Author| Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT physical therapist specializing in TMJ disorder treatment, neck and back pain and pelvic floor dysfunction.
If you are looking for TMJ disorder physical therapy treatment in Grand Rapids, you’ve found the right place.
We are Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, a PT clinic providing TMJ disorder treatment in Grand Rapids. Our doctors of physical therapy provide holistic and one-on-one treatment for people who experience TMJ disorders, myofascial pain syndrome, cervicogenic headaches, thoracic spine pain, rib cage issues, low back pain, chronic pelvic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction. Problems in these areas have been our focus for years and because of this specialization, our patients tell us that they have finally found relief from their pain. If you want to stop taking ibuprofen or are looking for comprehensive and natural physical therapy for your TMJ disorder, we are here to help you. If you are interested in learning more about our TMJ disorder treatment here in Grand Rapids or over telehealth, contact us here or call (616) 516-4334.
What does TMJ Disorder PT treatment involve?
Our goal of PT for your TMJ pain is to decrease your pain, improve your function of your jaw (chewing, opening, talking, closing), address head and neck issues contributing to your jaw pain, correct your posture, improve muscle strength and tightness and teach you what you can do at home to help yourself. All of our therapies are natural and do not involve any medication, surgery, injections. Our patients come to us looking for natural and comprehensive ways to finally relieve their TM joint pain. To improve TMJ disorders, physical therapy includes hands-on manual therapy, posture correction, spinal mobilization, exercise based care and calming the nervous system. If you would like to learn more about our TMJ disorder treatment in Grand Rapids or via telehealth, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or reach out here.
You can receive your TMJ disorder treatment we provide in Grand Rapids or via telehealth.
Our clinic in Grand Rapids specializes in treatment for TMJ disorders, spine and pelvic health conditions. If you are wondering what you can do to help your TMJ pain, we are here to help you. But, some people live far away from our clinic and would like to have a telehealth visit to help them alleviate their pain. For telehealth visits or in-person treatment for TMJ disorders, call our office at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here and we can answer your questions and let you know if you qualify for our care.
Our TMJ disorder treatment has a goal of relieving your pain and improving your jaw function.
We reach this goal by improving:
Myofascial pain
Muscle guarding
Joint motion
Strength and muscle imbalances
Fascial and muscle tightness
Posture of the TM joint, head, neck, thoracic spine, rib cage, low back and pelvis.
Myofascial pain commonly is present with TMJ disorders.
“Myofascial” means the muscles and associated fascia and connective tissues are generating your pain. Our licensed PTs specialize in treating myofascial pain syndrome including TM joint pain, cervicogenic headaches, head and neck pain in addition to pelvic pain, low back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, SI joint pain, tailbone pain and other pelvic pain conditions. Because of our advanced training in helping ease myofascial pain, our TMJ disorder treatment in our clinic in Grand Rapids or via telehealth provides you with natural and holistic methods to ease your pain and restore your jaw function. Contact us here to learn more or call us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our helpful staff.
Your physical therapy evaluation and treatment for TMJ disorder includes a comprehensive assessment to develop a plan of care
First, we want to point out that our goal is to alleviate your jaw pain, improve your function and help you achieve your goals. Every licensed physical therapist here at Purple Mountain PT in Grand Rapids has experience and training specific to providing PT treatment for TMJ disorders.
We begin your care with an evaluation, which includes a thorough check of your jaw, head and neck.
We need to understand how you developed this condition, what makes it worse, the treatments you have already tried, what makes your pain better and your goals.
We also measure your TM joint motion and note the quality of the motion so we can determine areas that we can treat to improve motion.
We will fully assess your neck, looking for stiffness, postural deficits, fascial restrictions, muscle guarding or weakness.
We begin TMJ disorder treatment at this first appointment so you can begin the recovery process.
