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Summary: This is a well written, concise guide for TMJ sufferers.
Review: Dr. Uppgaard has given us a blueprint for the conservative treatment of TMD and related conditions. I give this book to all of my TMD patients.
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Summary: Uppgaard's "Taking Control of TMJ" was a revelation for me.
Review: He accurately described and diagnosed the cause of the muscle pain I had been experiencing for over a year. The techniques and knowledge I have gained from reading his book have been a tremendous help and will continue to be so in the future. Thank you Dr. Upggaard!
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Summary: Complex, common conditions made understandable for selfhelp
Review: I am "Cheryl" in chapter 2--you can really use this information to your advantage--I still use many of control ideas every day. With awareness and follow-through comes relief and even prevention for reoccuring problems. You may not remove the cause but have better control of results
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Summary: TMJ and Vision
Review: I came upon this book in a very roundabout way ---- during the process of improving my vision by natural means of all things. What could eyesight and the TMJ possibly have in common? In my case, a great deal I was to discover. When I first started improving my vision naturally, I thought it was only about the eyes and did not appreciate the whole health aspect. I was in for many surprises and some confusion when I eventually began having referred pain and sensations in areas seemingly unconnected to the eyes. It didn't initially dawn on me that there was any relationship between these symptoms and my improving eyesight. Then I began to wonder, could there be a connection? I studied several books on natural vision improvement (Relearning to See --- RTS for short - and Better Eyesight are highly recommended) which made reference to blurred vision causing tight muscles and problems in many other areas of the body. Muscle groups affected can include such areas as the neck, shoulders, jaw, ears, cheeks and forehead. It soon became abundantly obvious that the symptoms I had been experiencing fit the reversal pattern of holistic healing. Suggestions were made in the RTS book to try some holistic healing treatments in conjunction with relearning the proper vision habits. One of several mentioned was TMJ treatment, yet the term had no significance to me at the time. Because of my neck and shoulder stiffness and pains, I opted for massage therapy sessions and obtained significant tension releases which the therapist also noticed. It turned out that the type of massage was myofascial release. I was intrigued to learn more on the Internet when I got home. The many website results that came up in my search about myofascial release were in relation to TMJ disorders. There was that term again. Bingo! It was like a piece of a puzzle falling into place. I chose to buy Dr. Uppgaard's book to find out more. I was amazed to read so many parallels and similar topics in Dr. Uppgaard's book and the RTS book. Both authors discuss such subjects as the impact of mental stress, neck and shoulder problems, the ears and hearing, dizziness, proper breathing, referred pain, the importance of good posture and the benefits of holistic healing treatments. But what really jumped off the pages in Dr. Uppgaard's book were references to certain neck muscles that, if tense, could cause "visual disturbances and blurring of vision". The RTS book states that "the neck is tight for all people who have blurred vision." The sternocleidomastoid muscle described on page 50 of Dr. Uppgaard's book has had such a strong connection with my improving vision. I've gotten to the stage where I can massage areas in this muscle to release tension (trigger points as discussed in his book) and cause spasm-like sensations in and around my eyes, ears, jaw and cheeks. Looking back many years ago, I believe now that my dentist had at one time suspected a TMJ disorder. I recall him checking the TMJ on both sides and asking some questions. Based on my responses, I guess I didn't fit into the slot of standard symptoms for which he was trained to assess, because nothing further was suggested. Yet when I got Dr. Uppgaard's book, I checked off so many symptoms, presumably lesser known to many and unknown to most. What started as a goal of keener eyesight has ultimately led to improved overall health. I applaud Dr. Uppgaard for going "outside the box" of conventional medical views. His book has been a very educational and helpful resource along my journey of natural vision improvement and total wellness.
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Summary: "Do it Yourself" help for the desperate
Review: I had never heard of TMJ until late February 04. After years of predictable middle America life, things went crazy for me in 2003. Both my parents died after long painful illnesses (where I was the care giver), my company hired a hatchet man to reduce costs, and he outsourced all our jobs to India (George Bush thinks this is a good thing? That shows how out of touch he is with the actual working class in this country!), my daughter was in a car accident, my husband needed knee surgery, and my dog died! (I know that in retrospect, it all starts to make me want to laugh, just the sheer negativity of it all). Evidently, I began clenching and grinding my teeth, so my dentist gave me a mouth guard. Ironically, this CAUSED TMJ symptoms! A week after using the mouth guard, my jaw began to pop. To her credit, my dentist determined this was caused by an improperly designed mouth guard so we agreed I would stop using it. However, symptoms escalated (even without the mouth guard) to jaw pain, popping and tension that did not allow me to eat anything more solid than oatmeal!
