Influence of masticatory muscle pain on electromyographic activities of cervical muscles in patients with myogenous temporomandibular disorders

Abstract

The present study tested the hypothesis that the resting electromyographic (EMG) activities of sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles of myogenous temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients would be significantly greater than healthy individuals. Eight masticatory muscle pain patients without disc interference disorders (DID) and 30 patients with DID along with 41 matched control subjects were included in the study. The resting EMG activities of sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles were recorded with a portable EMG machine. Pain intensities described over the muscles were recorded with a 100 mm visual analogue scale. The two groups of patients had significantly higher resting activities compared with control subjects. Patients (in both groups) who had pain in sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles reported significantly higher resting activities in the respective muscles than patients who were free of pain and the controls. The presence of pain over the examined muscles showed significant association with the myogenous TMDs without DID. The observed association of the cervical muscles with myogenous TMDs is expected to be a result of functional link between masticatory and cervical muscles. The present findings suggest that the myogenous TMDs without DID could be a distinct sub-group that can be a part of broader regional or generalized diseased entity.

Cervical spine dysfunction signs and symptoms in individuals with temporomandibular disorder

“…In a recent study, the authors reported association between pain in the masticatory and trapezius and sternocleidomastoideus muscles in subjects with myogenic TMD (29) . Additionally, among the cervical signs and symptoms that accompany the TMD severity, the pain during palpation of cervical muscles was the most important in this association (1) .…”

Influence of craniomandibular and cervical pain on the activity of masticatory muscles in individuals with Temporomandibular Disorder

“…The relationship between the stomatognathic and craniocervical systems was shown by the interplay between the masticatory and cervical muscles (5,6) . Patients with TMD, besides having pain in the craniomandibular region, also present more neck pain (7) .…”

“…Some studies (5,7,9,10) have shown that patients with TMD, compared to asymptomatic patients, showed alterations in the activity of the masticatory muscles during chewing. However, the cited studies are not conclusive.…”

Terapia com placa oclusal com e sem guias anteriores de desoclusão em pacientes com disfunção temporomandibular e zumbido subjetivo

“…Isso foi necessário devido a alguns relatos na literatura da existência de diferenças na atividade EMG entre pacientes com DTM e sujeitos assintomáticos. Alguns estudos têm encontrado em pacientes com DTM quando comparados com controles assintomáticos uma menor atividade eletromiográfica em apertamento (VISSER et al, 1994;PINHO et al, 2000;CHANDU et al, 2004) e uma mais alta atividade EMG em repouso (GLAROS, PINHO et al, 2000;SUVINEN et al, 2003;CHANDU et al, 2004), e ainda tem sido relatado um aumento da atividade postural nos músculos esternocleidomastóideo e trapézio (PALLEGAMA et al, 2004).…”

“…Em um estudo, Pallegama et al (2004) observaram em pacientes com dor nos músculos mastigatórios sem desordens da ATM e em pacientes com interferencia do disco na ATM, aumento das atividades postural nos músculos esternocleidomastóideo e trapézio quando comparado com controles assintomáticos. Os autores verificaram também a presença de dor nos músculos examinados (esternocleidomastóideo e trapézio) demonstrando significante associação com DTM miogênica sem interferencias articulares.…”