The influence of cranio-cervical rehabilitation in patients with myofascial temporomandibular pain disorders.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to prove the causality between the craniocervical dysfunction and myofascial pain in the head and neck and to demonstrate the clinical value and usefulness of physiotherapy as one of the therapeutic options for myofascial pain.

METHODS: The group of patients diagnosed with myofascial dysfunctional pain syndrome contained 98 patients out of which 79 patients (81 %) were females and 19 patients (19 %) were males. The majority of the patients were aged between 26 and 35 years; the total age range was 14-77 years with the average of 38 years. Observed patients were subdivided into three groups. Standard therapeutic methods aimed at the temporomandibular joint were provided to the patients of the first group. The second group of the patients received therapy aimed at cervical muscles only. Complex rehabilitation was applied in the third group of patients. The most frequent method used in the evaluation of chronic musculoskeletal pain in clinical studies is the visual analogue scale (VAS).

RESULTS: According to our results, all three groups of patients saw an improvement in pain perception, but the overall subjective remission of painful sensations in the third group took place in as many as 88 % of patients. In this group, there was a significant decrease in the tenderness of trigger points in the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles.

CONCLUSION: It was proved that a combination of simple relaxing and stretching exercises of cervical muscles with a standard method used in the therapy of masticatory muscles is significantly more efficient (Fig. 5, Ref. 18).