Loosening the Masseter

Jenny from Psoas Massage + Bodywork shows us some self-massage
techniques for loosening the masseter, a jaw muscle that can get very
tense from TMJ, grinding teeth and daily wear and tear.

[ImSonnyBurnett]

Long story but true: I had neck issues and went to a quack-a-practor (My first mistake). He adjusted my neck and a a day later, my whole right side went numb/tingling. It was like that for months and started going into atrophy (I was working out a lot then, and you could see the difference between the left and right side of my body). My doctor figured it was a pinched nerve so they sent me to PT. The therapist had me in traction, doing a bunch of different stresses and exercises, etc and could NOT figure out what was going on. The numbness remained. On the final day of therapy (that my insurance would pay for) she said "Let me try something...just go with it". She had me lay on a table and stood at my head. She fish-hooked my mouth, her finger pressing on the masseter muscle from inside my mouth for about two minutes. I can take pain but this was excruciating. I was just about to tell her to stop when she released her finger and asked "How's that?". The numb tingling in my arm was gone. Whenever I have neck pain now, I have my wife fish-hook me. It's our kinky thing. This video is a bit less messy.

[Samthane]

This definitely helped a little. It's neither good nor fun having tense jaw muscles when you're studying for exams. :)

[emmajenko]

This helped. Long term TMJD sufferer. Thankyou

[Aidandur]

Fantastic video. It helped a huge amount for me. My jaw locked up five days ago, with a 2cm opening. Within mins of doing this, it's opening way more. Hopefully in a few days it'll be back to normal. Thanks again for posting.

[gogogadget]

Thanks so much for this video! I had my wisdom teeth removed a week ago, and I've had incessant tension ever since, but I noticed a bit of relief after just three repetitions.

[CryptoCobon]

Holy shit this helped instantly. I usually have bad tension on my right side. it causes sharp pain in my head and vasoconstriction. i did this and felt a brief stab, but i also felt my jaw drop down and in a neutral position. When i tilt my head upward my right side feels like frozen gum trying to stretch. After doing this, my motion feels normal again. Gonna keep doing this/

Thanks!

[painggyipainggyi]

I have big Masseter muscle.Can I lose it by doing this exercise?

[harmonypilobello]

wow. I tried this for the first time and already feel a huge difference. Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel in a week!

[sarahkelly]

I randomly had left lower jew pain and popping and this worked immediately! Thank you guys

[morganthem]

5-10 a day for 5 days, feeling the jaw loosen and flex more easily.

[pangolothian]

My left jaw muscle has been about twice the size of the right side for the last few weeks and it's been causing severe TMJ like symptoms along with ear aches, neck pain, shoulder pain, head aches, and really gnarly jaw pain that radiates through to the chin and the teeth. I had a tooth near the area that was causing sensitivity, so I had to have them extract it (could have filled/crowned it but insurance sucks) so I've been healing the extracted tooth for about 5-6 days now and the symptoms have persisted minus the radiating pain to my chin. Extraction seemed to only assist with the most minor of pains. So I just tried this, and the left jaw muscle went down a little bit. Ibuprofen/Tylenol don't do shit I swear. Did this 8 times with some pretty hard pressure on the jaw muscles and it seems to have given some minor relief. Definitely need to figure out what's going on and diagnose everything properly, but this seemed to give some relief. Thank you. I don't clench or grind my teeth, I just have a bad jaw that pops and clicks nonstop. Left side is much worse than the right.

[forgotmyun]

Is there an aesthetic benefit to this? Mine are a little enlarged, so I was hope by relaxing them they wouldn't be used as much and hopefully shrink. Is that possible?

[morganthem]

day two, jaw feels a little better, keep ya posted.. thank you.

[IJustBelieveInMe]

I clench only one side of my jaw during sleep and after years of this I now have a larger master muscle on that side. It makes my face asymmetric. Would this exercise help reduce the muscle size? If not, are there any things I can do besides Botox? Thanks.

[zoeantoinette]

Omfg this helped my jaw like magic like right away - this isn’t normals for me I was just clenching a lot one day

[morganthem]

I used to be a smoker and my jaw became pretty tense from that, I imagine, and simply being unaware of the tension. I had a strong click on the left side that used to be painful and I could barely open my mouth, an inch maybe without popping. I can definitely feel a change. It's easier to chew and talk and sing. I still have a little click and some tension But I do this stretch every day. Thanks a lot.

[nietzschesmuse]

Hi! Thank you for this jaw muscles massage. Can you please make more videos how to release the mouth the jaw and neck muscles please?

[donsheroddevilla]

Is This good for reducing my Square face to oval? sorry not good in English

[TranscendentalTunes]

This video is extremely useful! Thanks very much

[asaplueiii]

Thank you. I seriously just woke up one day with tmj, and now the one thing in life I look forward too (eating) is ruined for me.but I'll try this out for a while and see how it goes. Again thank you.