TMJ Treatment in Bellevue, WA
Jaw pain, clicking, tightness, or that “why does my bite feel weird today?” feeling can be a legit daily obstacle—especially when it starts messing with eating, sleep, or even just talking normally. If you’ve been bouncing between “maybe it’ll pass” and “okay this is annoying,” you’re exactly the kind of person we built our TMJ treatment in Bellevue, WA for.
At True Chiropractic in Bellevue, WA, we take a whole-body approach because the jaw rarely acts up in isolation. Stress patterns, posture, neck tension, and how your body moves as a unit can all influence how the jaw joint and surrounding muscles behave. Our job is to figure out what’s driving your symptoms, explain it in plain language, and build a care plan that supports long-term function—without invasive procedures.
What is TMJ?
TMJ stands for the temporomandibular joint—the small joint on each side of your head that connects your jawbone to your skull. It works with your jaw muscles to help you chew, speak, yawn, and open your mouth smoothly.
When people say “I have TMJ,” they’re usually talking about a TMJ disorder (often called TMD), which means the joint, the surrounding muscles, or the way the jaw moves isn’t working as cleanly as it should. That can show up as pain, stiffness, clicking, or trouble opening wide. Because the jaw sits so close to the ear and links up with the neck and upper back, symptoms can feel local or spread into the face, temples, neck, and shoulders.
Signs and Symptoms
TMJ symptoms can be obvious (like jaw clicking) or sneaky (like headaches that feel “random” until you notice the jaw connection). Some people only feel it while chewing; others feel it most in the morning or during high-stress stretches.
- Jaw pain near the ear or cheek that gets worse with chewing, yawning, or long conversations, then settles with rest and lighter activity.
- Clicking, popping, or grinding sounds when opening or closing the mouth, especially when it comes with soreness, fatigue, or a tight jaw.
- Tight jaw muscles or facial tension that feels like you’ve been clenching all day, even when you haven’t eaten much.
- Stiffness or reduced jaw opening where opening wide feels restricted, pinchy, or uneven compared to how your jaw used to move.
- Jaw locking or catching episodes that make movement feel stuck for a moment, sometimes leaving you anxious about eating or speaking.
- Temple-based tension headaches that flare after clenching, long screen time, or stressful days, and feel like pressure wrapping the sides of your head.
- Neck and shoulder tightness that travels upward or downward, making posture harder to hold and making the jaw feel more guarded.
- A bite that feels “off” like your teeth don’t meet the same way every day, especially during flare-ups when the jaw muscles are irritated.
Common Causes
TMJ issues are usually multi-factorial. There may be a single moment that triggered symptoms, but the background stress often builds over time through movement habits, posture, and tension patterns. The good news: once we identify your drivers, we can take the pressure off the system.
- Clenching or grinding (often during sleep) repeatedly overloads jaw muscles and the joint, even if you don’t notice it happening until soreness shows up.
- Stress and tension patterns can increase jaw tightening, shallow breathing, and muscle guarding, which keeps the area irritated and more reactive.
- Forward-head posture and long “looking down” hours place extra strain through the neck and upper back, changing how jaw muscles coordinate and load.
- Bite changes or recent dental work can shift how force spreads through the jaw, sometimes creating uneven pressure the joint and muscles dislike.
- A big bite or minor jaw trauma (like biting something hard) can irritate the joint and start a cycle of guarding and tightness.
- Overuse habits like gum chewing or nail biting keep the jaw working nonstop, reducing recovery time and making flare-ups easier to trigger.
- General stiffness in the neck and upper back can change how your head sits on your spine, increasing tension through the muscles that influence jaw motion.
What to Expect for TMJ Treatment
When you come to True Chiropractic for TMJ treatment in Bellevue, WA, the first goal is clarity. We start by listening—what you feel, when it flares, what makes it better or worse, and how it affects your day. Then we look at the bigger picture: jaw function, neck mechanics, posture, and movement patterns.
Here’s what the process typically looks like:
- History + symptom mapping: we talk through jaw pain, clicking, locking, headaches, sleep, stress, and habits like clenching or chewing.
- Focused exam: we assess jaw opening/closing, symmetry, tenderness, muscle tightness, and how your neck and upper back are moving.
- Posture and movement review: we check the patterns that commonly feed TMJ stress—especially forward-head posture and upper-body tension.
- Plan built around your findings: care is customized. Some people need more frequent visits early on, then taper as things stabilize.
- Home support: we’ll often recommend simple posture tweaks, breathing strategies, and targeted stretching/strengthening to stop reloading the same patterns.
Long-Term Effects of Ignoring It
TMJ problems aren’t always dangerous, but ignoring ongoing dysfunction can slowly shrink your comfort zone. People often compensate without realizing it—chewing on one side, avoiding certain foods, tightening their neck, or pushing through headaches. Over time, those workarounds can reinforce the very patterns that keep the joint irritated.
- Flare-ups can become more frequent, where normal chewing, yawning, or talking triggers pain faster and takes longer to calm down afterward.
- Jaw mobility may gradually decrease, making big bites, dental visits, or even laughing wide feel stiff, pinchy, and stressful.
- Chronic neck and shoulder tension can build, creating a loop where posture and muscle guarding keep the jaw irritated and reactive.
- Headaches and facial tension may increase, draining energy and focus—especially if clenching becomes your default stress response day to day.
- Chewing sensitivity can linger, nudging you toward softer foods and reducing meal enjoyment over time without you even noticing the gradual shift.
- Compensation patterns may spread, like chewing mostly on one side, which can create new aches and imbalances elsewhere in the upper body.
How Our Chiropractors Help with TMJ
At True Chiropractic, we don’t treat TMJ like it’s “just a jaw thing.” We look at how the jaw, neck, and upper back are working together, because that’s often where the stress loops live. The goal is to improve motion, reduce irritation, and help your nervous system stop running the jaw muscles in “guard mode.”
Depending on your exam findings, care may include:
- Gentle chiropractic adjustments to support healthier movement and mechanics through the neck and upper back, which can influence jaw tension patterns.
- Targeted soft-tissue work for tight jaw, neck, and shoulder muscles—especially the spots that feel like they’re always switched on.
- Jaw-focused mobility guidance to help the joint move more smoothly and reduce that stuck, pinchy, or uneven feeling during opening.
- Posture coaching (very real-world, not preachy) so your daily setup—desk, phone use, driving—stops feeding the same strain cycle.
- Stretching and strengthening recommendations to build stability where you need it, and keep improvements from fading between visits.
Everything is paced to your comfort and designed to be practical for real life.
Book An Appointment
Please use the booking tool below to book an appointment or by calling us on (425) 644-7582
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