including posture problems, habits, muscles, bones, joints, trauma, motor vehicle accidents, spines, discs and many more.
Everything in life is attached to stress whether its friends, families, jobs, money issues etc. The problem is how we react to life stresses and how they affect us. Life stress also includes changes that are positive. The stress is not the problem but rather how are bodies deal with the stress.
One of the biggest emotional stressors is pain. It is perceived in the Limbic system of our brain where we experience our emotional responses. It is difficult to feel or appreciate any positive emotions when we are stuck in pain (The Pain Emotion).
In the end our brains must deal with all this stress. As we pile one on top of the other, life, biochemical, physical and emotional, stress accumulates. The effects of Emotional, physical and biochemical stress impact how capable we are of dealing with life stress.
People deal with life stress in many ways. Some use exercise as an active way to vent while others turn to music or meditation to help them deal with their worries. On the other hand, there are others who have subconsciously turned to less healthy coping mechanisms for stress. In fact, some responses to stress may actually cause other health problems, including TMJ disorders. How?
When our body is under stress there are both physical and emotional responses. The body releases neurochemicals and hormones to create that "nervous energy" that helps us either "fight or flee". The trouble is, in our modern world, we rarely need to do either. When you're in this situation, your body now has a pile of energy it needs to release.If left pent up, it can put your sympathetic nervous system is out of sync with your parasympathetic nervous system.
Our autonomic nervous system is a finely tuned machine. It's divided into parasympathetic and sympathetic. The sympathetic system kicks in when we are in fight or flight mode. The parasympathetic system kicks in while we are at rest. When out stress levels are maxed out, these systems can become out of balance.
Consider how you deal with the excess energy of a stressful situation that doesn't require a fight or flight response.
The repetitive nature of these stress-related actions can create unusual fatigue and discomfort to the surrounding areas, especially the jaw, TM joints, cartilage and ligaments. TMJ is a repetitive strain injury much like tennis elbow or carpal tunnel.
A big part of our TMJ treatment regimen is to bring the nervous system back into balance. To do this, we use SPG blocks (Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks) and the NuCalm System. SPG blocks work to eliminate pain and NuCalm helps to relax you naturally. Once free of stress overload, your autonomic nervous system will begin to ease back into balance.
Find out more about the stress-related causes of TMJ by downloading our free e-book today. Please contact our office if you would like to set up a consultation to discuss stress-related TMJ disorders.