Patient Interview who received dry needling- to help know what to expect:
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If you're looking to eliminate your tongue thrusting habit- here's where I'd start! Learn and master the proper swallowing technique described first. Then practice with eating and drinking. Get after it! You've seen mine (QT Pie)- So what's your favorite lil Valentine's heart candy message?
Are you TMJ Tongue Thrusting?
​Some Tips & Exercise to Help! Part 1... Let's dig in and help those out there with tongue thrusting that can cause persistent uncomfortable facial tension and aesthetic facial & bite issues among other things. TMJ Dry Needling Part 1/4
Patients have found it helpful to see and hear how dry needling works.
What does it really do? Well, here's Part 1/4 on the informative TMJperfect Dry Needling series ​
In this video I've included this exercise that we went through together.
Chin Tucks ​
As we discussed- doing these regularly will-
-Significantly Reduce Facial Tension that causes TMJ Pain/Spasm -Reduce the Forces Acting on your Jaw that causes: -Jaw Instability & Jaw Clicking/Popping/Locking -Bite Changes/Malocclusion -Decrease Neck Compression/Pain -Decrease Headaches -Increase your Postural/Ergonomic Awareness Keep em up! And we'll follow up to see all your progress next week ;) Oh, and if you'd like to receive more posts with useful TMJ exercises like these just Follow/Like @TMJperfect on Instagram and I'll make sure you won't miss out! I hope all of you had an enjoyable Mother's Day weekend! I saw this and thought of many of my hANS PT patients/moms. For many of you, this is so perfect to remember and embrace!  Have you ever felt like you're a mom, a wife, juggling too many balls in the air all at once? Does being a mom ever make you feel like your family comes first? ... Do you ever get the chance to remember who you are- outside of being a "mom" and/or "wife"? ... Take the time this week to remember- while being a "mom" can be incredibly fulfilling- there is so much more to you than that label. What part of you has been missing? Give yourself the love to explore and be that perfectly imperfect "you" again. In what way could you let go of any of your typical "mom" responsibilities this week... and really embrace that wonderful feeling of disorganized imperfection? Go ahead, give it a shot! Happy New Year! Here's to jumping into 2019 with both feet with self-loving intentions towards a better sense of health and well-being! One of the, okay, the most common problem I see in my office is the challenge we all having in reserving time in our busy lives for ourselves. For our health & well-being. Not filling that small opening with something more to do. But appreciating that space. Resting in that space. Allowing our bodies to recharge and recover to their fullest. So that when we return to those things in our lives that we love the most- our passions are running wild with electric energy and the highest levels of quality. We are on fire with enthusiasm ready to express ourselves and experience life. How many of us can say that we experience this feeling in our lives. Now what I hear most often is "Seriously. I don't have time for that." I have a job. I have a boss. I have a spouse. I have kids. I have tons of responsibilities. I have things to do! And I believe each of you. And I feel for you. It can be so challenging to re-prioritize ourselves. To find even a moment for ourselves in our seemingly chaotic lives. But let me be clear- it can happen. If you have a clear intention and persistent dedication- it will happen. Today I want to help you begin your New Year by allowing you to do just that. It will take a commitment of 2 minutes twice a day. What's that? Four minutes!?! Yep. Four minutes. Can you commit to that? ... If so, take a moment to affirm that out loud. For the next 30 days you will take 4 minutes a day for you. Just to be with yourself. And no, this is not some woo-woo chanting or anything like that. This is taking time to feel- your breath. And more than that to reset your breath back to a healthier breath. In doing so, it will jump-start our bodies back to it's best possible state to start healing itself. To kick-start the inner body's recovery systems on a cellular level. ... When our lives get hectic, we unknowingly change our breathing patterns to a shallower inefficient breath. This video will explain how we can reset it and start our body's recovery processes right away. So here and here are a couple of links that describe the technique. ... A couple of other notes on this technique. Once you've taken 478 breaths four times, you will notice that afterwards your regular breathing rate has slowed and deepened and proceeds from the diaphragm. It feels really comfortable too! The longer you can maintain this breathing pattern if in the car or at your desk- the better. If you do this regularly, you will notice the improvement in your well-being. And perhaps just as importantly have a tool to depend on when life begins to take it's crazy unexpected twists and turns. This time, you're ready! And... voila! 4 minutes a day to better health and well-being in 2019! Enjoy! ;)  I was in the office the other day seeing a patient yesterday. His dentist had sent him to me and explained that he was in need of immediate help. The patient had recently had a routine cleaning followed by a temporary crown procedure. When I saw him the problem was rather obvious. He couldn’t open his mouth! And he had pain. He looked fairly easy going, but he told me in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t take an Advil every 6 hours his mouth felt like it was ready to blow! His jaw only opened 15mm. However he had full side to side motion (laterotrusion) and protrusion. This indicated to me that he didn’t have an actual TMJ “joint” problem. A wonderful “catch-all” term nowadays for generalized jaw pain. What he did have- was a trismus problem! aka- a jaw “muscle” problem. This patient fit the typical trismus profile to a “T”. Despite what appeared to be his casual nature, he confided that work had made him a stress case the last 2 years. He did realize that he had