TMJ Physical Therapy in NY

If you’re looking for TMJ physical therapy in NY, our therapists at Moving Forward Physical Therapy offer a variety of treatment options for this condition. While many patients with TMJ seek out dentists to treat this condition, physical therapy offers more effective and less invasive TMJ treatment options. 

What is TMJ?

TMJ, or Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, occurs when the joint connecting the jawbone to the skull is injured or displaced, causing jaw pain when talking, eating, and more. 

The symptoms include:

• Pain and tenderness in the jaw
• Pain in or around the ear
• Difficulty chewing or talking
• Joint locking, in which it is difficult to fully open or easily close the mouth

What Causes TMJ?

There are a variety of factors that can contribute to a person’s likelihood of developing TMJ. 

These include:

• Genetic Predisposition
• Jaw Injury
• Arthritis
• Joint Disc Erosion
• Long-Term Grinding or Clenching Teeth

Each of these conditions contributes to cartilage or disc erosion and inflammation, leading to consistent jaw pain and difficulty in opening the jaw fully. However, TMJ Physical Therapy in NY can help alleviate these symptoms, and strengthen the jaw muscles to prevent pain and allow for full movement in the jaw joint. 

When to Seek Treatment

It is important to treat TMJ as it can affect the most basic parts of daily life, including eating and communicating. It becomes especially vital to seek treatment when lockjaw occurs, as this can cause more intense pain and prevent comfortable eating. 

Initial Consultation

Many individuals who suffer from TMJ seek out treatment from a jaw specialist or dentist, but often, these treatment options involve head scans, injections, and multiple surgeries. Contrarily, physical therapy is more effective in treating TMJ in a non-invasive way through jaw strengthening and retraining. 

Best TMJ Physical Therapy in NYC 

Moving Forward Physical Therapy offers several treatment options for TMJ patients. Our therapists will help you create an individualized exercise and treatment plan to stretch and strengthen your jaw muscles and alleviate pain and tension. 

At your first appointment of TMJ physical therapy in NY, our therapists will first evaluate your condition. This usually involves:

• Palpitation of the jaw, ear, and neck areas
• Posture assessment
• Measuring the range of neck motion
• Measuring the range of jaw movements and various motions

After these assessments have been completed, our therapist will develop a plan of treatment for your specific TMJ needs, using a variety of different techniques and methods of care. 

TMJ Physical Therapy in NY Treatment Options

Heat or Ice

Often, TMJ pain is caused by inflammation or tension. Therefore, our therapists will first determine whether to use heat (to treat tension) or ice (to treat inflammation) on your jaw muscles before beginning other treatment options. These will allow the jaw to relax and be more susceptible to additional treatments. 

Massage

Similarly to applying heat or ice, massage is used as a way to loosen and relax the muscles of the jaw, neck, and ear areas before moving on to other treatment options. This will improve circulation and increase the rate of healing in the jaw. 

Posture Improvements

Poor posture, involving rounded shoulders or a forward head position can put unnecessary stress on your jaw. Therefore, if your therapist has determined that your posture is contributing to your TMJ pain, they will give you instructions about how to improve your posture, as well as show you various exercises to help correct your posture long term.

Exercises

Exercise is the most common and effective component for treating TMJ with physical therapy in NY. These exercises will involve practices to help reduce lockjaw, and allow your jaw to open and close more smoothly and without pain or discomfort. These exercises will also strengthen the muscles in and around your jaw, leading to long term improvements. 

The most common exercises include:

• Pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth at the back of your teeth, and holding for several seconds
• Repeating the same movement as above, but opening and closing the mouth to ensure that jaw movements are fluid and not displaced
• Opening and closing the jaw with resistance, in which your therapist will put light pressure under your chin as you attempt to move the jaw
• Various neck exercises, including rotations and stretches while opening the jaw
• Shoulder exercises and stretches that stimulate the muscles of the jaw and around the ears
• Jaw Mobilization, in which your therapist will move your jaw manually to practice proper opening and closing, while strengthening the muscles

Moving Forward PT – Offering TMJ Physical Therapy in NY

If you suffer from TMJ, we at Moving Forward Physical Therapy are here to help. Contact us by phone or email, or visit our website to schedule an appointment online – and get started on your path to relieving TMJ today!

PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR TMJ

TMJ Physical Therapy in NY

Over 80 million Americans suffer from temporomandibular joint (TMJ) daily. TMJ is a pain in your jaw joint and in the muscles that control jaw movement that can affect your day to day living at times. Although surgery can fix TMJ, there are more conservative measures to take so you can manage this disease daily making it much more manageable to live with. Since TMJ causes pain in the face and jaw muscles it can be a burden to have to live with often. TMJ can be a genetic condition that is inherited by your genes or developed from arthritis or a jaw injury. TMJ is most often found by the patients’ dentist, but can only be managed by a physical therapist who advised how to make this disease more manageable and pain-free. Moving Forward Physical Therapy, leading TMJ physical therapy in NY can provide physical therapy to patients to help alleviate pain and provide exercises to strengthen the jaw and neck muscles associated with TMJ. 

What are the symptoms associated with TMJ?

• Any sort of pain and or tenderness in the jaw area
• Pain in any of the TM joints
• Aching pain in or near the ear
• Any difficulty chewing food
• Locking of the joint

If any of the above symptoms resemble ones you are having, Moving Forward Physical Therapy, experts in TMJ physical therapy in NY, encourages you to contact us to help you gain control of this condition and let us help you make it better!

The team at Moving Forward Physical Therapy are trained physical therapy professionals in NYC in their field to help treat many conditions that make living with them much easier. Moving Forward PT – professionals of TMJ Physical Therapy in NY has an Acupuncturist, Snow Xia that specializes in treating TMJ disorders to treat her patients with weekly sessions. While Snow performs her acupuncture for patients she is working on relaxing the facial muscles. Aside from acupuncture there are recommended exercises to be performed that relax the facial muscles. 

So what can you do to alleviate and manage the pain of TMJ?

Dr. Charles Davis from Medicine net advises these options …

• Biofeedback
• Stretching
• Strength Training
• Physical Therapy
• Take pain relievers and or anti-inflammatory drugs
• Surgery (if conservative options have failed)
• Botox
• Chew softer foods
• Ice Therapy
• Heat Therapy

What services do we offer?

When coming for treatment at Moving Forward Physical Therapy, our team is committed to giving you consistent hands-on treatment options that will aid in your recovery! The physical therapists at Moving Forward Physical Therapy make a treatment plan just for you upon your first evaluation. You will always get that one on one doctor-patient care and be consistent with the same doctor on every visit, so you are getting treated by someone who knows you and your case on a personal level.

Why choose Moving Forward Physical Therapy?

A unique service Moving Forward Physical Therapy has is that we offer concierge services for our patients meaning we can come to you if needed! Since we’re the leading experts in TMJ physical therapy in NY we make it a priority to accommodate our patients as best we can even if that means traveling to your home in NYC or office on a lunch break and even at hotels if our services are needed for your short stay in New York! We make it a priority to be ready to serve our patients at a moment’s notice. 

Introducing Telemedicine


A new service we are currently offering is telemedicine – which is the ability to have your therapists at Moving Forward Physical Therapy treat you through your camera if you cannot make it into the office or utilize our concierge service which is especially helpful right now as NYC is the epicenter of the novel coronavirus. 

Local TMJ Physical Therapy in NY

If you’re looking for TMJ Physical Therapy in NY, we are here for you. Moving Forward PT has flexible hours and experienced staff and can even come to you if you can not make it into the office. Please contact us today to create a treatment plan for that will work and begin resolving your pain within just a few weekly sessions! If you have any questions regarding our team, services, etc. Please contact us today! We look forward to combating your pain together.