Trending Wellness Topic: Jaw Release
tools for jaw release in the treatment room.
Something that I get asked a lot is “is there anything I can do to relieve my jaw soreness?”
Factors like stress, grinding your teeth, and looking at a computer/tablet screen for long periods of time can create tension in your jaw muscles. Jaw muscle tightness can cause pain, discomfort, and lack of mobility in our jaw area.
Something else that tight and tense jaw muscles can burden us with is slight sagging in our jowl area and lower face. When the jaw muscles and joints on the sides of our face are locked up or super tight it creates tension in our face that pulls everything downward. Releasing and loosening these tight muscles and joints gives your facial tissues, the jowl lines especially, a bit of a lift.
So let’s release those tight jaw muscles and get our lift on!
Releasing the jaw & facial muscles.
The muscles and joints listed below are what we want to focus on for jaw release. Relieving muscle and joint tightness is going to be helpful for alleviating pain/discomfort as well as giving you that lift we are looking for.
scrub me secret: hydrating our bodies with enough daily water is helpful for alleviating muscle tightness. proper hydration provides our body with what it needs to keep the muscles and joints stay lubricated and not stiff. see my blog post “does drinking water help our skin?” for more helpful hydration info.
Masseter:
The masseter muscle is a large muscle of the jaw that is located on both sides of our face. This muscle is used during chewing and to open and close the mouth. Jaw clenching and teeth grinding are habits that commonly cause this muscle to be super tight and tender.
How to massage this area:
This area can be released by massaging tight feeling areas of the muscle in circular motions using your fingers and deep pressure. You can also apply facial oil and use a gua sha stone to glide along this muscle using firm/deep pressure. I would suggest a combination of both massage techniques for the best results. Massage with your fingertips using circular motions and then glide over the area with a gua sha stone.
Gua sha massage or buccal facial massage from a professional is also a great way to loosen this muscle.
scrub me secret: at scrub me skin care studio the masseter is a muscle that I target and loosen during gua sha massage. I release this muscle for my clients so they can feel super relaxed and it also helps me get a better lifting result from the facial massage I’m performing.
Temporomandibular joints:
The temporomandibular joints, better known as TMJ, are located on either side of our face, right near the ear lobe. These joints, just like your masseter aid in moving your jaw open and closed as well as chewing. These joints are used a lot and endure quite a bit of stress, especially when we are stressed. Clenching, as well as teething grinding, plus overall joint wear can cause this joint to become inflamed or lock up.
How to massage this area:
Since the temporomandibular joints are joints and not muscles a simple pressure point release is more helpful than massaging. Locate this joint on either side of your face by feeling around with your fingers and find the tight or tender area right around where your jaw opens and closes. When you’ve located this area apply firm pressure and ever so slightly move your finger around in a circle while applying pressure. Release your pressure and then massage this point again doing the same thing. You’ll want to do this 3-5x on each side. For a deeper release, you can use a gua sha wand or reflexology wand. I use tools like this for my clients and myself.
scrub me secret: TMJ disorder is a super common problem that many people encounter. This is when the TMJ (temporomandibular joints) have chronic pain and inflammation. This is usually brought on by stress or lifestyle habits. Releasing the TMJs with the pressure point moves, acupressure wand, or gua sha wand is a really effective way to treat TMJ disorder.
Platysma:
The platysma is a broad muscle that spans from the lower chin, down the neck, and across the decolletage. I learned a bit about this muscle during my facial gua sha training. Because this muscle covers underneath the jaw and front of the neck it does often get tense and tight. It is important to massage and relax this muscle tissue because if there is a lot of tension here is can pull your chin downward. This slight downward pull or tilt of the head and neck can result in a lack of jawline definition and sagging in the lower chin area as well as the neck.
How to massage this area:
This area can be stretched a loosened from upward massage movements using facial oil, a gua sha stone, and/or your hands. Apply a small amount of facial oil and then stroke upwards with your hands or the long edge of a gua sha stone. Do this 3-6x over each section of your platysma. You can also tilt your head back and look upward for 20-30 seconds to stretch and relax this muscle. There are also a lot of great facial yoga exercises that focus on the platysma muscle; The Skinny Confidential has some good ones in her newest book “Get the F*ck out of the Sun”
scrub me secret: if you’re interested in learning more about what lifestyle habits cause our face/neck to sag and wrinkle, you can read my previous blog post “Daily habits that cause our neck to crease and sag”.
You’re now ready to start the release and relaxation! You can perform any of these facial muscle releases on yourself daily. I love that so much of esthetics and skincare are closely corrected to overall wellness; facial massage and pressure point massage to release these muscles will relieve stress and discomfort as well as help us look more youthful. If you’d like to sit back, relax and have me do the jaw muscle and pressure point massage for you come to visit me at my skin care studio in Chicago!