Temporomandibular Joint Exercise Program

STEPS

  1. Relax and lower your shoulders.
  2. Let your lower jaw relax and produce the M sound, ensuring your teeth are not in contact. Keep your tongue relaxed.
  3. Warm up the muscles with small, relaxed up-and-down and side-to-side movements without tooth contact.
  4. Open and close your mouth as much as you can without pain or discomfort. Move your lower jaw as far forward as possible and then back again. Make similar movements toward each side and then relax.
  5. Repeat the movements from exercise 4, adding resistance with your hand. Press with your fist below the chin during mouth opening. Push your thumb against the point of your chin during forward movement and against the right and left sides of your chin during lateral movements. Hold your lower jaw at the extreme point of each movement for a few seconds.
  6. Open your mouth as wide as possible, resisting closure by pushing downward against your lower front teeth with your fingers. Hold for a few seconds.
  7. Open your mouth wide, then stretch farther by pushing against the upper and lower front teeth with your fingers.
  8. Look in the mirror and try to move your lower jaw straight up and down.
  9. Avoid deviations and movements that produce clicking or locking of the jaw.
  10. Conclude the program by resting on your back for 5 to 10 minutes.