The effects of a home exercise program on pain and perceived dysfunction in a woman with TMD: A case study

There are few reports analyzing the effects of exercise on patients with te mporomandibular disorders. This paper presents a case study examining wheth er there were additional benefits from performing neuromuscular control hom e exercises (NMCHE) in a patient with temporomandibular disorder who was al ready receiving conventional treatment. A woman, 41 years of age, completed a health status questionnaire called the TMJ Scale prior to being accepted . She completed additional TMJ Scales after receiving conventional treatmen t and again after conventional treatment was combined with neuromuscular co ntrol home exercises. Based on the TMJ Scale's best subscore indicator of t he presence or absence of a temporomandibular disorder, the patient did rio t derive benefit from conventional treatment without exercise. However, she received a large benefit from the addition of NMCHE. It was concluded that exercises for patients with temporomandibular disorders may be beneficial to those who do not improve with conventional treatment alone.