Herniated Cervical Disc - and TMJ - Hernia Message Board

alorcoy · 12-05-2007, 11:02 AM

Hi all. I have been doing aggressive physical therapy to loosen up the neck and shoulder muscles on the side of my TMJ. I heard a huge pop while stretching last week and it felt like my jaw shifted. Woke up the next morning in massive pain and sure enough, now I have a herniated cervical disc. My chiro thinks that maybe my disc was the real underlying problem from an accident a few years ago, and the muscles that tightened around it pulled on my jaw joint which already had been showing signs of TMJ (clicking and popping). Does that sound like a possibility? Anybody else have a herniated cervical disc and tips on living through this. I have a searing burning pain from my neck through my shoulder blades and down my arm. It's making me want to pull my hair out.

Thelma-Louise · 12-05-2007, 11:38 AM

I don't know - sounds like the chicken and egg routine in determining which came first. A dentist might say a shifting bite or tm joint problem caused the discs to herniate by putting pressure on the c-spine and a chiro might say it was a disc issue to begin with which pushed the c-spine and then the jaw out of alignment. In terms of percentages - most people who have suffered some sort of previous injury or accident - even years ago - have a greater chance of developing neck and back problems or tmj later on.

For me - I had several accidents resulting in facial trauma, experienced several pinched nerves and sciatica, sprains, etc with no long lasting repurcusions but when the tmj pain and jaw dysfunction started it took almost 4 weeks before it affected my neck and then moved down the spine - I was about 3 months into it when I had an MRI done which showed discs C4,5 and 6 herniated - so even though some chiros suggested it originated from my back the sequence of events told me it originated from my jaw and then down the c-spine and spine. Plus given my extensive dental work and lack of previous back and neck symptoms it made more sense that this was due to a jaw, occlusion or facial muscle issues.

So maybe looking back at both your physical/medical and dental history may help determine where this stemmed from but as one dr told me - does it matter? since both issues have to be addressed simultanelously since they are or have become inter-related.

Frodoh · 12-05-2007, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alorcoy

Hi all. I have been doing aggressive physical therapy to loosen up the neck and shoulder muscles on the side of my TMJ. I heard a huge pop while stretching last week and it felt like my jaw shifted. Woke up the next morning in massive pain and sure enough, now I have a herniated cervical disc. My chiro thinks that maybe my disc was the real underlying problem from an accident a few years ago, and the muscles that tightened around it pulled on my jaw joint which already had been showing signs of TMJ (clicking and popping). Does that sound like a possibility? Anybody else have a herniated cervical disc and tips on living through this. I have a searing burning pain from my neck through my shoulder blades and down my arm. It's making me want to pull my hair out.

All of my jaw issues started when I "popped"my neck - (herniation at c5/c6). Not a bad herniation, bit the muscles attached to the spine in that area are all stretched and traumatized.

Take it easy for a while. Let it heal. Use moist heat