Each day, countless Americans endure chronic pain associated with TMJ disorder. To ease their discomfort, many rely on over-the-counter prescription medications or alternative remedies that usually prove ineffective. That said, new research suggests that a simple change of perspective could be enough to make chronic pain more tolerable.
Getting Used to Pain
An Italian study indicates that people may have an easier time tolerating pain if they can somehow convince themselves to look at their discomfort from a different perspective. In conducting their study, researchers took 45 healthy participants and split them into “positive” and “negative” groups. All subjects received artificially-induced ischemic pain; however, participants in the so-called positive group were told that the pain would offer benefits to their muscular tissue.
Ultimately, subjects in the positive group demonstrated the ability to withstand pain better than participants in the negative group. Based on the study’s results, the researchers speculated that people may be better able to tolerate chronic pain if they can somehow change the way they think about it.
Being Realistic about TMJ Pain
Unfortunately, people who endure chronic TMJ pain understand that no good can come from their discomfort. Instead of trying to fool themselves into believing they should tolerate their TMJ symptoms; patients need actual TMJ relief that will focus on the source of the problem: a bad bite.
TMJ treatments such as orthotics and reconstructive procedures can relieve temporomandibular joint disorder by correcting your bite. That said, your TMJ symptoms will persist unless you decide to reach out for help.
Don’t continue to endure day after day of needless pain, when you can get an effective treatment by picking up the phone. To find out how neuromuscular dentistry can cure your TMJ, contact our office today.