a habit of clenching & grinding his teeth from time to time. He worked on a computer for 7-10 hours a day. As he sat and demonstrated his work posture he somewhat resembled an ostrich with swayback. It wasn’t pretty. It was obvious that there was a build up of both physical & emotional tension. Now imagine taking this ball of tension, injecting into that area with a needle a few times and then having it keep its jaw open for two and a half hours. Guess what happened next? BOOM!!! The master muscle seized up into a spasmodic knot. And the next thing he knew he was sitting in my office mumbling his story to me the best he could through his narrowed occlusion. Now here’s the biggest problem for the dentist- Take one guess who this patient will blame for their problem…? Yep, you guessed it- their dentist. Which is unfortunate because truly the patient was living a lifestyle and profile that was just begging for this to happen. It wasn’t the dentist’s fault. Here’s the thing though, if it could be avoided, that would be ideal for everyone- both the patient and the dentist. The dentist doesn’t risk losing her patient, her well-earned reputation or worst of all (-but I’ve seen it) expose himself to the mind-numbing headache that never seems to go away- a lawsuit. Beyond all that, I find it amazing how quickly one strong complaint or one really poor review can quickly shift public perception nowadays- whether deserved or not. So here’s the good news is, if you’re alert to the warnings signs, there’s more than a decent chance that these seemingly unavoidable situations can actually be avoided. In case you missed them, here they are-
In the next few posts, I will talk more about each of these. But here’s my recommendation… have yourself and your staff on the look out for these things! If you do become more aware of these considerations, I promise you that those occasional “problem patients” will grow fewer and fewer. Here’s 2 quick take-home tips for once you & your staff do begin to recognize these patients… Tension in the jaw can rapidly accumulate and this is the time that patient is most at risk. So, tip #1…
Then for the patients that are most at risk, such as the patients that have a history of headaches, neck pain or stiffness, tender facial muscles or jaw discomfort, here is tip #2…
An orofacial physical therapist with a CCTT (a Certified Cervical & Temporomandibular Therapist) credential that specializes in these problems. In my experience, your patient will be very very appreciative! Most of these patients been dealing with these problems unhappily for years. They’ve usually seen multiple people- massage therapists, chiropractors and doctors with no luck and unfortunately have come to assume they’re a hopeless mess! And that there’s nothing that can be done to help them. So not true!! My patients have always been grateful to their dentists that helped them find me. They’ve often actually been frustrated that no one helped them find me sooner! And on the flip side, for the patients that find me on their own- they often tell me who their dentist was that “caused” the problem and didn’t direct them to a helpful solution.
Let me know if y'all have any thoughts below… Thanks!~ This week I had a patient in my office and she insisted to me that PT does not actually stand for "physical therapy". No, she said, PT definitely stands for "personal torturer".  She said it with a good-hearted smile on her face and I certainly ask my patients to inform me of pain so that I can avoid doing anything with the patient actually hurts. But I understand that Sometimes physical therapy... well, it just isn't terribly fun for everyone. Shocking, I know. So, if I can give my patients a simple way to quickly reduce their pain that requires minimal effort, I'm sure my patients will be overjoyed to learn that I'm on board with that. The problem is that most physical therapists fall into a trap. And I admit, I'm not immune to it as well. You see when a patient walks into our office immediately the gears in our heads start churning. We see this mechanical puzzle that needs to be fixed. Sometimes, we can just as easily change a non-mechanical part of the patients problem and it has an even bigger impact on the patient! So here are the 3 most important dietary considerations when patients have experienced chronic myofascial pain. 1. Iron- Signs of Iron Deficiency include muscle achiness, chronic tiredness, exaggerated fatigue with exercise and a feeling of coldness. It is well-known that iron is required for generation of energy. With a severe iron deficiency, the muscle are exposed to an oxygen-related energy crisis in the presence of mechanical stresses. Low Ferritin levels are associated with vegans, bowel cancer, excessive menstrual iron loss and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Between 9-16% of females are iron deficient. The first stage of iron depletion is serum ferritin levels of < 20 ng/ml. The final stage of iron depletion is <10 ng/ml and is referred to as anemic. At this time the bone marrow stores of iron aren't detectable. 2. Vitamin D- Signs of Vitamin D Deficiency include osteoporosis and reduced muscle mass or weakness. Most common in areas of the world without seasonal sunlight and can lead to chronic non-specific musculoskeletal pain. In a study by Pionikoff, GA and JM Quigley- 90% individuals with musculoskeletal pain had vitamin D levels < 20ng/ml and 28% had less than 8 ng/ml. 3. Vitamin B12- Signs of vitamin B12 deficiency can include cognitive dysfunction, degeneration of the spinal cord, peripheral neuropathy and widespread myalgia. A study by Gerwin found that 16% of patients with chronic myofascial pain had insufficient levels of B12. Patients with levels < 350 pg/ml may be clinically symptomatic. So to conclude, if you have had chronic muscular pain, weakness or fatigue, I would recommend having these nutritional levels evaluated by a medical professional. It could be the thing that finally gives you a reprieve from your "personal torturer". |
AuthorJay Schaefer, Owner hANS Physical Therapy group, CCTT, CODN, COMT Archives
November 2024
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