Jaw pain is another common problem we see in our practice that serves Arlington, WA.
When you work with Ernst Chiropractic, our team will first attempt to find the root cause of your jaw symptoms and then determine a way to treat the problem.
If you've developed jaw pain from a car crash, we might be able to help. Chiropractic is a possible approach to recovering from neck pain and auto injuries. By getting to the root cause of your pain, we may get you back on the road to health.
Call our Arlington, WA chiropractic practice today at (360) 659-8464 for an appointment or for more information.
Jaw or temporomandibular joint pain is common after an auto injury, even when there is no direct trauma to the jaw. The condition can be confusing to health care providers, as, oftentimes, the jaw symptoms don't appear immediately after the injury, sometimes developing weeks or even months later.
New research over the last 10 years suggests that jaw pain after an auto injury actually originates in the neck.
When your neck is injured, the pain signals travel from the spine to your brain stem. Here, nerves from many different parts of the body converge together before they pass to the pain centers of your brain.
When these nerves converge, the signals can get confused and crossed. It's similar to the arm pain experienced by someone having a heart attack. The nerve signals from the heart converge with those of the arm, and the patient feels the pain in the arm instead of the actual source.
The nerves of your jaw connect in the neck with pain receptors from your spine. When chronic pain signals from your injury overstimulate the nerve junctions, you can experience pain in other parts of your head, including your jaw.
And since the jaw is experiencing pain, it can cause the muscles in the area to tense up, causing more pain.
If you've been in a crash, it's important to make sure that you get the care you need to treat your injury. Chiropractic has been shown to be beneficial for patients with temporomandibular joint disorders. Call our office to get back on the road to health today!