TMJ is a common name for Temporomandibular Joint and Muscle Disorders (TMJDs), which refers to a complex and poorly understood set of conditions that can cause pain in the area of the jaw joint and associated muscles and/or problems using the jaw. Both or just one of the TM joints may be affected. TMJDs can affect a person's ability to speak, eat, chew, swallow, make facial expressions, and even breathe.
At Master Kiiko Matsumoto's Newton clinic, there is this one interesting case which is being shared with you in the following.
A forty year old Tony complained of TMJ pain, which started a couple of days after he paid a visit to his dentist. He had been feeling very tired for three years, too.
Upon palpation, several of key acupuncture points around his neck exhibited pressure pain. His right SCM muscle was noticeably larger than his left and His right stylomandibular and mastoid region was also swollen. Fire points on his Triple Warmer channels showed pressure pains. Based on the palpation findings, the Kiiko Matsumoto acupuncture style strategy was applied. That means, Triple Warmer metal/water points were needled. Master Nagano's immune points, oketsu and adrenal treatments were applied.
The pressure pains on Tony's face at Xia-Guan (ST7), Ting-Hui (GB2), and Yifeng (TW17) are part of symptoms of chronic infections and inflammations. This is very common to cause Tony's general fatigue in combination of the sign of pressure pain in his lower left abdomen, a typical oketsu sign.
At this point, Tony's pressure pain signs were significantly reduced. But his TMJ pains were only slightly improved. Manipution on the needle at SP Mu, Zhang-men (LV13) was applied several times. At this point Tony reported that he felt as if something was leaking inside his ear into his throat. Twenty minutes later, Tony's drainage was still going on, he said. But the pain at his nexk and occipital regions was significantly reduced. After Kiiko sensei treated Tony's back on his neck at Tian-Yu (TW16) and Da-Zhui(GV14) plus behind the ear eustachian tube point of Master Kawai's, she checked Tony's spine and inserted needles at both side of his T5 Huato Jiaji points.
Tony reported that after the acupuncture treatment, he experienced drainage of yellow and green mucous into his throat. He said that he used about forty tissues in half an hour. After the yellow and green mucous stopped, he had postnasal dripping of clear mucous throughout the night. The next day, he was completely without symptoms and the welling in his face had completely disappeared.
This case study came from the book "Kiiko Matsumoto's clinical Strategies", Volume I, by Kiiko Matsumoto and David Euler.