I hope this finds someone who needs it.

Hi r/TMJ, I posted here a couple of years ago. I was in so much pain and it was only getting worse; and that’s after spending a fortune on treatment and an “oral appliance.”

TMJD is complex and can have many causes as we all know. For me it all began to turn around when I heard about something called Hourglass Syndrome. Hourglass syndrome is essentially a powerful muscle imbalance caused by chronically sucking in your stomach. It seems to be presented as a women’s health problem but I am a man(32) and I can tell you I’ve sucked my gut in my whole life. And I can tell you that as soon as I started looking at this as a potential cause and started acting on it the change was profound and rapid.

Believe it or not your pelvis is connected to your throat in a way. One thing that people with hourglass syndrome tend to do is arch their lower back, dropping the pelvis forward and down. It’s time to stop looking at your TMJ as a dental problem and start looking at it as a muscle problem. At least in my case.

So what did I do? It wasn’t easy to stop sucking in my gut. It was such an automatic thing for me I didn’t even realize I was doing it half the time. Just start at home. Push that belly out until it looks like you are gonna have triplets. Breathe with your belly. When you breath in, if you’re like me, your diaphragm will be shaking with the effort. Don’t forget to keep your back straight. If this is indeed your problem you should watch that booty and stop trying to arch it back like a stripper. Next is to do YOGA. Every day if possible. Make sure you are belly breathing. Stretching is profoundly different when you start using the expansion of your lungs and diaphragm to lengthen a stretch. Poses that have really helped me are child’s pose, cat-cow, and cobra. I want to take a second to talk more about cobra. When I’m in cobra I like to stretch my neck by turning my head back and to the right or left, when it’s in the position do a big belly breath and tell me the stretch in your neck connected to your jaw isn’t profound. Don’t push it. Gentle.

Just doing the breathing with my belly, working on letting it out(after all dad bods are hot), and doing yoga was enough to get the pain and the tension to ease up. My jaw still clicks and pops like never before but the difference is I’m not in constant pain now.

Finally I want to leave you with this as well. Talk to a mental health professional. I wouldn’t be able to stay on this schedule of yoga and working out if it weren’t for the fact that I finally started seeing a therapist and a psychiatrist and found out at age 30 I’m bipolar 2 and a little OCD. Being on meds for this has been really positive for me. Don’t forget to buy some resistance bands and get some light granny workouts in before your yoga. If you’re like me, that core needs stretching, working out, and unwinding. Lay on your back and press on your stomach all over. If that’s uncomfortable you probably have some tension in your abs needs addressin.

To sum it up, your muscles are very likely the cause of your TMJD and if you’re like me expanding that belly is everything. Give it a shot.

Edit: thanks if you read this whole post. Don’t forget to drop those shoulders and do some chest opening exorcises. Also, if you’re like me you may want to consider taking smaller bites.

Edit: also we’re all on our phones all day and that forward posture isn’t helping. Something really easy you can do is adjust your driving position. You want your head back. For me that felt really awkward at first but it gets more normal. Work those muscles while you drive by pressing your head back into the headrest. Take some time to move your seat into a healthier position. Be aware most steering wheels can go up and down but they can also telescope in and out so when you are adjusting it try pulling in or out. This made finding the right sitting position easier for me. Being in the car is a great time to loosen up those jowels. Not spelled right. When you exhale let your cheeks expand. Make horse noises. Whatever loosens up the lower lip. Let it be heavy. Don’t know what I mean? Massage your gums and the muscles along your jawbone near your chin. Massage your chin. Tell me you don’t discover some insane painful tension.