April Newsletter 2014 - Extended Hours, Jaw Pain & Snoring!

What an awesome month we have coming up with Easter and ANZAC day holidays on the horizon. Make the most of them to re-charge your batteries and get you through the pending winter months. We will be open as usual over the Easter break and appointments are already filling.

If you are staying close to home this Easter and would like some treatment, get in fast to secure your spot. If you are travelling, stay safe and have a fabulous time away.

​A Massive Thank You
I wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your patience and support as I complete my final year of studies. We have transitioned beautifully into our new home and I continue to be truly humbled by your ongoing support. As expected, Claire has been warmly embraced and proving very popular. I am delighted to have such a talented therapist on board and as a result of her demand we will be extending her hours in April to include Wednesdays.

Tuesday Tips
I started doing these as a way of giving back and sharing with you answers to some of the most asked questions I hear, as well as letting you in on what I have found to be the most effective stretches and tools for looking for after your body in my years of practice and learning. These have proved super popular, getting hundreds of views, so if you are not already on board, like us on Facebook and start learning.
 
This Month's Topic
Many of you may be surprised to hear that we do a lot of work treating the muscles on the outside and inside of the mouth. This is because jaw pain and tightness is a considerable problem for many of our clients. We typically see it in the form of localised pain from grinding and clenching teeth, stubborn tension headaches that just won’t shift and snoring...yes, snoring. Read on to find out more about the jaw.

Cheers
Mandy


The Vital Bits
Jaw Pain
I’m not going to bore you with all the anatomy of the face and jaw, but here are some key structures that are useful to know:

• The jaw joint (called the temporal mandibular joint or TMJ). This is the part that can click, pop and lock on some people.
• The powerhouse muscle known as your masseter. This sits outside the mouth along your jaw bone. You’ll feel this pop out when you clench your teeth, because that’s its key job when chewing. If you clench your jaw regularly, this is the guy that will need some attention and is frequently associated with chronic headaches.
• Little muscles just inside your mouth called you pterygoids. These deviate your jaw from one side to the other and get very unhappy on people who grind their teeth. If you’re not sure if you do, ask your partner…apparently it’s very loud at night!  

So how do you know if you’re jaw needs to be checked out by us ? Consider it if you are experiencing any of the following:

• Waking with pain in the jaw joint and tight jaw muscles
• Side deviation of the jaw when talking and yawning
• Tension headaches that won’t resolve
• Clicking / popping of the jaw
• Recent dental work
• Your mouth doesn’t open wider than three of your fingers deep
• Your dentist has noticed teeth wear

Treatments usually begin by releasing the muscles of the shoulders, neck and face; then if needed will include a small amount of intra-oral work (inside the mouth with gloves). Trust me (and all the people I have treated) when I say this considerably less scary than it sounds, and the benefits are fantastic. So where does the snoring part come in? Well, we have had promising results from snorers undergoing this treatment when combined with lifestyle and home exercises.  It’s worth a shot!

Vitality Tips
Caring for Jaw Pain
There are many things we can do to alleviate your jaw tension and after consultation with us you will be given specific home care for your needs. In the interim, here are a couple of exercises we have found particularly useful in our practice.

Retrain Jaw Movements 
Place a tooth pick in the gaps of your middle top and bottom teeth (don’t force it if you don’t naturally have gaps there). Using a mirror, open and close your mouth while keeping the toothpicks in line with each other. This helps to retrain jaw muscles and correct deviations.

Jaw Self Massage
You have likely found yourself doing this automatically if you have tight jaw muscles. The added bonus is it’s often helpful in easing tension headaches.