{"id":408,"date":"2022-03-29T08:27:05","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T08:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/fix-your-temporomandibular-joint-tmj-dysfunction-with-these-8-best-exercises\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T09:55:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T09:55:42","slug":"fix-your-temporomandibular-joint-tmj-dysfunction-with-these-8-best-exercises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/lifestyle-and-diet\/fix-your-temporomandibular-joint-tmj-dysfunction-with-these-8-best-exercises\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix Your Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction With These 8 Best Exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-content-type=\"html\" data-appearance=\"default\" data-element=\"main\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">People usually don\u2019t think much about temporomandibular joints (TMJ), although we use them a lot in our day-to-day activities. It is a joint that connects the jawbone to your skull. Your temporomandibular joints come into action every time you talk, swallow, and chew.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Temporomandibular joints (TMJ) dysfunction occurs when something goes wrong with your jaw joints and muscles. Usually, this happens because of an injury, inflammations, such as arthritis, or overuse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Temporomandibular joints (TMJ) dysfunction can result in mild to moderate symptoms, such as:-<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Feeling pain while chewing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Headaches<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Feeling pain in the ear, face, jaw, and neck<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Experiencing clicking, grating, or popping sounds in the jaw while moving your jaw<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Locking of the jaw joint<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out the glucocorticoid group of drugs for a wide variety of medical conditions such as rheumatic disorders and osteoarthritis: Triamcinolone(<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/kenacort-injection-40-mg-1-ml.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kenacort<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Basic Exercises To Fix Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) Dysfunction<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">It\u2019s still not clear how some of the TMJ exercises can help you relieve pain. Here are some positive results of the exercise that lowers the complications:-<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Strengthen your jaw muscles and jaw<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Relaxes the jaw<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Increases jaw mobility<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Reduces jaw clicking sound<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Promote the healing process of the jaw<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per a <\/span><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/0022034510378424?rss=1&amp;cookieSet=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2010 reported in the Journal of Dental Research, performing TMJ exercises helps to increase the mouth opening range, especially in people with TMJ disc displacement.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">The below-mentioned eight exercises from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the Royal Surrey County Hospital may help you get relief from TMJ pain improving jaw movement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Do know about these exercises and consult this with you as different exercises need different frequent recommendations, especially for those whose frequency recommendations aren\u2019t available.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Simple jaw exercise:<\/strong> <\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Place your tongue gently above your mouth behind your upper front teeth. Try your teeth to keep apart while relaxing your jaw muscles.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Goldfish exercises (partial opening):<\/strong> <\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and put one finger in front of your ear where your Temporomandibular joints (TMJ) are located. Put your middle or pointer finger of another hand on your chin. Open your lower jaw halfway and then close it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">You might feel a mild resistance but not pain. Keep varying the exercise by placing one finger on each TMJ as you open your lower jaw half and then close it again. Try performing this exercise one set at a time six times daily.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Goldfish exercises (full opening):<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Place your tongue on the rooftop of your mouth, put one finger on your Temporomandibular joints (TMJ), and another finger on your chin. Drop your lower jaw altogether and back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">For a change in the exercise, place one finger on each side of TMJ as you completely drop your lower jaw and back. Try performing this exercise one set at a time six times daily.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Chin tucks:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\"> Stretch your shoulders towards your back and chest forward, try pulling your chin straight back, creating a \u201cdouble chin.\u201d Remain in this position for at least three seconds and repeat the exercise 10 times a day.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Resisted opening of the mouth:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Put your thumb under your chin. Slowly open your mouth, push it gently against your chin for resistance. Remain in this position for 3-6 seconds, and slowly close your mouth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Resisted closing of the mouth:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try squeezing your chin with your index finger and thumb. Gently close your mouth and apply pressure on your chin. This will give strength to your muscles, making your chewing process easy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Tounge Up:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">This exercise is very simple, you have to place your tongue touching the roof of your mouth and slowly move(open and close) your jaw.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Side-to-side jaw movement: <\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Try putting a \u00bc inch object like stacked tongue depressors between your front jaws, and slowly move your jaw sidewise. With time you will exercise easily. After some days, try increasing the object&#8217;s thickness between your teeth, increasing the difficulty and jaw strength.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Other Ways To Manage The Pain<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Stretching exercises can help you get relief from Temporomandibular joints (TMJ) pain by reducing muscle and joint tension by offering longer-term relief.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Try opening your mouth as wide as possible for you, hold this position for 5-10 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Open your mouth slowly as wide as you are comfortable with your tongue in a neutral position. Remain in this position for 5-10 seconds, then close it. Next, slightly open your mouth and slide your lower jaw back and forth 5-10 times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Close your mouth, keeping your head facing straight ahead. Try to keep your eyes on the right side. Extend your lower jaw to the left and hold for 5-10 seconds. Repeat these instructions on the opposite side too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Place a thin object, such as a stacked tongue depressor between your front jaws, and slowly move your jaw sidewise. With time you will exercise easily. After some days, try increasing the object&#8217;s thickness between your teeth, increasing the difficulty and jaw strength.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">After some time you will find these activities easy and then use wider objects to separate their front and back teeth.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Best Way To Deal With It At An Early Stage<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">People should brush and clean their teeth regularly every 12 hours. Try to visit your dentist regularly every 6 months unless recommended otherwise. In form of your dentist if you have any Temporomandibular joints (TMJ) pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Additionally, there are other methods for preventing TMJ pain, such as:-<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Avoiding chewing gum, taffy, and other very chewy or hard foods<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Eating soft food, particularly if prone to TMJ pain<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Not chewing on the mouth or tongue<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/\" aria-label=\"Your Banner CTA\" class=\"post-inside-cta\">\r\n    <picture>\r\n        <source media=\"(max-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Health_Mobile.webp\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Health_Desktop-scaled.webp\" alt=\"Your Banner CTA\" width=\"100%\" height=\"184\">\r\n    <\/picture>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<div style=\"height: 30px;\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People usually don\u2019t think much about temporomandibular joints (TMJ), although we use them a lot in our day-to-day activities. It is a joint that connects the jawbone to your skull. Your temporomandibular joints come into action every time you talk, swallow, and chew. Temporomandibular joints (TMJ) dysfunction occurs when something goes wrong with your jaw &#8230; <a title=\"Fix Your Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction With These 8 Best Exercises\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/lifestyle-and-diet\/fix-your-temporomandibular-joint-tmj-dysfunction-with-these-8-best-exercises\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Fix Your Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction With These 8 Best Exercises\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":391144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"schema_drug_name":"","schema_drug_sameas":"","schema_strip_mentions_drug":"","custom_head_after_canonical":"","geo_latitude":"","geo_longitude":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-and-diet"],"rankmath_meta":{"title":"Fix Your Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction with these 8 Best Exercises.","description":"Chin tucks are effective in fixing your TMJ. Click to learn how to fix Your Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction with these 8 best exercises."},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442882,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions\/442882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodrxmedicine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}