Quote:
Originally Posted by IndyGirl1  Hi Again,
Something occurred to me while I was waiting at my doctors office. You mention how you feel better after an adjustment and then it kind of wears off after a few good days. Could it be possible that you feel relief from the tens machine itself- that it relaxes the muscles for the time being and then after a few days the improvement "wears off". What if it is not the minor adjustments to the splint that are making you feel better- but simply the tens unit itself? I could be totally off base but wondered what your thoughts were....
My tmj appointment was a complete waste of time- she maybe looked at me for 5 minutes... no adjustments to my splint.. just said "give it more time". She said some people feel better right after putting it in for the first time while others it takes 5 months.. what!? This crap makes no freaking sense. I'm on a merry go round that I can never get off. lol
I'm sorry you aren't having a "good" day today... I hope tomorrow will be better : )
Indy |
We haven't TENs'ed every single time I am there. It kind of depends what he is trying to do. If we are trying to find out what position my jaw is the most comfortable in, then we TENs for 45 min to relax the muscles and get a reading using the EMG machine. Then, once its established where my jaw wants to go, then we just keep altering the splint and monitoring the movement of my jaw. I don't think the effects of the TENs unit would make me feel that much better say after a few hours.
The reason why I would feel some relief after an adjustment is because my teeth naturally creates some pits in the splint and the movement of my teeth becomes inhibited by these pits or bumps on the splint. These irregularities need to be filed down in order to keep the surface of the splint perfect so that my teeth glide over the splint without obstruction when I am chewing food or grinding. These irregularities and bumps or pits on the splint can cause the teeth/jaw to become locked in a position and that can cause headaches and muscle issues...once those are grinded down and smoothed out, the jaw and muscles feel relieved and the jaw will begin moving a little bit further into the correct position. At least this is my understanding....
As a matter of fact, I have felt pretty good for the past two days! Headaches and neckaches and facial fatigue have been minimal over the past couple days....I see my doctor again tomorrow. He has even acknowledged that I need to see him every week or so now because I benefit more from having these adjustments more frequently, where other patients can get by seeing him once every 2 to 3 weeks or so...
If at one point I felt like 6 to a 7 of pain and discomfort throughout my entire day, then over the past few days it has come down to a 2-3...which is a big improvement, and I hope to continue to improve...
Your doctor is using the same approach my old doctor used which is more of a traditional method...Patients have had both success and set backs with both the traditional and neuromuscular approaches...However, I do feel like my new doctor has a precise spot in which he wants my jaw to be in, and he shows me my EMG readings which shows my muscle activity at rest position...3 months ago, my EMGs show that my muscles in my forehead were constantly firing even when my jaw was in a rest position, and my jaw muscles were so worn out that they barely had an activity indicating extreme muscular fatigue....Last week, he took another EMG reading now that my jaw has moved closer to the spot we want it at, and my readings in my muscles in my forehead and jaw are firing damn near exactly where they should be, so there is objective data that verifies improvement...
I will keep you guys posted on how I progress throughout the summer.
