles, decreases pain, and can improve the pain free motion of the jaw.
Releasing these painful trigger points is only as part of our comprehensive treatment plan to improve our clients jaw pain. We combine this with muscle releases, corrective exercises, ultrasound, muscle relaxation and specific advice on how to minimise aggravation of your jaw pain with everyday life.