If you&;ve got ringing in the ears (tinnitus), headaches or neck pain that won&;t seem to go away even with treatment? Did you know your jaw could be the cause?.Pterygoid.The Pterodactyl&;s of your body – but no actually – these wing shaped muscles are notoriously hard to feel – especially extra-orally – they are the last 2 in the muscles of mastication and their function is to assist in chewing! (Again! big surprise!) Your pterygoids are comprised of 2 parts.Medial PterygoidsLateral PterygoidsThese muscles work together to help ELEVATE and PROTRUDE the jaw. The lateral pterygoid muscle is one to note because its the ONLY muscle of mastication that can actually help open the jaw.Not all muscles are meant to just simply be released! For example – if you have a nerve entrapment of the trigeminal nerve which is a nerve in your face which also controls some muscles of sound modulation (tensor tympani, tensor veli palatini) you can have RINGING in your ears or tinnitus. This may be due to too much INACTIVITY of muscles designed to hold the jaw in its proper forward position. If the mandible shifts too far back tension can be placed on the nerve causing some of your symptoms. Confused yet? For every joint in the body, there is an optimal position, often you do not want to simply jam the joint as far back as it can go – the same applies for the TMJ. Try out some of the stuff I&;ve posted but if you&;re really concerned just go get a screen done by a professional! Most will provide free consultations. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. series

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If you&;ve got ringing in the ears (tinnitus), headaches or neck pain that won&;t seem to go away even with treatment? Did you know your jaw could be the cause?.Pterygoids.The Pterodactyl&;s of your body – but no actually – these wing shaped muscles are notoriously hard to feel – especially extra-orally – they are the last 2 in the muscles of mastication and their function is to assist in chewing! (Again! big surprise!) Your pterygoids are comprised of 2 parts..Medial PterygoidsLateral Pterygoids.These muscles work together to help ELEVATE and PROTRUDE the jaw. The lateral pterygoid muscle is one to note because its the ONLY muscle of mastication that can actually help open the jaw..Got ringing in the ears or what&;s known as tinnitus? The lateral pterygoid may be the culprit. A hyperactive pterygoid has connections to the inner ear and tugging on this can create or cause that incessant ringing..Got a click in your jaw? The lateral pterygoid has a role in causing what is known as anterior disc displacement – or pulling that articular disc in your jaw forward slightly when hyperactive. Although this muscle may be a contributing factor – We have not even begun to go down the rabbit hole when talking about disc displacements. Those are best addressed on a case by case basis with a through assessment. series

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&;Creamsicle toss&; this covered in the chalk and blood of my brothers before me.Beta tip:If you don&;t have the accuracy or desire to throw to a pocket/crimp (that you cant see because the red hides it!) use momentum and power to skip right past it. The next hold is a jug. I&;d rather throw an extra 4 inches than smash my hand a hundred times.Maximum effort climb but as fun as it gets!Thanks for the support and angles @heyyitscheryl Chris! Leen! Rudy! ction

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This is a great upper body stretching and mobility exercise to help achieve: . Full range in the shouldersStrength StabilityMotor control and coordinationNice stretch. This is a fundamental exercise for many calisthenics movements including any and all ring work, front levers, back levers, muscle ups, and even handstands. Here I do an added pulse to activate my legs and really feel the extension through my shoulders. Doing &;Skin the cats&; will help you achieve:will target:.Shoulder stabilizersBackChestAbdominalsTo try this movement start with your legs in a tucked position to build the required strength and practice closer to the ground so that you can touch the ground. Gradually take your body over further and progress until you can move into and out of the hang unassisted. Grip the rings/bar in a deadhangKeep the arms straight and the legs bentbring your feet up and continue the movement until the feet pass over the arms and head into an inverted hangContinue to move your feet around and toward the ground and extendReturn to the start positionRinse and repeat as a shoulder prep before activity. markham toronto

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Many of you may not know but I used to do Wing Chun. I hadnt found the time to change my tires until today. But changing them reminded me of the an essential movement pattern called &;Sticky hands&; or &;chi sau&; that develops and hones both your skill in movement and your sensitivity to detect the movement and the minor nuances of your partner. Here is my throwback to that movement while changing my tires. . &;Kung Fu&; is a Chinese term referring to any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete. In its original meaning, kung fu can refer to any discipline or skill achieved through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial arts.. Apply this to your daily life in all regards and you will be closer to becoming a master of your own choosing. . . . spiration

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If you&;ve got headaches, neck pain or ringing in the ears that won&;t seem to go away even with treatment? Did you know your jaw could be the cause?.Digastrics. .Today we&;ll be going for the posterior belly of the digastric in 3 steps1. Gently perform some circular massage in the area under your ear and the angle of your mandible2. Put your finger behind the angle of the mandible and press forward toward the opening of the mouth or your eye3. Do this gently on both sides at once4. Take it slow and open your mouth or take deep breaths in and out5. Repeat 8-10xDisclaimer: this is a sensitive area so be gentle! series

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If you&;ve got headaches, tooth ache or neck pain that won&;t seem to go away even with treatment? Did you know your jaw could be the cause?.The Digastrics. .The Digastric muscles – by definition this double bellied muscle is a small muscle underneath the jaw – There are two bellies of the digastric: Posterior belly – attaches to the lower part of the skullAnterior belly – inner side of the mandible and the hyoid bone – a cartilaginous structure in your neckThis muscle helps you with swallowing and depressing the jaw. In patients with TMD, often the posterior belly of this muscle is tight.To muscle test it:.Put your fingers in the corner of your jaw and press forward and toward your eyes.If you swallow and feel this muscle pop – you&;re on the right spot.If you don&;t quite feel this one – don&;t worry. It&;s a smaller muscle which blends with a number of muscles into the front of the neck and is quite a tender point! Some practitioners themselves find difficulty muscle testing this on their patients. I just wanted to show you as much as I could for self treatment – This is number 3 of 4 so only one more!. Next up is the self release for it. series

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If you&;ve got ringing in the ears (tinnitus), headaches or neck pain that won&;t seem to go away even with treatment? Did you know your jaw could be the cause?——————–Now that you understand some of the basic movements of the jaw – we&;ll go into a little more detail about how the TMJ functions as a whole. The two smooth movements the TMJ have are:Rotation TranslationHere you will see how it works in motion – Jaw opening – During the first bit of jaw opening there is just pure rotation, and then as the jaw opens wider, the articular disc moves and there is a translation component. This video here demonstrates normal TMJ function. .Do you have a click? .If everything is moving well – you will have a smooth motion. If not, you may have a bit of a click or a pop and this is the articular disc getting displaced or pinned during this TRANSLATION phase of movement and then suddenly popping or snapping into place. Note that this processed is reversed on jaw closing and allows another opportunity for displacement or dysfunction to arise with the disc. . series

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Ok. Back to basics. ——————–Now that you&;ve seen some of the self assessment of the jaw, we should understand the basic movements of the jaw. When both of your temporomandibular joints move in concert, you have the following 4 movements/terminologies:.Protrusion – jaw moves forwardRetraction – jaw pulls backwardElevation – jaw risesDepression – jaw drops .The above image shows you some of the muscles involved with each movement of the jaw..When the muscles of the TMJ are active on only one side you have the movement of Lateral deviation..Next up a video showing you the 2 main movements at the TMJ itself. Rotation and translation or spin and glide! . series

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