Here at Blizard Physiotherapy, we are trained to treat any neuromusculoskeletal disorder throughout the body, as although a small number of practitioners do specialise in certain body parts as part of a research post alongside their clinical practice, day-to-day, this cannot be the norm.

This is because the body does not function in isolated areas, and the very fact that ‘everything is attached to everything else’ means that physiotherapists can only be effective if they are able to treat the patient holistically.

Consequently, training in the Maitland Concept does not mean spending a day learning about the knee, half a day on the wrist, or a session on the lower back! It is a concept which provides a clinical framework in which a clinician can think, assess, analyse and treat, and reevaluate a patient’s problem – whatever that may be.

Of course, there are certain things that are particularly pertinent to specific body parts, and this is explored within the context of the Maitland Concept.

Blizard’s Matthew Newton has just returned from teaching Maitland Concept students in Madrid, where the physiotherapy scholars worked on taking these holistic principles and applying them to the jaw joint, otherwise known as the temperomandibular joint (TMJ).

Matthew and his wife, Caroline Hennigan, a fellow Maitland Concept physiotherapist at Blizard’s, have compiled a list of interesting facts related to the jaw joint, with many of them clearly highlighting the importance of taking a ‘whole body’ approach to assessment, diagnosis and treatment, no matter what or where the pain is.

• Your TMJ is the attachment of the lower jaw to the skull, and allows you to talk, eat, chew, bite, sing and yawn.
• An estimated 20-30 percent of the general population are affected by TMJ pain to some degree, with women between the ages of 20 and 40 being most commonly affected.
• The way the TMJ moves is unique – no other joint moves quite like it.
• Your TMJ attaches the jaw to the skull, which attaches to your neck - many of the muscles involved in moving your jaw are also involved in the function of your neck, which means there is a correlation between neck pain and TMJ problems, and vice versa.
• Problems with the TMJ can lead to: face, jaw or ear pain, tooth pain (where a dental cause has been ruled out), difficulty opening the mouth, neck pain, headaches, clicking, popping or crunching within the jaw joint.
• Bruxism is the term for teeth grinding and can have an effect on TMJ problems.

As with other areas of the body, physiotherapists can assess the way the TMJ moves, and work with patients to correct any dysfunction through mobilisation of the joint, suggest exercises to address muscle activity issues, stretches, relaxation techniques and treatment of structures that may be contributing to the problem, like the neck.

The understanding of these problems is achieved through careful communication, detailed history taking and analytical assessment of the findings, and not by scans and medical screening.

This ‘Gold Standard’ method of identifying patients with TMJ disorders means physiotherapists are ideally placed to undertake the care of these patients.