I could only open my mouth the width of 1 finger. My local doctor knew nothing about TMJ. At this point, my dentist also washed her hands of the situation and said she referred such cases to a specialist. The problem for me is that I was in transition, moving from one part of the USA to another area almost 1000 miles away. I did not have time to establish a relationship with a TMJ specialist in my old neighborhood. I felt totally on my own! As those with TMJ know, 1 day can seem like an eternity in such a case. So what does the modern person do in such cases? If they are like me, they surf the internet for help! I came to Amazon.com and searched for books on TMJ, and found this book. Upon receipt, I read the doctor's holistic approach (including general body muscle releasing exercises, e.g., I am doing Yoga each day via a video tape by Peggy Cappy). Perhaps more importantly, I did the deceptively simple exercises at least twice a day, and made part of my ongoing life his directive on letting the tongue help me establish a new habit to break the clenching/grinding insanity that probably precipitated TMJ. Results? I still have to be wary of not abusing my jaw. I no longer eat nuts, hard pretzyls, hard candies, or even steak. However, I am able to eat normal food again without experiencing pain or popping. I can open my mouth up to 3 fingers in width (which the doctor considers the norm). I do the doctor's exercises every single day, even if my jaw feels normal. I apply a heat pad 2 times a day. I am more conscious of my body's stress reactions, e.g., on days when a part of me is frightened or tense (now living in a totally new city with a new climate), I know I must be more kind to my jaw and not over tax it. Will I have to live with TMJ forever? Perhaps...but what I hope to achieve is a benign relationship. Right now most of the symptoms are gone, and so our relationship consists of me continuing with the preventive exercises in the doctor's book and being aware of my stress level and what I am sticking in my mouth! Bye the book. You cannot fail for the price.
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Summary: More MD's, DO's and DC's Should Read This Book!
Review: I have been treating TMD for almost ten years and now have a book that is worth its weight in gold, for both patients and my sometimes uninformed and too busy colleagues in medicine. I am a chiropractic physician, treating the moving parts of the body and their soft tissue (i.e. muscles, ligaments, cartilage) attachments and connections. Many of my colleagues in chiropractic, osteopathic and allopathic medicine, unfortunately, do not know how to properly diagnose or treat this condition. This book would be useful to fellow professionals as well as laypersons. TMD is real, and poorly understood by many. Uppgaard does us a favor, too, by discussing TMD and whiplash injuries. Clearly a hot debate in the medical and engineering literature, even the national auto insurance industry admits that TMJ injuries occur at least 4% of the time. My guess, based on ten years experience treating motor vehicle collision (MVC) injuries is that the TMJ is injured closer to 50% of the time. In any case, arguments such as "the TMJ cannot be injured in MVC" are clearly ridiculous based just on the epidemiological literature. Further, the methods used to investigate injury to the TMJ in human volunteer auto crash testing are still inadequate, still insensitive. An analogy would be to perform an MRI of the cervical spine in a patient after a car crash, getting a positive study showing a mildly herniated disc, only to find out during surgery (I referred the patient due to lack of treatment response after FOUR weeks, the federal and state standard for chiropractic medicine) that the disc is SEVERELY herniated, that two other disc "bulges" are in fact disc ruptures, and that there is severe damage to the posterior longitudinal ligament, facet capsular ligaments and interspinous ligaments. In plain English, the MRI is mostly a very INSENSITIVE test for seeing damage to ligaments other than the discs, even though it is often OVERVALUED by physicians, patients, and researchers studying MVC. And what you really have in this example is a grossly false negative study (see studies in Medline like those by Taylor et al. looking at autopsy studies of the spines of MVC victims who died of natural causes within days after their crashes). So if your physician isn't looking for TMJ sprain-strain or dysfunction after a MVC, he or she isn't going to find it (and if your physician that day is an insurance company doctor, this could be the case, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?). And just because your doctor doesn't find a TMD or doesn't talk about it with you, or more commonly, doesn't WANT to talk about it with you (is embarrassed to say "I don't know", a common, arrogant, and too often devastating mistake), that doesn't mean your TMJ hasn't been injured. Bravo for Dr. Uppgaard for bringing this common injury and condition to the masses. It provides a refreshing alternative to misguided books like one by Ferrari ("The Whiplash Encyclopedia") which denies TMD from whiplash, is biased, and which is hardly encyclopedic. I would encourage both patients and their doctors to read Dr. Uppgaard's very useful book!
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Summary: More MD's, DO's and DC's Should Read This Book!
Review: I started the exercises in this book (very simple to do) and noticed a big improvement in the symptoms I had with TMJ. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Exercises made a big difference
Review: I started the exercises in this book (very simple to do) and noticed a big improvement in the symptoms I had with TMJ. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: a non-invasive cure
Review: I was diagnosed with TMJ many years ago. For the past year I have been battling with numb fingers. After many tests, much time, and a lot of money - an accidental visit to my dentist helped to show TMJ was affecting my fingers. I had never heard of that happening. This book not only lists every possible symptom, but exercises that are extremely helpful. After reading the book for about 15 minutes, I tried the first exercise. My jaw felt immediate relief. I am very grateful for this book. It will certainly help in relieving pain and discomfort.
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Summary: Thank you for writing this Book!
Review: I was diagnosed with TMJ many years ago. For the past year I have been battling with numb fingers. After many tests, much time, and a lot of money - an accidental visit to my dentist helped to show TMJ was affecting my fingers. I had never heard of that happening. This book not only lists every possible symptom, but exercises that are extremely helpful. After reading the book for about 15 minutes, I tried the first exercise. My jaw felt immediate relief. I am very grateful for this book. It will certainly help in relieving pain and discomfort.
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