Premium
Mouth‐opening Exercises Produce a Decrease in Pain Perception in Patients with Disk Displacement with Reduction
Author(s) -
Kashima Koji,
Yokota Rie,
Iino Mikiko,
Hamasuna Yu,
Igawa Kaori,
Sakoda Sumio
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
oral science international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.256
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1881-4204
pISSN - 1348-8643
DOI - 10.1016/s1348-8643(09)80014-1
Subject(s) - medicine , sensation , threshold of pain , forearm , sensory threshold , nociception , reduction (mathematics) , anesthesia , analgesic , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , surgery , psychology , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience , receptor , cognitive science
This study was intended to determine whether mouth‐opening exercise reduces pain sensitivity in remote regions as well as in the trigeminal region. Seven female subjects with disk displacement with reduction were asked to perform a three‐minute repetitive mouth opening and closing exercise (exercise A) and a three‐minute continuous mouth opening exercise (exercise B) on two separate days. Sensory/nociceptive perception thresholds were measured at the point over the right masseter and the skin overlying the volar aspect of the right forearm immediately after exercises A and B, and were compared to data in which no exercise was performed (baseline). Significant elevation in the heat‐induced pain threshold was seen as a result of both exercises in the cervical region and in the trigeminal region. Also, a significant elevation in the cold‐induced pain threshold was seen after exercise B in the cervical region. Further, there was a tendency toward a higher warm sensation threshold after exercise A in the cervical region. These results indicate that mouth opening training produces non‐segmental analgesic effects mediated by C fiber and Adelta fiber.