Introduction: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are the second most common cause of chronic pain in the human musculoskeletal system. The triad of symptoms of TMD includes: pain within the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), limitation of its mobility and capitations. The aim of the study was to present the methods of physiotherapy and to assess its effectiveness in patients with hypomobility of temporomandibular joints.
Material and methods: 44 patients (40.2 ± 10.6 years) were examined for signs of TMD using the Manual Functional Analysis of masticatory system (MFA) questionnaire due to DC/TMD. In the above group, 20 patients showed hypomobility of TMJs and myofascial pain. They underwent a 3-week physiotherapy consisting of manual therapy and exercises. In the study group, linear measurements of TMJs mobility and palpation of selected masticatory muscles were performed. Pain was assessed before and after 3 weeks of therapy according to Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). Statistical processing of the data was done with STATISTICA 13 and was conducted considering significance at a p-value <0.05.
Results: Significant improvement in TMJ's mobility, which increased on average by 6.6 mm (p = 0.0005) and reducing of pain, a decrease of 3 points on average on the NRS Scale (p = 0.00002) were achieved.
Conclusions: The applied physiotherapy algorithm, including manual therapy and exercises of masticatory muscles, is effective in the case of improvement TMJ's range of motion and reduction of pain in patients with hypomobility of TMJ's.
Keywords: temporomandibular joint disorders; hypomobility of temporomandibular joints; physiotherapy; rehabilitation.