135 - Osteopathic Treatment of the Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction: A Novel Protocol

Poster Board Number: 135
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Anastasia Abbott - The University of the Incarnate Word, School of Osteopathic Medicine; Abigail Joy Garcia - The University of the Incarnate Word, School of Osteopathic Medicine; Scott Leggoe - The University of the Incarnate Word, School of Osteopathic Medicine; Earlanda Williams - The University of the Incarnate Word, School of Osteopathic Medicine

Abstract Body : Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) is a common disorder that results in pain, swelling, crepitus, or clicking in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The TMJ is crucial in activities such as mastication and vocalization. Treatment of TMD usually includes lifestyle modifications, dental occlusive devices, behavioral health approaches, pharmacotherapy, and corticosteroid injections into the TMJ. In clinical practice, TMD is rarely addressed with manual therapy, such as osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), even though several studies have shown promising results in treating TMD with manual therapy. This is likely due, in part, to a lack of homogeneity in studies of therapeutic modalities. This novel standardized OMT protocol targets more muscles implicated in TMD than prior OMT studies, such as the masseter, temporalis, pterygoids, and other relevant anatomical structures. Furthermore, this novel protocol will also obtain objective measures of pre- and post-treatment TMJ function using maximal mouth opening and symmetry of masseter neuromuscular activity using electromyography as outcome results.