You can expect our PT for TM joint disorders to include comprehensive manual therapies & exercise that help relax your muscles, improve joint mobility and alleviate pain. At Purple Mountain PT, our licensed PTs have advanced training in natural rehabilitation manual therapy techniques to alleviate pain, improve joint motion and decrease muscle guarding. Some of these include myofascial manual therapy, trigger point release, nerve mobilization (to calm nerve pain), joint mobilization, and TMJ, face, skull, neck, thoracic and low back massage treatment methods. To speak with one of our team members, who can answer your questions about our TMJ PT treatment that we provide either in our clinic in Grand Rapids or via telehealth, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or reach out here.
Treatment for TM joint disorders at Purple Mountain PT in Grand Rapids includes exercise
We include face, jaw, neck, shoulder and core exercises in your care, if you need these. Our exercise based program will be customized to your needs. Some patients have very stiff fascia and tight muscles, so we may include gentle therapeutic movements and stretches to enhance these muscles and tissues. Other patients are found to have considerable weakness in some muscle groups and this places more strain on the head and neck. Common weak areas include the shoulder blades, deep neck stabilizers, postural muscles, glutes and core. For TM joint pain we also include facial exercises to address the muscles of your jaw that are not feeling good. To inquire about cost and availability of our PTs for your TM joint pain or to have any other questions answered, contact us at (616) 516-4334 or reach out here.
Your treatment for TMJ disorder will also include whole body care
Patients often know that, in addition to the pain in their TMJ region, they also sometimes may have low back pain, hip pain, knee pain, shoulder pain or other areas that don’t feel 100%. Our PTs will include treatment to your whole body because we have found that if we singularly focus on your TM joint, we won’t be able to fully correct your posture, fascial restrictions, core weakness and other contributors of your pain. Our patients consistently tell us that they are looking for a whole body approach and finding our licensed PTs has been so helpful. For example, it is common that a patient who comes to us for TM joint pain also has weakness or tension in their shoulder blades and this is altering their head, neck and jaw. Both our experience treating patients who have TM joint disorders and our post-graduate training in rehabilitation of jaw, neck and spine problems has confirmed that holistic care will benefit you the most. At each appointment you can expect your PT to customize your treatment based on your needs and this may include hands-on massage techniques, exercise based corrective exercises, postural correction, balancing the nervous system or other physical therapy treatments to help you. If you are suffering from TM joint pain and would like to work with one of our physical therapists, call our team today to get your questions answered. We can be reached at (616) 516-4334 or contact Us here.
Physical Therapy for TMD can help both acute and chronic TMJ pain.
Temporomandibular disorders is a broad category of conditions related to the TM joint. Sometimes the pain has been going on for a long time, other times you may be having TM joint pain for the first time in your life. In either case, our PTs are here to help you. Call us at (616) 516-4334 to learn more.
PT for Acute TMJ pain
New TMJ pain, which we would consider to be acute, benefits from tender loving care to fully resolve and set you up so this doesn’t come back. For acute pain we recommend our physical therapy that includes corrective exercises and massage, manual therapies and gentle joint mobilization to the head, neck and jaw. These physical therapy interventions also help you learn what you did to cause the problem and we give you a complete home program to help your TM joint pain and to avoid this coming back. To learn more about our PT treatment for TM joint pain, contact us here or call (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our knowledgeable representatives to learn more.
PT for Chronic TM joint pain
Often, we find our patients have experienced years of chronic TMJ pain, with flare up episodes occurring somewhat regularly. It is common that our patients tell us they can recall having TMJ pain many years ago and lately it has been increasingly bothering them. Our physical therapists treat many kinds of chronic jaw pain conditions including TMD, TM joint arthritis, temporomandibular disorders, TMJ syndrome, TMJ myofascial pain syndrome, head and neck pain related to your TMJ, cervicogenic headaches and others. Some of our patients have never had any medical treatment to their TM joint. Other patients come to us having already tried bite guards, dental work, ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatories, sometimes injections or other treatments. Whether you have tried everything or tried nothing, our licenced PTs are here for you to help you get relief. The goal of our holistic PT is to ease muscle guarding, improve jaw motion, correct posture, decrease neck tension and stiffness, teach you exercises, improve strength deficits, and advise you on what to do to help yourself. If you would like to learn more about our PT treatment for TM joint pain, contact us here or call (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our knowledgeable representatives to learn more.
