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

posted on May 4, 2017 by | No comments

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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

posted on May 2, 2017 by | No comments

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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

posted on April 17, 2017 by | No comments

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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

posted on April 13, 2017 by | No comments

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