Ow. Oh? Hmmm

I hold a lot of tension in my jaw muscles.

I'm not sure it's quite TMJ but over the year that term has been thrown around.

Randomly, years ago, a massage person I'd tried when my own wasn't available threw on a finger glove and did some massage of my jaw.  It frigging HURT.  Like tears hurt but it was also sort of a relief, but in the years since then I've not ever purposely asked a massage person to work on my jaw.

Until this month.

I was scrolling the interwebs and some lady mentioned that she had just had a buccal massage and that while it had been painful it had also been so relaxing she fell asleep in the massage therapists hands.

I googled "buccal" and it came up as being related to the jaw and for whatever reason(s) it got me thinking maybe I should deal with my own jaw strain and stress (and the fact I have cracked a few teeth from clenching and grinding) and so I made an appointment with a new to me person *specifically* for jaw release massage stuff.  

Fast forward to the appointment and I'm glad I had that initial massage years ago because I knew what was coming.  It hurts.  Like stings kind of hurt but the therapist was good at talking me through what was happening and how long it would be and giving me options.  That helped.

I didn't cry, but I think I teared up a couple of times.  I'm not sure I felt any instant changes and I maybe had a bit of a headache that evening from the release.  But what I *did* notice was when I had to yawn later that day and I swear it was the biggest yawn, open mouth wise, that I have had in years.

So it seems pretty clear that some muscles or something got loosened.  I'm back again this week and then we'll see how things go from there.

So yeah... working on my thumb (wrist) and my jaw.  Small muscles and tendons that can have a huge impact on your physical comfort and mobility!