Gentle Hands Therapy | Massage, Lypossage, Therapeutic Massage,

Alleviate temporal mandibular joint “clicking”. Reduce pain and soreness caused by repetitive motion and injury.

TMJ Syndrome is a disorder that affects the temporomandibular joint or jaw. Massage therapy can be used to treat TMJ disorder. Dysfunction in this joint can be quite painful. Besides pain in the jaw, TMJ symptoms may include pain in the neck, shoulders, head, and face. Women suffer from this disorder more than men. Most of the time, TMJ dysfunction can be treated without surgery.

If you put your fingers at the front of your ears and open and close your mouth, you can feel your temporomandibular joints at work. These joints do both a hinging motion and move side to side.

When these joints are under stress or damaged, you feel a variety of TMJ symptoms. They include:

• pain in the joint
• pain in the face, neck, and shoulder
• clicking or popping sounds when you open and close your jaw
• ear problems, such as ringing in the ears or hearing loss
• your jaw becomes locked in one position, usually when opening it wide
• muscle spasms
• headaches
• dizziness

Someone with TMJ disorder may have one or more of these symptoms.

TMJ symptoms can stem from several problems or a combination of problems, such as:

• trauma
• disease
• wear and tear
• habits

Trauma

There are two categories of trauma that can lead to TMJ dysfunction. The first category is microtrauma.

Microtrauma is caused internally. These are usually bad habits that you need to break. Things like grinding your teeth or constantly clenching your teethqualify as microtrauma. These bad habits overwork the jaw muscles and can cause misalignment of the teeth.

The other type of trauma is macrotrauma. Macrotrauma is an external event. It occurs when you take a blow. This can knock your jaw out of alignment suddenly.

Disease

Certain diseases can add to your risk of getting TMJ Syndrome. Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease that attacks joint tissue. When this disease attacks the jaw the joint swells and the fluid in the joint is no longer sufficient to lubricate it. This causes pain in the joint.

Osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint is a result of wear and tear.  As we age, we lose some of the lubrication in our joints. This results in pain when the joint is moved.

The trigger points and pain associated with fibromyalgia can attack the face and jaw region. Most people who have fibromyalgia also suffer from TMJ Syndrome.

Massage

Massaging the muscles in your jaw, neck, shoulders, and face can relieve the pain caused by TMJ. There are usually many trigger points in these areas that contribute to your TMJ pain. Neuro muscular therapy treats those trigger points, causing the painful muscles to relax.

Craniosacral therapy can also help treat TMJ disorder. Craniosacral therapists do a series of releaseson the temporomandibular joint itself. These releases help create more space in the joint and allow for freer movement.

RSI and Carpal Tunnel

Often attributed to long hours of desk work, repetitive strain injuries can develop from repeated movements during any activity at work or leisure. Repetitive strain injuries, or RSIs, all too often result in pain, loss of work, and decreased enjoyment of every day life.

Therapeutic massage is an effective tool for both prevention and recovery from repetitive strain injuries.

Therapeutic massage can decrease pain and enhance healing in a number of ways, such as:

• reduces painful muscle tension and releases trigger points in the area of the injury
• improves circulation
• increases pliability of scar tissue in tendons and other soft tissues, making movement easier and re-tearing less likely
• helps stimulate healthy regeneration of damaged tendons and other soft tissues
• improves range of motion as tight muscles relax and shortened tissues are gently stretched and lengthened
• improves posture and joint alignment, reducing stress to the affected area and decreasing the possibility of re-injury

Massage is your ally in recovery and remarkably effective in the ability to relieve tension.