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Chiropractic and TMJ
Monday, March 17th, 2003 03:14 pm
(I've mentioned this experience to both ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zogathon and hammercock in recent months, so I thought I might as well write it up in detail. I've been working on this entry slowly for weeks now.)
I grind my teeth. Particularly in my sleep (so does my dad). As a result, from time to time I have had occasional minor jaw pain or discomfort in the jaw joints (so does my mom). I forget how long ago this began happening, but it may have been as early as college (that would be the early 1990s, kids).
However, in 1999 I had a series of flareups that began lasting longer and feeling more worrisome. I mentioned it to my dentist at a regular appointment early in the year, and all I got was, "You probably grind your teeth. Here's a brochure on teeth-grinding. We could make you a mouthguard. Other than that, take some Tylenol." I then mentioned it to my primary-care physician at my next regular checkup, a couple months later, and all I got was, "You probably grind your teeth. You could get a mouthguard. Other than that, take some Tylenol."
Since I'm a fan of treating root causes rather than masking symptoms, this did not strike me as an ideal answer. There had to be something physical going on that could perhaps be resolved rather than simply medicated. Eventually I decided that the next resource to try out was chiropractic.
( how it went )
I didn't feel any different immediately after the visit -- but the next day, I woke up and the jaw pain was noticeably less. I was astounded. I could still feel a little discomfort, but no actual shooting pain like it had been.
I had one follow-up appointment about two weeks later, and after that the pain was gone completely. And I haven't had a single flare-up in the 3-1/2 years since. Swear to God.
(Of course, I've also become really careful about wearing my backpack on both shoulders, to the point where carrying it one-sided for even a couple of minutes feels All Wrong. So maybe that's been the major long-term preventive factor. But hey, if it took a chiropractor to tell me that, I'm all for it.)
And now today, as it happens, I'm thinking I might need to give him another call, as I'm having a different problem with what seems to be a recurring spasm in the middle of my back. (It doesn't actually hurt, more of a tingly feeling. But on only the left side, which seems strange, and I'm not sure if it's primarily a muscular thing requiring massage or if I've actually got some kind of nerve compression going on. Matthew's been trying to work on it for me and so did Pup at lunchtime today, and so far it's still there.) But that's a story for next time.
zogathon and hammercock in recent months, so I thought I might as well write it up in detail. I've been working on this entry slowly for weeks now.)I grind my teeth. Particularly in my sleep (so does my dad). As a result, from time to time I have had occasional minor jaw pain or discomfort in the jaw joints (so does my mom). I forget how long ago this began happening, but it may have been as early as college (that would be the early 1990s, kids).
However, in 1999 I had a series of flareups that began lasting longer and feeling more worrisome. I mentioned it to my dentist at a regular appointment early in the year, and all I got was, "You probably grind your teeth. Here's a brochure on teeth-grinding. We could make you a mouthguard. Other than that, take some Tylenol." I then mentioned it to my primary-care physician at my next regular checkup, a couple months later, and all I got was, "You probably grind your teeth. You could get a mouthguard. Other than that, take some Tylenol."
Since I'm a fan of treating root causes rather than masking symptoms, this did not strike me as an ideal answer. There had to be something physical going on that could perhaps be resolved rather than simply medicated. Eventually I decided that the next resource to try out was chiropractic.
( how it went )
I didn't feel any different immediately after the visit -- but the next day, I woke up and the jaw pain was noticeably less. I was astounded. I could still feel a little discomfort, but no actual shooting pain like it had been.
I had one follow-up appointment about two weeks later, and after that the pain was gone completely. And I haven't had a single flare-up in the 3-1/2 years since. Swear to God.
(Of course, I've also become really careful about wearing my backpack on both shoulders, to the point where carrying it one-sided for even a couple of minutes feels All Wrong. So maybe that's been the major long-term preventive factor. But hey, if it took a chiropractor to tell me that, I'm all for it.)
And now today, as it happens, I'm thinking I might need to give him another call, as I'm having a different problem with what seems to be a recurring spasm in the middle of my back. (It doesn't actually hurt, more of a tingly feeling. But on only the left side, which seems strange, and I'm not sure if it's primarily a muscular thing requiring massage or if I've actually got some kind of nerve compression going on. Matthew's been trying to work on it for me and so did Pup at lunchtime today, and so far it's still there.) But that's a story for next time.