Jaw or temporomandibular joint pain is often seen after an auto injury, even when there is no one on one injury to the face. The problem can be confusing to health professionals, as, in many cases, the jaw signs or symptoms may not show up right away after the trauma, sometimes developing weeks or even months down the road.
New medical studies over the last 10 years suggests that jaw pain after an auto injury actually originates in the neck.
When your neck is damaged during a crash, the pain signals travel from the vertebrae to your brainstem. There, nerve fibers from many different areas of the body meet together before they travel to the pain centers of your brain.
When these nerves converge, the signals can get mixed up and crossed. It's much like the arm pain felt by someone having a heart attack. The nerve messages from the heart cross with the nerve signals of the arm, and the person feels the discomfort in the arm instead of the actual source.
The nerves of your jaw connect in the neck with pain receptors from your spine. When chronic pain impulses from your injury overstimulate the nerve junctions, you can experience pain in other parts of your head, including your jaw.
And since the jaw is feeling pain, it can cause the muscles in the face to tighten, causing more pain.
Chiropractic adjustments help by helping your body repair the primary injury in the neck, which then helps pain in other parts of your body.
If you have been in an auto collision, Dr. Calantoni is here to help. We can help identify the underlying cause of your pain and develop a treatment plan to help you reclaim your health. We have helped many people in Bridesburg, PA improve from these sorts of problems since 2007 and we might be able to help you!
Call our office today at (215) 743-5330 for an appointment or for more information.
