I Had Intense Jaw Pain For Months. Here's What Finally Helped

Ten million Americans suffer from temporomandibular disorder (TMD), which manifests itself as pain in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). If you've ever had it yourself, you know that it can cause extreme discomfort and tenderness in your jaw, ear, and neck along with difficulty chewing. I became one of those 10 million people about two years ago when I suddenly started having intense jaw and neck pain from unconsciously clenching my jaw.

So what causes the TMD, you ask? It turns out that people under stress or with anxiety will unconsciously clench their jaw or grind their teeth at night, which places stress on the jaw joint. While it's not totally clear why certain people have TMD, stress and anxiety are known to contribute to the problem.

Turns out, there is real science behind her confidence, and countless studies on acupuncture1 show that it can reduce symptoms of TMD. One study indicates that 84 percent of patients reported improvement in pain after their first acupuncture visit, whereas 87 percent that received NSAIDs showed no noticeable improvement. TMD has proved to be difficult to treat with conventional medical treatments, but luckily, acupuncture shows a lot of promise.

While the exact way acupuncture relieves pain from TMD is not 100 percent clear, according to traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works by restoring the flow of energy, also known as chi. Modern research also suggests that it "reduces pain sensation through direct stimulation of the nerve, which changes the quality of signaling along nerve cells."

When specifically treating pain from TMD, needles are inserted where the pain is located, around the ear and the jaw. From my personal experience, the moment the needle is inserted into the ST 7 Xiaguan acupuncture point, I can feel the relief, almost instantly. When the needle punctures the skin, there's a tiny prick, but that's the extent of any discomfort during the treatment.