The Jaw- The Missing Link In Neck And Back Pain!

Everyone knows that your jaw is an important part of your anatomy- it's how we eat, drink, and communicate, all essential things to keep us alive. But what most people don't know is the impact it can have on the rest of your body if your jaw isn't functioning properly. 

Your jaw, or temporomandibular joint (TMJ)  is an articulation between your mandible (lower jaw) and temporal bone (part of your skull). It is a hinge joint that allows you to open and close your mouth, a necessary function for our survival. However, if we have TMJ dysfunction and we can't open and close our mouth properly, it starts to create some bigger problems. 

Some of the causes are quite obvious, if you’ve had a blow to the head or a dislocated jaw, it's easy to see why it might be dysfunctional. However there are lots of other less obvious signs that it's not quite right. Grinding your teeth, having teeth removed, amalgam fillings, braces, clicking or popping in the jaw when moving it, difficulty chewing foods, the list goes on. 

The reason it is so important is because of where it is. If you're one of our clients or have been following our content for a while, then you’ll know that we prioritse the nervous system, but most of the time we are looking at the global function of it or the peripheral nerves. What we haven't spoken much about  (but you'll see more and more over the next few weeks) is 12 pairs of nerves that come directly from your brain, called your cranial nerves.  The cranial nerves are mostly responsible for your eyes, ears, tongue, and facial control. 

Cranial nerve XI is the one we are interested in, called the accessory nerve, as it exits the skull through the jugular foramen which is created by the occipital bone and temporal bone. Another reason we are interested in this nerve is because it supplies two very important muscles in your neck, the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid (SCM). As I mentioned earlier, the T in TMJ stands for temporal, so if the jaw is dysfunctional, it can impact the movement of the temporal bone, and could lead to narrowing of the jugular foramen, and may compromise cranial nerve XI as it exits. 

Your trapezius attaches into your occipital bone (the other bone that makes up the jugular foramen!), and is mostly responsible for stabilising your shoulder blade (scapula), but when both sides work together it helps extend your neck (making you look up). Your SCM is responsible for turning and tilting your head. If the nerve supply to these are compromised, then we  start to lose the stability and control of our head movements, which in turn could lead to dysfunction and pain in your neck. 

Neck function is very important for the rest of our body too. The way our neck moves directly impacts the way our lower back moves too, so dysfunction in the neck (cervical spine) can lead to dysfunction in the lower back (lumbar spine). This is due to something called coupled spinal motion (a topic for another blog!). The same is true for the reverse, any changes in the lower back can lead to changes in the neck, which can then lead to changes in the TMJ. 

The TMJ is one of the first things we assess with all new clients, and continually monitor in all existing clients, because any changes in it can lead to big compensatory changes in the rest of your body. 

If you’ve been told you have a TMJ issue, or feel like you might have, or even if you have neck or lower back pain and want to see if there's another explanation for it, then get yourself booked in for a full consultation so we can figure out exactly what's going on in your body!