TEMPORAL MANDIBULAR JOINT (TMJ) & ENHANCED PERFORMANCE IN SPORTS
February 8, 2017
I grew up in a family with my Father, Uncle and Brother all being Dentist and one of my best friends for many years is also a Dentist. I have a “Dental Posse”. I don’t know if I have been blessed or cursed……………..not many people like going to the Dentist J! However, over the years I have worked with many patients with various muscular issues because of my personal connections with the Dentist in my life. I have had patients with Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder that directly affect facial tissue, such as; the Masseter muscle (cheek muscles on both sides of the face, which is responsible for chewing). I have worked with many TMJ patients with moderate to severe facial pain. In addition to working with patients with facial pain, I have been fortunate to work with Professional Athletes who need to wear a mouth guard for protection for their teeth due to the close contact sport they participate in, such as: Football, Boxing, Basketball and Hockey.
Now over the years there has been many scientific studies discussing the relationship between the “enhances performance” and TMJ alignment. Below are links to two opposing studies and a You Tube video, for your review.
http://www.jospt.org/doi/pdf/10.2519/jospt.1986.7.5.236?code=jospt-site
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9110627
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-W_Gld5f7o
A few years ago, while working with a client who is an MBA basketball player I notice he was missing a mandibular lateral incisor on the right side of his mouth.
Mandibular lateral incisors of permanent and primary teeth marked in red.
I asked him how he lost his tooth. “My Player” told me his Dentist performed an extraction because he needs to have a crown made. I asked him if he wore a mouth guard and he said that he did wear a mouth guard for practice and during all games. I asked him if his Dentist made him a new mouth guard since he is now missing a tooth and he said NO. Knowing that he had a game the following day, I advised him not to wear his mouth guard. I explained that the mouth guard would not fit properly with the space created by having his tooth extracted and that he would experience fatigue during the game, because there is a direct correlation between his bite and muscle strength/endurance. The minimal difference in the fit of his mouth guard would not allow his bite to stabilize needed muscle contraction in certain muscle groups and thus cause other muscles to over use themselves and create fatigue.
This is the part of my story where being surrounded by so many Dentist for a life time comes in handy! I have learned, from my “Dental Posse”, that when we bite down the Temporal Mandibular Joint (being one of the strongest joints in the human body) can positively affect our strength/endurance by 20%. Now we have all had an experience where you must lift an object, such as a couch you want to move from one side of the room to another, when you go to lift, you involuntarily bite down – Why is that? Our body is made to work as a unit and it is impossible to activate specific muscles in isolation. Also, clenching your teeth stabilizes your head, neck and upper body. This prepared muscle contraction alerts the muscles fibers that effort is going to be required for immediate action.
At the time, I wasn’t quite sure weather “My Player” was going to heed my advice or not. I did tell him he should have a mouth guard made before the following night’s game and then have another mouth guard made after the crown was put in place. This would ensure his performance would stay consistent until his dental work was complete.
The next evening I watched “My Player’s” basketball game, as I usually do with all the professional athletes I work with. Watching athletes work, allows me to analyze nuances of their movement that help me provide the best care for them. I didn’t notice anything unusual in his play that evening but at about 11pm that evening I got a phone call. When I answered the phone, I heard a hysterical MBA basketball player shouting with surprise in his voice: “You were Right”, “You were Right”! “In the 1st quarter of the game, my legs felt like they were going to collapse, I had no strength, I had to come off the court and sit down, I was so tired”. I took the mouth guard out and I’m never using a mouth guard again.” He stated, after he rested he went back on court without the mouth guard. I again tried to tell him he just needed to get a mouth guard that was fitted appropriately for the condition of his mouth now with the missing tooth. Then he need a new one fitted for when the crown was in place. He was so freaked out by the fatigue experience that he never, and I mean for the rest of his career, never used a mouth guard again.
In closing, the three links to articles & the You Tube video may have you, the reader of this blog, questioning the viability of the science. Yet my experience having a “Posse of Dentists” & with being a Sports Massage Therapist for many professional athletes, especially one who has always been very aware of his abilities, there is a direct relationship between TMJ alignment and enhanced Sport Performance.