What happens at a massage therapy session for temporomandibular joint disorder?

Stretching: The muscles that surround the TMJ joint are used for chewing so they're very strong and often get too tight. The therapist will massage these facial muscles and gently stretch them to loosen them up, relieving pressure on the joint. They may also use heat and ultrasound to help.

TMJ muscle pain: Sometimes pain in the region of your temporomandibular joint is not in the joint, but a muscle spasm in the pterygoid or masseter muscles or your cheek. The pt will attempt to release the muscle tightness. Have you had an x-ray to look at the joint itself?

Massage: The muscles around the joint are massaged. Hopefully working out muscles spasm. Likely muscles are pretreated with moist heat.