Corvallis TMJ Pain and Auto Injury

Jaw pain is a fairly typical condition reported by people after a car wreck, and it can be confusing for some health practitioners to identify the source of the problem. Complicating the matter, many times you won't develop TMJ symptoms until many weeks or months after the accident.

Dr. Lach has helped many individuals with jaw pain after an injury, and the scientific literature explains what triggers these types of symptoms. During a collision, the tissues in your neck are oftentimes stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve injury. This can clearly cause pain in the neck and back, but since your nervous system is one functioning unit, inflammation of the nerves can cause pain in other parts of your body.

For example, with radicular pain, irritation of a nerve can cause prickling or numbness in the arm and hand. Similarly, it can affect parts of your body above the injury, like your head and jaw. Headaches after a collision are very common because of neck injury, and the jaw works the same way. Dr. Lach sees this very commonly in our Corvallis office.

Research Shows Chiropractic Lessens TMJ Pain After an Auto Accident

Research indicates that the source of many jaw or TMJ problems starts in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck injury can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The trick to resolving these symptoms is simple: Dr. Lach will work to return your spinal column back to health, reducing the inflammation, treating the injured areas, and removing the irritation to the nerves in your spine.

Dr. Lach has found that jaw and headache issues often resolve once we restore your spine to its healthy state.

If you reside in Corvallis and you've been hurt in a car crash, Dr. Lach can help. We've been working with auto injury patients since 2002, and we can most likely help you, too. Give our office a call today at (541) 754-1947 for an appointment or consultation.

Ciancaglini R, Testa M, Radaelli G. Association of neck pain with symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction in the general adult population. Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 1999;31:17-22.

Brantingham JW, Cassa TK, Bonnefin D, Pribicevic M, Robb A, et al. Manipulative and multimodal therapy for upper extremity and temporomandibular disorders: a system review. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2013;36(3):143-201.