People are becoming more and more aware of how physical therapy can help with almost all aspects of their lives. The applications are almost endless as it ranges from easing up your pain from the persistent headache to helping you recover from various surgeries and procedures. Temporomandibular disorders or TMD’s patients are among those that benefit from professional physical therapy practitioners. Physical therapy or PT is an appealing solution because of its conservative approach to healing. Whereas other fields will immediately look for surgery or other invasive procedures as treatment, physical therapy will start with non-invasive treatments that may give the same results. 

What is TMJ Dysfunction (TMD)?

     This is a term used to describe a disorder of the jaw joints and the muscle that controls these joints. It is often recommended to consult medical professionals for this because this condition often masquerades as a multitude of other symptoms like sinus headaches, earaches, migraines, or neck and muscle stiffness. The term also refers to dental dysfunction that results in the chewing muscles and the jaw joints not working together correctly. This joint, known as Temporomandibular joint or TMJ are the two joints that connect your jaw to the skull. When these become out of sync and place, they cause problems that range from mildly irritating to major discomfort. It could start from popping or clicking of the joints, constant paint around these joints, and a more serious locking or limited opening of the mouth. 

Far-Reaching Complications and Symptoms

     Some of the symptoms are hard to read and one would not normally associate them with jaw disorder. These ranges as well from headaches, pain behind the eyes, ringing in the ears, pain in the ears, numbness or tingling of the fingers, along with neck, shoulder, and back pain. It is simply impossible to self-medicate without professional help. Speaking of professionals, check out and look no further than https://nydnrehab.com/what-we-treat/tmj/. These are among those professionals at the forefront of physical therapy that deals with accurate diagnosis and treatment of TMJ. It is very important that you choose only those that are qualified to practice physical therapy treatments for this kind of disorder as self-medication may actually do more harm than good.

Physical Therapy For TMJ

     Physical therapy for Temporomandibular Disorders is something that sufferers can consider before the all-inclusive surgery prescription so often preferred by some unscrupulous doctors taking the easy route. Physical therapy is a more conservative and non-invasive approach possibly preventing you from incurring the expenses of surgery. Not only will it cost less financially but your body will thank you all the more for not subjecting it to go through an invasive surgical procedure.  A word of warning though, physical therapists themselves will confirm if you actually need surgery, depending on the gravity of the situation. In some cases, it is really the only solution. In this instance, physical therapy will still be able to help you speed up and make the recovery process all the more thorough and beneficial.