Take a Break, Talking Heads: Loosen Up Jaws

WHATEVER THE OUTCOME of Tuesday's election, the winner is bound to emphasize he'll bring change to Washington. Perhaps the candidates don't realize it's already here. But instead of taxes or rebates or regulations, Hyun Martin has her own techniques. "I came to Washington to change the world, and I'm doing it in a spa," says the owner of Bethesda's Be You Bi You Wellness Center and Spa (5602 Shields Drive, 301-493-4911, Beyouspa.com).

Her bipartisan suggestion: Get a jaw massage.

Whether you've been gabbing incessantly on cable news — or at the dinner table — or gritting your teeth as you listened with a forced smile, your jaws have taken a beating over the past few months. And that, my friends, could wear out the muscles that support your temporomandibular joint (TMJ). So, Martin, who hatched the idea to target beleaguered jaws after dating a dentist, designed a 30-minute massage ($80) that targets trigger points on your cranium, neck and mouth. She slips on gloves and dives into your oral cavity, fatiguing the jaw muscles with pressure. "I ask them to clench, and after awhile, they can't clench anymore, so the muscle has to release," she says.

The rubdown ends with a few tips to help people to heal themselves, like blasting your iPod and yelling along to the Rolling Stones. "Open up your jaw and let out all that stuff that you've stuffed in. Otherwise, you keep the emotion in your tissues," Martin says.

If left unattended — say, through an administration or two — jaw issues are no joke. TMJ disorders can lead to all kinds of unpleasantness: headaches, fibromyalgia, cardiac arrhythmias, sleep disorders, tinnitus, lower-back pain and even trouble breathing. Between five and 15 percent of Americans suffer from TMJ disorders, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health. And most of those people are women between the ages of 30 and 50.

"I see plenty of men that do it, too," says Jason Cohen, a dentist in Chevy Chase, Md., who says he treats a lot of impatient lawyers. "They're coming in, and they're already tense. They tend to be the guys that clench or grind."

Chiropractors are also witnessing a spike in jaw clenching and jaw grinding, or, in medical terms, bruxism. "We're seeing a lot more people with TMJ issues, stress-related issues," says John Park, a Rockville chiropractor. "It has to do with all the economic problems we're all facing right now. It is more prevalent nowadays than it was last year at this time." Park also prods jaw muscles as a form of rehab and treats some cases with low-frequency sound waves to increase circulation in the area. Park says he usually sees improvement after four to six weeks.

By Wednesday, some jaws should loosen up a bit on their own. But Cohen, Martin and Park don't expect the busy season to end until sometime around April 15. Not all stresses, after all, are related to politics.

Written by Margaret Foster for Express
Photo courtesy of iStock