I know what you're thinking, not another Temporomandibular joint syndrome article? How about a "my damn jaw/sinus/face hurts" article. That's what this is. I'm going to show you the way I found relief, the regular guy way, not the scrape a piece of fungus off a pharmaceutical intern's boot and make a million sort of way.

Temporomandibular joint syndrome or TMJ as it is popularly known, is supposedly a poorly understood disorder of the inflammation of the jaw. Though the misunderstanding must lie within the bowels of the medical community because those of us with it, or it's sinus dirty cousin, know it all too well. My dentist told me it comes from stress and grinding my teeth. He informed me, "You really need to cut down on your stress levels, it's bad for you." Thanks Doc, sure and I should really start raking up all of those loose Benjamins I keep letting fly out my laundry room window. I wish there was a machine or a button to shut off my stress levels. Alas there is not (far as I know anyway, I always thought that button on my back was a self-destruct button so I leave it alone). There is however a machine with a button and a level adjuster that can help remedy these ailments.

If you have a back massager, you can find relief from your pain right now! Ladies are all too familiar with this dynamo, men maybe less so, I'll leave the reasons why up to your lurid imaginations. The crux of the matter though, is that any decent electric massager can be used to alleviate some of the pain associated with TMJ and Sinus pain and/or headaches. I've been using mine for over 5 years for that very thing. I asked a doctor years ago if it was safe, he laughed at the apparent ludicrousy of it, but said it would be fine. I use a Homedics brand with two black rubber knobs that vibrate consistently and at a variable rate with a slide adjuster on the side. I have to turn it up to the fastest frequency or the machine slows down and more or less punches me in the head.

The technique I use is as basic as turning the machine on and gently pressing it against the problem areas. You can see various angles in the slide show I've posted.Typically I start at the center of my ear and move down towards the underside of my ear, then to my jaw. I spend 1-2 minutes loosening that joint. Then I run the machine, only one of the black rubber knobs at a time, along each side of my nose. If I'm congested it works exceptionally well, especially in combination with ingesting some spicy pepper garlic salsa, clears right up. Lastly I run the machine over my eyebrows where another pocket of sinus' lie. If in fact, my entire face feels sore I then repeat the above steps, but also include running the back massager over my upper and lower teeth, my cheek bones and down each side of my neck where some more of your body's viscous glands reside. Lastly, I don't pretend to be an expert, only someone with some positive personal experience in remedying this kind of pain. I have researched some cranial-sacral therapies and they use some similar massage pathways to alleviate the pain.

I guess to those who don't suffer any pain in this area it might seem like a bit of an eccentric therapy. But it absolutely works for me. When I quit smoking my TMJ leaped in severity, I think partly because of eating more candy and chewing gum. But sometimes my jaw just hurts, and the machine really relieves the pain. Same with sinus headaches and congestion, this machine moves whatever fluid is dammed inside my face like gangbusters! An old friend of mine also recently related to me that a massager also does wonders for people with bronchitis, is there nothing an electric massager can't do? I hope this article relieves some of your pain! Let me know how it works out! Let the vibrating begin!