My TMJ success story!

This isn’t medical advice, and doing what I did might hurt you. But this is how I had TMJ injury success.

2-3 weeks ago, I gave myself a TMJ injury. I have had tinnitus for 8 years and I frequently stretch my jaw in order to modulate my T. This particular day, I shifted my jaw far over to the right, further than I should have, and I felt something shift in a permanent way. It didn’t pop or hurt but I woke up the next day with all of the muscles on the right side of my face were sore. As the day went on, I was not in much pain and had no issues moving my jaw around, or eating etc. however, I did feel like something was “in” my ear and I couldn’t get it out. The following days were torturous. I was in no pain, but I couldn’t go a second without thinking about my ear. I felt miserable on Christmas watching my kids open gifts.

After much googling, I panic called about 10 TMJ dentists and made an appointment with the one with the closest appointment. I did the same with physical therapists. After 3 days I went to the PT who happened to be (OCS), (CCTT), and (CMTPT). She believed that I had a lateral disc displacement (most TMJ injuries seem to be anterior or posterior) and she attempted to recapture the disc to no avail. However, she told me that if I were to recapture the disc on my own, I had a short window to do so as I only had a short while before ligaments stretched. I told her that when I shifted my jaw that I was constantly feeling a bone but I didn’t want to press too hard into it and break something. She told me that it was likely the disc, and if I wanted to press harder, it would take a high level of force, along with a pop, if I were to recapture the disc.

Armed with this knowledge, the following maneuver is what I did. I yawned as widely as I could, then shifted my jaw towards the injured side. My mouth made an exaggerated “J” motion. When I felt that I was pressing against the bone/disc, I applied more force, kept going, and heard a pop. It was relatively painless. Something still felt wrong, but I immediately felt like I was no longer being tortured. I felt 80% better. Still wanting to go for more, I consumed everything I could on TMJ, found some good guides, and massaged my jaws for about 3 hours. I also practiced perfect mouth posture (tongue on roof of mouth, teeth slightly apart, mouth closed) and perfect sleep posture as I was a stomach sleeper. Along with muscle relaxers I woke up today feeling 95-97% better. I am cautiously optimistic but I wanted to share with you all since many posts here helped me when I was struggling.

I will follow along and answer any questions as the come. Thanks for reading and good luck!