I have had Fibromyalgia and have had issues with muscle tightness causing tension in my jaw. My jaw used to click and crunch a lot and feel out of alignment, my bottom teeth did not come forward enough. I have a horse smack me in the jaw with its hock. I have also had a visit to the dentist to remove two wisdom teeth on one side of my jaw. As you can see in my photo one side of my jaw was held open much further than the other. It was at least a year before I got this xray and a bit longer before I got the issue sorted.

My workmate couldn't open one side of her mouth after visiting the dentist for wisdom teeth removal. She was prescribed muscle relaxants, a rather blunt instrument to solve the problem. I lent her my Trigger Point Therapy book and she quickly sorted out the issue.

I have seen an osteopath to correct my TMJ issue. He did a good job of realigning my TMJ joint but since other muscle groups in my body were tight and kept pulling my jaw out of alignment the fix would not last very long. You will need to establish what trigger points lower down are also contributing to misaligning your TMJ joint.

I recommend using the Structural Yoga Therapy book by Mukunda Stiles. I discovered I had a sway back (or lordosis) The sway back posture meant that I have excessive lumbar curve when looking from the side. This posture made my neck very straight and the muscles tight. My swayback affected my TMJ joint and in turn made my jaw go out of alignment. The swayback posture also affects the thighs, hips and abdominals. See my blog on this book for more details on how to correct a swayback.  http://hubpages.com/hub/Structural-Yoga-Therapy-for-Fibromyalgia

I found The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies very helpful for relieving trigger points connected with my Temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The TMJ is essentially the hinge for the jaw bone.

Trigger points are the same thing as muscle knots. This is also called Myofascial pain.

Using Trigger point therapy as a self treatment guide to correct your TMJ joint can save you a lot of mone on massage, osteopaths and chiropractors. It is useful for relief of soft tissue muscle pain. I use this book frequently.

Trigger points or muscle knots are sore spots along the muscle fibres that must be worked to release the muscle fibres. You will know if you have found a trigger point if it hurts.

The main trigger points involved in TMJ issues are:

1. Lateral pterygoid muscles are accessed inside your mouth. You need to press with your index finger at the back of your jaw beyond your molars in the spot where peanut butter collects. This spot have caused me a lot of pain and is the primary cause of TMJ pain. An osteopath used to press really hard and have me in tears. Such force is not necessary.
2. Medial pterygoid muscles are hidden by the lower jawbone. These are pressed with the thumb under the corner of your jaw near the TMJ joint.
3. Masseter muscles. These are your jaw muscles for biting and chewing. These are very close to your TMJ joint. These need to be massaged inside your mouth using your thumb inside and other fingers outside.
4. Sternocleidomastoid muscles. These are two musclesthat run down your neck from beside the ear to either the clavicle or the sternum at the front of your neck at the top of your chest.

Massage all these points for relief.

See my blog for details on Fibromyalgia http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-BeatCure-Fibromyalgia--By-Someone-Who-Has

I thoroughly recommend The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook for Pain Relief by Clair Davies. I use it so much I have written a blog http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment-for-Pain-Relief