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Sandy Simmons'

Natural Health Site
Life is not living, but living in health. - Martial,
Roman poet

 

Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind. Water, air and cleanliness are the chief articles in my pharmacopeia. - Napoleon Bonaparte

 

 

 

TMJ
Symptoms


TMJ is the acronym associated with temporomandibular joint disorder. The temporomandibular joints can be found on each side of the face in front of the ears. The Merck Manual of Medical Information refers to the temporomandibular joint as "the most complicated joint in the body" because of its wide range of movement. It is one of the few joints that can move from side to side as well as backwards and forwards. It can also open and close like the hinge on a gate.

Click here if you are looking for the page "TMJ: Diet and Exercise Treatment" that was formerly at this URL.

The vast majority of people who have problems with TMJ are women, and they usually develop the condition between the ages of 20 and 50. (I am female and I developed TMJ in my late thirties). I know from personal experience that the pain of TMJ can be excruciating. When my jaw was at it's worst I could only eat soup and baby food for days on end.

Symptoms directly linked to TMJ include:

  • Inability to chew or bite down on hard foods
  • Pain in the joint and the surrounding areas
  • Headaches
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Plugged ears
  • Ear pain

Conditions Linked to TMJ Based on Recent Studies:

TMJ is common in people who also have:

  • Mitral valve prolapse
  • Hypermobile joints (also called joint laxity or double jointedness)
  • Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or another form of a connective tissue disorder

Conditions Linked to TMJ Based on My Own Experience and My Email:

  • Frozen Shoulders
  • Dental work
  • Car accidents - I get a lot of email about that
  • Scoliosis
  • Using a mouse with your hand on the side of your body where you have TMJ
  • Magnesium deficiency
  • Playing a musical instrument that puts pressure on your hands or neck
  • A forward head and rounded shoulder posture can cause constant jaw pain

TMJ pain is often due to muscle tightness around the joint or tension in another part of the body pulling on the joint. The traditional medical and dental view of TMJ is to treat the jaw because that is where the patient is hurting. A holistic medical view, and the only one that ever helped me personally, is to look at the person's body as a whole and find out what other parts of the body may be putting pressure on the jaw and pulling it out of alignment. One important point I discovered in my search for a cure for my TMJ is that where I hurt is not necessarily the source of my pain. If you want to get rid of TMJ pain forever, you have to find the source of the pain and tension in your body.

Related pages on my new site: TMJ: Diet and Exercise Treatment

 

 

 

We should always presume the disease to be curable, until its own nature prove it otherwise.

Peter Mere Latham

 

 
If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.
Hippocrates

 

 

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