Question
I am a 31 year old woman in good overall health. I exercise almost every day and eat healthier than most. The problem is that for the past few months i have had these headaches. The pain moves around somewhat but is always on the sides of my head. Sometimes it feels like my wisdom teeth are growing back but they have been removed. I had my dentist take X Rays and he said my jaw and teeth were perfect. Alot of the time it hurts right in front of my ears or right on top of my ears. Sometimes it is a shooting pain, sometimes its like my head is in a vice, and sometimes it feels more like a pinch than an ache. It occasionally feels like an earache in both ears and trying to pop my ears(or trying) relieves me somewhat. Just wiggling my jaw back and forth helps a bit as well. The skin and muscle in the area of the pain is sometimes sore to the touch also. It seems like it isn't quite as bad on weekends and im not sure if it means anything or not but it seems to not happen when i drink or the day after i drink. I occasionally feel like its in my bones or a pinched muscle but any advice or ideas would help so much....This is a horrible way to live and i really feel like it can be fixed. I have seen a chiropractor which im not sure helped much if any, and my doctor just seems to feel like its all in my head. Please help.

Answer
Hi, Julie,

Your descriptions sounds like Temporal Joint Dysfunction (TMD/TMJ) -- which amounts to excessively tight muscles of chewing.

I work with such conditions to train people's muscular control of the involved muscles back into the normal range of control (or better).

However, without clinical somatic education, most dentists prescribe an "appliance" to separate the teeth in hope of resolving the problem or do surgery on teeth surfaces.  In my experience with clients who have already taken such measures, that's not such an effective approach.

It's possible that you can do some self-help for this condition.  If interested, contact me, again.

Lawrence Gold
clinical somatic educator