Neck Archives - MaryAnn Reynolds, MS, LMT, BCTMB

Treating TMJ issues: sleep posture

Are you aware that there is a pillow specially designed for people with TMJ and neck issues? I’ve had one for several years, and I love it. I take it with me when I travel and when I camp. Since I started using it, I’ve never woken up with neck or jaw pain.

It’s the Therapeutica Sleeping pillow, designed by a chiropractor and an ergonomic designer. It’s…different-looking.

It’s designed for people who sleep on their sides or their back.

I don’t believe there are any pillows designed for stomach sleepers, which is hard on the neck and not great for your organs either.

This pillow comes in five sizes, and you order the size that fits your shoulder width. The proper-sized pillow keeps your head and neck aligned with your spine. Since we spend a third of our lives sleeping, this is important! Good sleep posture makes a difference over time, resulting in fewer neck and jaw issues.

The indentations on the “wings” relieve pressure on your jaw when side-sleeping. Some users also find it helps with shoulder issues.

The pillow comes with a 5-year warranty not to lose its shape or resilience, and many users have used it long beyond 5 years. I put a king-size pillowcase on my average size pillow, which comes with a zippered case.

At $86.99 for an average size, the Therapeutica Sleeping Pillow is expensive for a pillow. If you average it out over 5 years, though, you pay less than $20 per year for child, petite, average, and large adult sizes, and about $22 for extra large. When you look at it that way, it seems totally reasonable to spend this much on a pillow.

Note the link above is for the average size. Be sure to measure and get the size that’s designed for your shoulder width.

Are you a back sleeper? It’s the recommended sleep position for people with TMD. The back-sleeping-only pillow is called the Travel Pillow, and it comes in three sizes.

On Amazon, read the reviews and the Q&A. Note that not everyone likes this pillow. I believe you should try it for a week before deciding, because it may be very different from what you’ve been sleeping on, and therefore it will take time for your body to adjust. You can and will adjust if you give yourself time.

Your flexible spending account may cover the cost, so check on that if you have one. With Amazon, you can use an app like Honey that watches for price changes and notifies you via email if the price drops within 60 days.

For more on TMD and sleep, check out these sites:

If you’ve found relief from TMJ pain using this or a different pillow, please share in the comments.

self-care, TMJ Massage, Uncategorized

Treating TMJ issues: an upper-body yoga sequence

Often neck and shoulder tension accompanies jaw pain. I’m enjoying this seated yoga sequence for neck and shoulder tension, recommended in a FB conversation about what people with TMJ do for self-care. It’s 8:29 in length.

Yoga for Neck & Shoulder Tension

I’m a big fan of yoga, having practiced it since 1982. It’s definitely helped with stress, tension, flexibility, energy, body awareness. I’ve taken yoga teacher training and taught restorative yoga and one-on-one classes for yoga newbies.

My yoga orientation is alignment-oriented hatha yoga like Iyengar and Anusara, which I combine in my home practice with sun salutation vinyasas and balance poses to meet the needs of my body. I notice I’m becoming more and more attracted to kundalini yoga.

If you do yoga, do you have any favorite asanas or breathwork practices for jaw pain?

What to do if you have jaw issues? I offer a 30-minute in-person TMJ consultation to gather information and evaluate your issues. I also teach clenchers an alternative to clenching and provide known ways to stop grinding, from those who succeeded.

These habits are major contributors to TMJ issues, and you can change them.

If you’re not in Austin, I can do the above as well as help you learn what to ask about when seeking TMJ relief near you. Just let me know if you need a phone or Zoom consultation.

I offer a combination TMJ Consultation plus TMJ Relief session in person in Austin, Texas. The consultation serves as an intake, so I have a better idea of what your issues are and how we’ll measure progress. Your consultation is free when combined with your first TMJ Relief session. This is a two-hour session.

To be fair, when you’ve had TMJ issues for a long time, or they are acute, you may need multiple sessions to retrain your system to retain the ease and alignment, along with doing your homework to stop clenching or grinding your teeth.

I offer a package of four TMJ Relief sessions for 10 percent off single sessions, best done a week or two apart. These sessions are 90 minutes and integrate various bodywork modalities — including work in your mouth — so that you feel great when you get off the table. They are best done over 4 to 6 weeks.

If you’re really adventurous, you can schedule a 75-minute Self-Treatment for TMJ Issues session on Zoom where we’ll do an intake and I will teach you how to work on releasing the tension patterns that cause problems, including working in your own mouth. You’ll need clean hands and short nails. It’s really not that hard! Learn more about it here.

Integrative Massage, My Practice, TMJ Massage, training, Zero Balancing

Treating TMJ issues: what various professions do to help

What do various healing professions do to treat TMJ issues?

I’m going to try to answer that, to help you be better health-care consumers and know what to expect in terms of results.

By the way, I am a massage therapist who specializes in TMJ work, including intra-oral (inside the mouth) work, in which I’ve had advanced training from three teachers and experience since 2013. I admit, I am biased!

I want to say up front that most massage therapists do not work inside the mouth, which is where the jaw muscles most likely to be causing TMJ pain are located.

Most massage therapists do have the skills to release tension in the external jaw and neck muscles. Maybe that’s all you need, if your jaw pain is mild and intermittent. You will feel better after such sessions.

But if you are really suffering from long-term jaw pain and dysfunction, you definitely need more than that to get relief. You could greatly benefit from intra-oral work, which takes special training and experience to do effectively.

Do not hesitate to ask whether a therapist you are considering working with is trained in releasing tension in the internal jaw muscles.

Whole-body work can also help, when the TMJ pain is related to your posture (for instance, head forward posture) or to muscle tension due to stress.

Here’s a look at results you might expect from working with practitioners in different professions:

reducing stress (massage therapist, acupuncturist, yoga teacher, meditation teacher)
reducing tension in your external jaw muscles (massage therapist)
releasing trigger points in your external jaw muscles (massage therapist)
doing myofascial release on your external jaw muscles (massage therapist)
releasing neck tension (massage therapist, physical therapist, chiropractor)
getting your pelvis aligned and balanced (massage therapist, physical therapist, craniosacral therapist, chiropractor)
getting your head aligned on top of your spine (craniosacral therapist, chiropractor)
preventing your teeth from cracking due to grinding (dentist or over-the-counter night guard)
checking whether grinding in your sleep is related to airway obstruction (sleep specialist)
reducing tension in your internal jaw muscles (massage therapist with special training, physical therapist with special training, Rolfer as part of 10-series)
restoring alignment in the cranial bones (craniosacral therapist)
repairing or replacing a dysfunctional articular disk (oral surgeon)
getting whole-body therapy to help with alignment issues and release strain patterns (craniosacral therapist, Rolfer, Zero Balancer, yoga teacher, yoga therapist)

There is one major caveat here: these are generalities based on my own knowledge and experience. Each profession has its specialties. Not all physical therapists work on the jaw or pelvis — in fact, not many do.

Do not hesitate to ask questions and do your own research.

This is a brief and imperfect overview to help you get the results you want, and there are many fine points not mentioned here.

These habits are major contributors to TMJ issues, and you can change them.

If you’re not in Austin, I can do the above as well as help you learn what to ask about when seeking TMJ relief near you. Just let me know if you need a phone or Zoom consultation.