Compensation of the temporomandibular joint
The jaw muscles are among the strongest muscles (relative to muscle volume) in the entire body. The strongest jaw muscle, the masseter muscle, can exert a force of up to 75 kg on the chewing surfaces.
The study by Lee et al. (2014) attached at the bottom of the article shows clear correlations between the position of the temporomandibular joint and grip strength. In fact, the areas of the brain that represent the temporomandibular joints and the hands are very close to each other. Anyone who has ever failed to open a jar or a knot knows what happens: you clench your teeth. Similar to holding your breath, the body automatically gains more central stability, which increases power output. The study by Busca et al. (2016) even shows better performance in rowing pull strength and vertical jumping power when the athletes clenched their teeth.
However, as the jaw muscles can be controlled voluntarily, they can be neurally “wired” incorrectly within complex movement patterns and thus lead to compensation patterns. In this case, the “tense jaw” stability function is performed excessively. As the jaw muscles have a high representation in the nervous system, they can lead to incorrect movement patterns throughout the body.
This leads 1. to overloading of the temporomandibular joint and 2. to weakened muscular support in other areas such as the center of the body (especially strong correlations with the pelvic position). This then results in headaches or back pain, for example.
Craniomandibular dysfunction (CMD) is also a very common diagnosis in the dental field. This usually involves complaints in the area of the temporomandibular joints (jaw muscles, jaw joint capsule) or associated earaches, headaches, misalignment of the jaw and unbalanced muscle development, resulting in excessive wear of the teeth due to grinding.
Solutions are often sought to relax the jaw muscles. The problem is that only the jaw structures are treated and not the interaction with the rest of the musculoskeletal system.
With neurokinetic therapy, it is possible to find out WHY the jaw muscles are neurally overregulated and which areas this compensation is connected to. With a combination of manual relaxation and targeted movement exercises, the faulty movement patterns are “rewritten” so that the jaw muscles are “released” by the nervous system. An analysis of stress management and posture is also helpful, as the jaw muscles, just like the neck and throat area, are associated with increased emotional stress and are directly linked to the position of the pelvis.
So don’t hold on for dear life 🙂
Best regards,
Daniel
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24648630
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27003454
