PHYSICAL THERAPY FOR PATIENTS WITH TMD - A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF TREATMENT, DISABILITY, AND HEALTH-STATUS

The purposes of this study were to compare disabilities and health sta tus associated with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) to other musculo skeletal disorders, to describe the types of physical therapy administ ered to patients with TMD, and to evaluate health-related qualify of l ife (HRQOL) as an index of clinical change following physical therapy treatment. Outcomes for 56 patients (mean age 40 years, SD 13 years; 8 9% female) were evaluated from a large database generated by the Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes network. A generic assessment of HRQOL-the Me dical Outcomes Study (MOS) 17-was used to evaluate the physical and me ntal aspects of disability associated with TMD, and the results were c ompared descriptively to three groups of patients with different cervi cal pain syndromes. The results showed that patients with TMD had limi tations in social function, emotional well-being, and energy level sim ilar to patients with cervical disorders. Physical function (ie, walki ng, carrying loads, or lifting), however; was much more limited in cer vical disorder i patients and bodily pain interfered more with daily w ork. Large positive effect sizes (> 0.80) in the areas of social funct ion and bodily pain indicated clinical improvement for patients with T MD at the completion of physical therapy. The results suggest that the MOS-17 may be useful as one measure of clinical change for patients w ith TMD who receive physical therapy.