What is TMJ Therapy®

 

 

What Is TMJ Therapy®?

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TMJ Therapy® is a gentle, non-medical soft-tissue approach focused on easing tension in the jaw, face, head, neck and surrounding areas. It brings together elements of external massage, intra-oral soft-tissue work, fascial techniques, and mindful movement to help calm the muscular system and support a greater sense of ease.

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What TMJ Therapy® Aims to Provide

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Clients frequently seek this approach for support with:

general jaw tightness

stress-related clenching or bruxism habits

facial or neck muscular discomfort

tension patterns linked to posture or daily habits

improving awareness and relaxation

Sessions are adapted to each client’s comfort levels and may include self-care suggestions to use at home between appointments.

 

How It Works

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TMJ Therapy® focuses on:

gentle soft-tissue work to help ease muscular tightness

supporting mindful breathing and relaxation

encouraging healthier movement, posture and habits

helping clients understand patterns that may contribute to discomfort

These methods are intended to support overall wellbeing and are not a replacement for clinical or medical treatment.

 

What TMJ Therapy® Does NOT Do

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TMJ Therapy® does not diagnose TMJ disorders or any medical condition.

TMJ Therapy® does not treat joint displacement, disc issues, degenerative conditions, nerve problems, dental conditions

It should always be used alongside conventional medical/dental advice where needed.

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Who It May Be Suitable For

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TMJ Therapy® can be appropriate for people seeking a gentle complementary approach to:

everyday jaw tension

muscular tightness from stress or posture

developing healthy habits around movement and awareness

Clients with persistent or unexplained symptoms are encouraged to consult a GP or dental clinician.

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Self-Care and Education

Alongside one-to-one sessions, we also offer self-care learning resources. These are designed to help you understand common patterns of jaw tension and explore gentle exercises, breathwork, and daily habits that may support comfort between sessions.

These resources are for general wellbeing only and are not a substitute for personalised clinical or medical assessment.

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Purchase our 

TMJ Therapy® Self Care Programme

After purchase you will be directed to contact one of our qualified therapists for a complimentary consultation to determine your suitability for the self help program.

You will then be given guidance on how to access and use your TMJ Therapy® Self Care Video Course

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(total value £300) for a limited period of time for just £99

Click here to read more and to buy

 

Alternatively for in person consultation visit our Find A Therapist Page and view our Professional Register of TMJ Therapists® and Practitioners today!

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What is TMJ Therapy®?

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A 2024 Meta-Analysis of the Global Prevalence of Temporomandibular Disorders estimated that 34% or 1 in 3 people have TMJD. (1)

However many people have this condition without knowing it. Symptoms are wide and varied. It may be difficult to receive a definitive diagnosis. Some may have it for many years without knowing. 

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In 2000, after qualifying in massage, and with almost 20 years experience as a qualified RDN, Tracey Kiernan combined her knowledge of soft tissue work and experience as a dental nurse to create her TMJ Therapy® protocol.

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Treating clients on referral from her dental surgeon, Tracey developed and refined her work over years of clinical practice. In 2005 she wrote her first 1 day introductory training course and the rest as they say is history.

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Since then, her treatment protocol has been taught to hundreds of therapists in the UK, Ireland, Europe, USA and Australia 

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This gentle, soft tissue approach has been helping people for over 25 years.

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The protocol is made up of a blend of soft tissue bodywork techniques, developed by Tracey in clinical practice. 

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As her knowledge and experience grew she began to understand the impact of the TMJ on the rest of the body.(1)

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With this in mind she developed her protocol further so that TMJ Therapists® are trained in a range of effective massage and other advanced soft tissue techniques aimed at addressing not just the TMJ but the body as a whole.​​

 

Qualifications:Tracey qualified as a Dental Nurse in 1993 and holds the highest qualification in clinical massage available in the UK today BTEC Level 6 Diploma in Advanced Clinical & Sports Massage. 

With over 25 years experience in teh massage industry Tracey also holds an extensive list of qualifications in a wide range of soft tossue approaches.

She is a qualified teacher graduating from UCLAN with the Certficate in Education in 2011​

 

 

 

Want a face to face consultation?Visit Our Find a Therapist page to help you find a TMJ Therapy® practitioner near you.Please note the register is being updated on a regular basis. If you cannot find someone in your area, consider purchasing the online self help course and you will be put into touch with a therapist who can work with you online over zoom. 

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Are you a Bodywork Therapist or

Dental Professional who would like to work in this field of bodywork?

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The Advanced Diploma in TMJ Therapy® is an in depth ONLINE and optional in person professional training event suitable for both experienced bodyworkers, dental professonals and allied health professionals.

 

This fully accredited and insurable qualification is open to anyone who would like to learn how to help those with TMJ. Recognised by professional organisations including the Federation Of Holistic Therapists (FHT) and insurers including:

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Why A Full Body Approach To Treatment?

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In his book Anatomy Trains Tom Myers tells us that direct fascial lines connect the TMJ through the deep front line.

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James Earls, respected author, and co-author with Tom Myers ( Born to Walk, Fascial Release For Structural Balance) global teacher (Anatomy Trains, Born to Walk) and fascial expert contributed the following in a full article on the importance of the TMJ written for Tracey in 2018:

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“There are many obvious indicators to work in the area, the obvious being the common TMJ disorders but the jaw’s links to other areas may give it an extra importance for those with neck, shoulder, pelvic and lower limb issues.

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Tensions can be carried up and down the body – jaw issues

can reflect down to the foot and vice versa. Without an

obvious indicator as to the origin of an issue, it can be difficult to be conclusive on who instigated the problem.”

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Joanne Avison, Author and founding member of the Biotensegrity Interest Group wrote in an article especially for Tracey at the BFS in 2018 on this subject stating:

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“There are many reflections between the arrangement of the pelvic girdle, the shoulder girdle and the cranium. These links include (and are not limited to) all the lateral diaphragms (pelvic floor, respiratory diaphragm, thoracic inlet, floor of the mouth and palette).

 

When seeing from a biotensegrity point of view, knowing that everything is connected continuously throughout our form, we begin to understand that any dysfunction in one closed kinematic chain can cause (or be caused by) another area of the body (apparently remote) in a compensatory structural pattern, given their interconnected relationships.

 

In order to self-organise from the ground up and manage the forces being transmitted through all the connective tissues, movement is calibrated throughout the body and Biotensegrity is very helpful in explaining how economically those forces are distributed. When a joint, such as the TMJ is not functioning optimally, it can be a response to (or a cause of) a corresponding disorganisation elsewhere; such as the shoulder or pelvic girdles, since they are all so profoundly related from the globally organised model that Biotensegrity offers.”

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Joanne Avison

Author: YOGA: Fascia, Anatomy & Movement, Handspring 2015 Member of Founding Biotensegrity Interest Group

KMI, CTK, E-RYT500, C-IAYT, CMED

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Further Reading: Joanne also cites the following work by Graham Scarr:

(Graham Scarr, CBiol., FRSB., DO, Helen Harrison, BDS., MFGDP Resolving the problems and controversies surrounding tempero-mandibular mechanics Journal of Applied

Biomedicine http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jab. 2016.03.003 Volume 14, Issue 3, August 2016, Pages 177-185.

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Scienctific articles:

(1) A Meta-Analysis of the Global Prevalence of Temporomandibular Disorders

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10931584/

(2) Relationship between temporomandibular disorders, widespread palpation tenderness, and multiple pain conditions: a case-control study

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23031401/

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