mdla

I posted this on the TMJ disorder board, but since it is alternative medicine I thought I would here too.........massage and Reiki have helped with TMJ, ear pain. headaces and insomnia. Its part of an article about it from the American Massage Therapist Association

A patient with TMJd and mastioditis............Often resulting from the spread of an inner ear infection, mastoiditis is an infection of the skull's mastoid bone that can cause the bone structure to deteriorate. Administering medicine deeply enough into the mastoid bone to take effect can prove tricky, and as a result the condition can require repeated or long-term treatment. Symptoms include earache and pain behind the ear, redness, fever, headache and discharge.

She was so dizzy that she felt seasick most of the time. The ringing in her ears made it impossible for her to sleep at night without the aid of sleeping pills or muscle relaxers. Additionally, she took drugs prescribed by her doctors to alleviate the dizziness and pain. But the side effects of the medication never outweighed the benefits, and she soon had a shoebox full of half-used pill bottles.

The Therapy
After listening to Maggie's story, I suggested that we try reiki as part of her therapy. I explained that reiki is a subtle, yet powerful, modality that can help alleviate stress, pain and balance the body's energy. By means of a simple noninvasive technique, the reiki practitioner acts as a conduit for healing energy that passes through his or her hands into the client's body. Maggie had never heard of reiki and was skeptical of energy work, but she agreed to try it out of desperation for some relief from her many ailments.
She booked an hour-long massage with me, which I shortened to 45 minutes so I could spend the remaining 15 minutes performing reiki on her ears and jaw. Because my office is only a few minutes from her apartment, Maggie had been able to drive to her appointment. Upon leaving my office after her first visit, she felt such improved clarity that she immediately drove downtown—a good half-hour drive—and back. Since that day, Maggie has been able to drive herself around town without any dizziness.

After Maggie's second session, the tinnitus in her right ear disappeared completely. She felt so good that she tried to eat solid food—an unfortunate mistake. It was too soon in the healing process, and her jaw locked.
As Maggie continued her therapy, after each session the dizziness and tinnitus continued to decrease significantly; however, Maggie's myofascial and jaw pain persisted. I increased her massage to a full hour with the 15 minutes of reiki, extending the focus from her upper back and neck to include her scalp and entire face. I paid particular attention to the tiny muscles of her jaw, and I incorporated a technique called stillpoint. I also found pressure points in her hips that eased jaw pain.
I increased the reiki therapy to 30 minutes to address the volume in her left ear, which remained very unstable and quite loud. Over time, I've developed visualizations for her to do during reiki. I do the visualization at the same time with her, and sometimes suggest color to help her visualize. We've noticed decreases in volume when we do this, and that the volume level in her left ear is often triggered by stress. Although keeping Maggie's tinnitus under control is a challenge, it almost never rises to a level that she experienced prior to beginning the massage and reiki therapy.
The Root Cause
I noticed that Maggie's muscles had responded to her surgery similar to the way that a muscle responds when someone breaks a bone. Except that in her case, the muscles didn't know when it was all right to relax again. When you break a bone, the muscles near that bone instantly contract to stabilize and protect the bone. As the bone heals, the muscles relax and return to normal. I believe that if Maggie had received massage shortly after her surgery, the muscles would have relaxed more quickly, and she might not have developed TMJ. I theorize that the muscles in her neck and head were contracted for too long, and that may be how the jaw pulled out of the joint.
Combining Modalities

The Road Back To Health
Before Maggie turned to alternative medicine, her doctors implied that she might never be able to eat solid food again and would simply have to adjust to living with tinnitus for the rest of her life. Another obstacle Maggie faced was her doctors' disbelief when she described her pain and dizziness.
Her surgeon said that everything appeared to be normal, and he didn't understand why she couldn't eat solid food. She tried once more, but again her jaw immediately locked. The doctors began to demand that she seek psychoanalysis and treatment for depression. Maggie felt that she was anything but depressed. Since she began addressing her problems with a program of massage and reiki, she has found that being able to do even the simplest of things actually brings her great joy. Beyond this, the reiki has enabled Maggie to cope with greater stresses, and she no longer experiences major relapses with her predominant symptoms.

Identifying the source of her pain and addressing it with massage therapy, while using reiki to remedy the accompanying ringing and dizziness, have put Maggie on the road to recovery.

~ Laura Sadler is a certified massage therapist, reiki master, yoga instructor and writer in Los Angeles. She also has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California–Irvine.

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m.s.