treatments San Leandro Chiropractor Top Chiropractor in San Leandro, CA

Home Treatments for TMJ Dysfunction

You can perform self-care treatments at home for TMJ dysfunction. Most often, the Temporomandibular joint dysfunction does not develop into a full disorder and the symptoms would disappear after it is able to recover and have enough rest.

Pain medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen can ease the pain suffered due to TMJ dysfunction. Since chewing can be quite painful for sufferers of TMJ dysfunction, it is advised to eat soft foods during this time. Apply ice packs on the injured area when the injury is still present. Rest your jaw as this could help in healing your TMJ.

Warm compress application is also advised to be put on the area where you feel pain. 20 minutes after applying the warm compress, you can try home therapy exercises such as opening and closing of the jaw moving from side to side. Repeat this up to 5 times a day at five minutes per session for 2 to 4 weeks. Make sure you don’t open your mouth wide while doing this exercise.

Medical Treatments for TMJ Dysfunction

Conservative medical treatments may also be necessary. The doctor may ask you to perform gentle stretching for the muscles on your jaw. He or She may also require you to perform relaxation exercises. Stress can be a factor that will affect TMJ treatment thus stress-reduction techniques that manages the stress will help the patient relax his or her jaw alongside with the rest of his or her body.

A bite plate or splint may also be used. This is like a mouth guard that will help in reducing the teeth grinding or clenching especially when the patient sleeps at night. This will also ease the muscle tension on the jaw. However, if using the splint will increase the pain, the patient must stop using it.

If conservative treatments won’t work, a doctor may require you to go a step further and consider some of the invasive techniques to treat TMJ dysfunction.

Cortisone injection can be quite helpful in relieving the pain and inflammation of the jaw. Another procedure that would help in relieving the pain quickly is done at the doctor’s office and under local anesthetics. The doctor would insert 2 needles in your TMJ for washing. One of the needles would be connected to a syringe that has a cleansing solution and it exits through the other syringe. Sometimes, aside from cleansing agents, the doctor may also inject pain medication this way as well.

If these still won’t work for the patient, surgery may be necessary though this is already considered as the final option. Artificial implants may be used as a replacement to the jaw joints. This is an irreversible method and must be avoided if other options are still available.

Chiropractic treatment for TMJ Dysfunction

This is a protocol that we use in our office: Electrical stimulation is used for 15 minutes on effected side. Deep tissue massage of the masseter muscle bilaterally. Using rubber gloves on one hand perform a deep tissue massage of internal lateral pterigoid muscle (very painful but very useful and effective procedure). 5 minutes of Erchonia Cold Laser PL 5000 in the painful side of a TMJ. Upper cervical chiropractic adjustment.

Do take note that most of the cases of TMJ dysfunction cannot be cured as it is most often a cyclic disorder. Modifications in lifestyle and proper treatment could improve the patient’s life without any limitation in function or pain.

Questiom: Was this information helpful? What kind of therapy have you had for your TMJ Dysfunction?

Low Back Pain and the Wonders of Chiropractic Treatments

Low back pain affects many people at least at one point in their lives. It can be due to an accident or an activity that can cause strain to the muscles, sprain to the ligaments and tendons, and misaligned vertebrae. The pain can vary from mild to extreme and it can be quite debilitating as well. To say the least, experiencing a low back pain is quite annoying.

The elderly have higher cases of low back pains than younger ones. However, we cannot classify the low back pain as just an elderly problem because the term “low back pain” is quite general and can actually be caused by different problems or merely just due to a sprain or muscular strain. In order to classify this, there are three classes which are the acute, sub acute and the chronic LBP. Acute low back pain lasts only for less than 4 weeks, sub acute between 4 to 12 weeks while chronic lasts for more than 12 weeks.

Treatments for low back pain vary on the severity and the diagnosis of the doctor. It can be mild enough to be quickly relieved by putting on hot packs or taking pain medications or it can be too severe that surgery would be the only way to relief the pain. There are alternative treatments available out there and one of this is the chiropractic treatment. Doctor of Chiropractic performs specific spinal adjustments along with physical therapy modalities and massage therapy. It is imperative that misaligned lumbar joint would be treated along with sprained/strained soft tissue that sarounds it. Combined treatment of both injured components of the lumbar spine will speed up the recovery.

Many patients swear by the effectiveness of the chiropractic method of treatment while others are still skeptical about it. Spinal manipulation and chiropractic care is considered a safe, effective treatment for acute and chronic low back pain. Sudden injury that results from moving furniture, getting tackled or unproper lifting – considered as an acute LBP. Acute back pain is more common than chronic pain.

Chiropractic care is more beneficial in relieving acute low back pain. A medical history should be provided by a Doctor of Cchiropractic in order to figure out whether or not the patient is suited for spinal manipulation. Patients suffering from osteoporosis and some other health related conditions cannot undergo this treatment as it contraindication.

Choosing to go for this method is really up to the patient. There are other methods that can be done such as physical therapy to relieve pain but the chiropractic treatment has testimonies confirming that it has a much speedier results and is much more soothing. Many patients swear to get an instant improvement after just one treatment!

Chiropractic treatments are really worth trying. Just make sure you go to a reputable chiropractor with years of experience so you can be assured that you get an effective and safe treatment. You would feel a lot better and you can function much better too! You will surely kiss low back pains goodbye!

Question: Have you had Lower Back Pain? What kind of therapy did you choose? Did the care provide you a relief or completely cure the problem?