Chris Toal – Ball With Bite

Tennis ball therapy for the munching muscles? It comes with more bonuses than you’d think!

UNDER the surface of the cheek lie the masseter (chewing) and temporalis muscles (the latter is attached to the temporal bone up the side of the head). They are the prime movers that close the jaw and are some of the strongest muscles of the body.

Think of the pressure required to bite through the skin of a crisp apple, crunch your way through some nuts or muesli, or grind up a chunk of steak and you will know there is some serious power involved here, so when they get sore, you’re in for a heap of trouble and they can get sore in lots of ways.

Have you ever had such a good time that you smiled so much your face hurt the next day?

Do you spend your day smiling at difficult people and difficult situations and then come home with the hell headache?

Well, you smiled till the muscles were sore, in the same way as you could suffer Occupational Overuse Syndrome by overdoing something you enjoyed.

Alternately, you may have had your jaw wedged open for dental surgery, which could contribute to pain too. Regardless of the reason, too much pressure on your jaw muscles can have many nasty side effects. These include placing pressure on the temporo-mandibular joint, which can cause earaches as well as jaw popping and clicking, while placing pressure on the maxillary sinuses contributes to sinusitis.

Also referred tension from here can lead to neck pain, headaches and nights of clenching and grinding your teeth. All this will leave you feeling worn out and very under the weather.

Choices are you could a/ take a pain killer b/ try and ignore it and just put up with the side effects, or c/ you could try this TBT exercise and get rid of the pain once and for all.

We often work with victims of abuse, whose munching muscles are often sore and locked tight from years of keeping their emotions hidden so, this is one of the first self-care treatments we start with on their road to recovery.

In this article the focus is on releasing the masseter muscle. Next article will be on how to treat the temporalis.

If you only have mild symptoms you will end up with happier cheek muscles and a much bigger smile, and your headaches will be headed to the past. Be warned, if you have most of the above symptoms or you’re coming from a bad emotional space when you start this treatment, disturbing this pain could be unpleasant or even mind-numbing at first. But bear with it, as the results are well worth the discomfort.

Instructions

01 Push your fingers into the middle of both cheeks just below the upper jaw and feel for a difference in tension. In cases where this is a major issue, the muscle here will feel solid like Cheddar cheese and sore to touch. When healthy it should feel soft and flexible, and not hurt to touch. As always with this form of therapy, work on the least tense side first.

02 & 03 Now lie flat on the floor, with the side of the face that’s least sore facing down and your jaw slightly open (just enough for the knuckle of your big finger to fit into your mouth). Extend your arms out, with your hands above your head and palms down. Relax and place a tennis ball directly mid-cheek on the sorest point. Relax all the weight of your head onto the ball for 10 to 15 seconds.

04 Slide your head forwards and backwards over the ball parallel to the floor, rolling it along the cheek towards the ear lobe and back to the start point. 

05 Finally, rotate the head so the ball moves over the cheek in small orbits about the size of a $2 coin. Make sure you get right down onto the lower jaw.

Chris Toal.

www.wellnessatwork.co.nz . www.bodywall.com . www.scarsaway.com

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