When you hear “physical therapy” you probably don’t think about jaw pain treatment. But that’s exactly what Penrose & Associates Physical Therapy in Lacey provided to their patient Fern Ridout after her physician referred her to Penrose for her temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain.
“I give them five stars,” Ridout says of the care she received at Penrose.
Penrose Physical Therapy Offers Nonsurgical Treatment of TMJ Pain
The TMJ on each side of your head acts like a sliding hinge to connect the jawbone to the skull. According to the Mayo Clinic, TMJ disorders can cause pain in the jaw and the muscles controlling jaw movement. The Mayo reports that genetics, arthritis, jaw injury, or a tendency clench or grind teeth can cause TMJ disorders.
Ridout says as a teenager she had suffered from TMJ pain and had to wear a mouthguard back then. Years later her TMJ returned, and the pain extended to her ears, shoulders and neck. “I was having more clenching and biting into the gum of my mouth,” she says. “I went to the doctor for it and my doctor recommended physical therapy.”
That’s where Penrose staff came in. She says she met with them once or twice a week for about seven weeks. “I needed stretching and neck exercises,” she says. “I was taught quite a few techniques. If you open your mouth wide, it helps loosen up the TMJ on both sides. With neck exercises, I hold my head and stretch.”
Penrose Physical Therapy Teaches Lifelong Strategies to Alleviate TMJ Pain
Ridout worked with physical therapist and clinic owner Dr. Jennifer Penrose, and physical therapists Kylie Starr and Nicole Marchiori. She says Starr measured and examined the muscles in her mouth and jaw to find her trigger points for her pain.
Ridout says that because of the exercises she learned at Penrose, she does not need a mouth guard to protect her teeth at night, unlike her first round with treating TMJ pain years ago. And importantly, she has lifelong strategies to help her in the future. “I had started grinding my teeth again,” she says. “But I went back to my exercises, and it stopped.”
TMJ disorders can improve with non-surgical interventions such as PT. To learn more, contact Penrose & Associates Physical Therapy in Lacey at 360.456.1444 or info@penrosept.com.
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