Jaw pain

I do
Morning Robin,

I've seen this discussed before. I know Hondo suffered from this, as well as a number of others who will doubtless show up to talk to you. I had this happen after my surgery last year. My minimum was about 2.0 cm of opening. Small enough I couldn't fork in a bite of anything without hitting my upper lip.

I did manual stretching, not using any of the mechanical devices, and achieved another centimeter of opening. It took several months for me to get there, but that was enough to function fairly normally. Now I noticce that I'm contracting down again as I go through radiation. Its too tender to do anything with today, but I imagine I'll have to rework the area later.

Some people use a series of tongue depressors inserted between their front teeth to gradually widen the opening, and I've read that works well too. There are several mechanical splints made to achieve this. They are very pricey though.

fisrpotpe said:

been there
i have been there, i would put my thumb on upper jaw with one hand and fingers on lower jaw with the other and pull them apart. it is not a fun feeling for sure. i would hold it open for maybe ten/fifteen seconds and release. i would do 3-4 times and about 5-6 times a day. i did this for many months and then 1-2 times a day for years just to keep it. it did help for sure, just wish i would have started it sooner post treatment.

when i had my treatments they did not use speech pathologists in the recovery phase. i suggest you get one on your team they maybe able to help with it and also help with swallowing if your having problems.

just so you know it will get better, mine did

john

this is about how I did it as well
and like you, it was uncomfortable to do. But it did work.

Pat

STRETCHING
Jaw stretching will most likely be an ongoing issue. I am 15 mos. P/T and stretch my jaw daily. If I do not do this for a week or so, I will notice the range of motion in my jaw shrinks.

Start with a therabite or you can even use tongue depressors stacked up to a point to where you can insert into the mouth and just leave there for awhile. I used to do this while watching TV. I would add a stick evry few days until the stretching was maximized.

I use 3 fingers as a guage for me that my jaw is opening to this width on a daily basis.

I also have found that sitting in a dry heat sauna and doing all of my head, neck and jaw stretching after I am done working out has really benefitted me health wise.

Good Luck

Mike