Recently I’ve had two clients come in for TMJ relief sessions who have previously seen multiple practitioners who worked inside their mouths. Between them, they have seen chiropractors, chiropractic neurologists, Rolfers, dentists trained by the Las Vegas Institute (LVI), and/or other massage therapists.
Each of these clients told me “No one has ever touched me there” after I worked on releasing tension in their lateral pterygoid muscles.
These small muscles are hard to access, being nearly surrounded by bones and tendons (cut away in the image below so you can see the upper and lower branches of the lateral pterygoid).
They are not easily accessible on everyone, being overlaid by the coronoid process of the mandible and the temporalis tendon, but they can definitely be influenced.
In my experience of giving over a thousand TMJ Relief sessions, many TMJ issues are due to an imbalance in muscle tension among the nine muscles that are directly involved in moving the mandible and numerous others that connect to the bones of the mouth and jaw.
The lateral pterygoids are often the muscles most responsible for releasing jaw tension and relieving clicking and popping noises on opening and/or closing.
Notice that the upper head of the lateral pterygoid is attached to the articular disc that separates the temporal bone and the mandible —the two bones of the temporomandibular joints.
When this disc does not move smoothly with the mandible when the jaw opens and closes in a hinge-and-glide motion, a clicking, popping, or crunching noise often occurs.
It’s not that the other jaw muscles don’t contribute. They do. I’ve found tension in the temporalises, trigger points and taut bands in the masseters, and taut bands in the medial pterygoids, not to mention strain patterns from lower in the body.
In sessions, I work on the lateral pterygoids after working on the medial pterygoids. They can take time to access and can be sensitive, because most new TMJ Relief clients have never been touched there.
It helps to have small pinky fingers, and even then the area is so tight that sometimes I need to ask a client to shift their jaw to one side to get my finger near the muscle and joint.
Most of my TMJ clients are not aware when they come in that there are even jaw muscles there!
When I massage a lateral pterygoid, it can be a revelation. “That’s the place!” clients exclaim when I remove my finger.
Once I get there, I don’t need to stay long to make a difference. I invite my TMJ clients to move their jaws after I work on each muscle pair. Releasing tension here helps create a sense of spaciousness and ease around the joint.
To feel it for yourself, retract your mandible backward as far as you can. In other words, pull your chin in. You should feel some muscle activation in front of your ears and even in your ears. Kd
If jaw pain and tension (and clicking or popping) are your major complaint, and you’d like a sense of ease and spaciousness in your jaws, schedule a free 15-minute Discovery Call or a TMJ Relief session on my online scheduler. (I live and work in the Austin, Texas, area.)
A trigger point is a spot where the muscle tissue has lost its pliability. A massage therapist may feel that some tissue in a particular spot feels hard, creating a small nodule that’s hard and stiff. The tissue feels dense and often rolls under the fingers when compared to healthy muscle tissue.
My favorite reference book for working with trigger points is 