Why we opened our clinic in Grand Rapids with a focus upon providing TMJ disorder treatment and pelvic health physical therapy
We love to help people who have TMJ pain or pelvic health care needs. Our physical therapists have worked in very busy, general orthopedic clinics and have helped rehabilitate every “common” orthopedic injury you can imagine from plantar fasciitis to knee surgeries, rotator cuff injuries and fractures. As part of our experience in these settings, we embarked upon advanced post-graduate coursework to advance our skills. For Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT, founder of Purple Mountain PT, this training included considerable coursework and therapeutic interventions to specifically treat spine (neck & back), jaw and pelvic conditions. In fact, her doctoral thesis was in the field of pregnancy related physical therapy treatment and this was back in 2003. She found that to be able to truly help people recover, it was best to specialize in these areas of neck and back pain, pelvic conditions (bladder, bowel, intimacy and pain) and TM joint disorders. Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is a PT clinic devoted to providing our patients with TM joint disorder treatment here in Grand Rapids. We partner with our patients and pledge to give you our best effort to get you out of pain. It has taken years of doing this work to fine-tune these treatment skills and all of our PTs are trained in TM joint disorder treatment, pelvic health rehabilitation and neck and back pain recovery natural treatment. We focus on these areas so that you can receive results. If you would like to learn more about our PT treatment for TM joint pain, contact us here or call (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our knowledgeable representatives to learn more.
Why Should I Choose Purple Mountain Physical Therapy?
Here at Purple Mountain PT, we have set up our clinic with your needs in mind. Our TMJ disorder treatment here in Grand Rapids or via telehealth is comprehensive and holistic. We provide one-on-one appointments with your doctor of physical therapy. Treatment for TM joint disorders and pain is customized to your needs at each visit. We never leave you by yourself to complete exercises without our supervision or guidance. Each appointment is upto 55 minutes in length and this is necessary to provide you a complete appointment. We don’t cut visits short or partially treat you and leave things untreated. Our therapists are devoted to being specialists in treating TMJ disorders, neck and back pain and pelvic health conditions. Because of this, we have advanced training, well beyond what is taught in the doctor of physical therapy program. Perhaps, most importantly, you choose us because we are here to give you results. We provide compassionate and trauma informed care and truly enjoy getting to know our patients. If you would like to learn more about our therapist’s cost and availability, reach out to us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.
More About Purple Mountain PT
Our therapists are doctors of physical therapy and are fully trained in general orthopedics have specialization in TM joint pain, neck, back and pelvic conditions. We provide wholistic care, which means you will receive myofascial release, joint mobilization, corrective exercise, postural correction and therapy to your neck, face, jaw, back and other areas causing TMJ pain. We love this work and specialize in this because it provides you meanginful relief and provides us satisfaction in helping people who have suffered with TMJ pain for so long. We help many people who experience chronic pelvic pain or chronic TM joint pain. We love this work and are continually completing advanced training and reading research to give our patients the best chance of feeling better. We consider it an honor to help you. If you would like to learn more about us, contact us here or call (616) 516-4334.
Peace,
Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT founder of Purple Mountain Physical Therapy. All of our physical therapists have advanced training specific to helping TMJ disorders. Most of our patients have endured years of pain and numerous dental treatments, orthodontics or other care to correct their bite and grinding. Once you find our physical therapy, you will note that this is the myofascial work and joint work you have needed to ease your muscle tension, pain and guarding.
Here is some more information about our physical therapy to help TMJ disorders. Please check it out or reach out to us with your questions:
Pelvic Pain Physical Therapy in Grand Rapids
Physical Therapy for Neck Pain and Headaches
What Can I Do Naturally to Help My TMJ? 8 Tips That Help!
