tmj
 

what do you know of tmj and the role it plays in headaches or head pain and off balance feeling??

temporomandibular joint disorder is a collection of disorders that involve the junction of the jaw and its supporting muscles, principally the masseter and the two pterygoids. These muscles receive a lot of work; when hypertense they can cause you to grind your teeth; they can create comisserating tension in the muscles of the neck and the skull. A TMJ disorder can feel like a killer toothache or the worst headache of your life. You can massage away the tension with your fingertip, inside the mouth and outside, at the junction of the joint.

The off-balance feeling? I assume you're referring to vertigo? Balance is maintained by wee "stones" that float in the inner ear. For this there's the Epley maneuver. Find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqokxZRbJfw

When you're working the TMJs you should also work trigger points in the sternocleidomastoids, the scalenes, levatur scapula, splenius capitis, and do some nice light pressure stroking of the platysma that covers the face and neck like a warm muffler.

well its official....i have a very bad case of tmj. I knew this prior to the accident, but dentist seems to think the hit exaggerated it even more.

I'm seeing a specialist in tmj. He was wonderful, now let's hope the expensive mouthguard I just got fitted for works.

Anyone else with knowledge on how the tmj fits into this equasion?