Massage therapy in the management of myogenic TMD: a pilot study
Open accessAbstract
INTRODUCTION: The Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is greatly prevalent in the population and can be associated with bruxism. This disorder produces several signs and symptoms. Among them, pain is one of the most important because it reduces life quality and productivity of people who have such disorder. The aim of this research was to study if massage causes pain relief and/or electromyographic (EMG) changes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects were chosen by a questionnaire and divided into 2 different groups. Their ages varied from 19 to 22 years. The experimental group consisted of 6 TMD patients, who were submitted to the massage treatment and 4 EMG-sessions (the 1st EMG-session occurred before the treatment and the others in the 1st, 15th and 30th days after the treatment). The control group consisted of 6 TMD patients, who were submitted to the same 4 EMG-sessions. While EMG activity was recorded, subjects were asked to keep mandibular rest position (MRP) and to perform maximal voluntary clenching (MVC). The treatment consisted of 15 massage-sessions on face and neck and in application of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for measuring pain level. The massage sessions had 30 minutes of duration and were performed daily. The EMG data were processed to obtain the Root Mean Square (RMS), which were normalized by MVC. RESULTS: It was demonstrated that (1) RMS-MRP of the right masseter in experimental group at the 1st EMG-session was higher than at the 2nd EMG-session and (2) statistically significant reduction was found for VAS values after massage session. CONCLUSION: Unfortunately the sample is insufficient to draw any conclusions, therefore, more studies regarding the use of massage in the management of myogenic TMD are necessary.
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Fascial manipulations and massage, administered by physiotherapists, demonstrated efficacy in reducing myogenic temporomandibular disorder symptoms.
“Fascial Manipulations and massage, administered by physiotherapists, demonstrated efficacy in reducing myogenic TMD symptoms [28,30,32,33].”
From Efficacy of manual therapy by different healthcare professionals on pain and function in temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (2026) · cites this paper as [28]
The Experimental protocol (page unavailable) describes massage administered by a physiotherapist, and the Results report significantly lower pain scores after massage. The study tested classic massage, not fascial manipulation, and its significant finding was limited to post-session pain rather than myogenic TMD symptoms generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAxis I subtypes, particularly myofascial temporomandibular disorder, responded well to manual therapy interventions.
“Axis I subtypes, particularly myofascial TMD, responded well to manual therapy interventions [28–30,33–35].”
From Efficacy of manual therapy by different healthcare professionals on pain and function in temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (2026) · cites this paper as [28]
The Population section reports six treated patients with myogenic TMD, diagnosed using TMD research diagnostic criteria. The Results > VAS section reports a significant reduction in pain scores after massage sessions (p = 0.047), supporting a response to this manual intervention. The study does not establish that Axis I subtypes generally responded well to manual therapy; it tested massage in this small myogenic-TMD group. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMyofascial manipulations and trigger point releases were particularly effective in reducing subjective pain perception.
“Myofascial manipulations [28,30,33] and trigger point releases [34,35] were particularly effective in reducing subjective pain perception.”
From Efficacy of manual therapy by different healthcare professionals on pain and function in temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (2026) · cites this paper as [28]
The Abstract Results report a statistically significant reduction in pain ratings after massage, supporting the subjective-pain part of the claim. The Experimental protocol describes classical face-and-neck massage, not a specified myofascial manipulation or trigger-point release, and the paper does not establish that those techniques were particularly effective relative to other treatments. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTreatment targets differed, with some studies focusing solely on masticatory muscles while others included cervical or upper-cervical spine structures.
“Treatment targets also differed, with some studies focusing solely on masticatory muscles [24,28] while others including cervical or upper-cervical spine structures [21].”
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Research works printed but not linked: 21
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kalamir, A., Graham, P. L., Vitiello, A. L., Bonello, R., & Pollard, H. (2013) · Chiropractic & Manual Therapies · doi:10.1186/2045-709x-21-17 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Chiaramonte, R., Ferrillo, M., de Sire, A., & Vecchio, M. (2026) · Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy · doi:10.1080/10669817.2026.2629282
“Treatment targets also differed, with some studies focusing solely on masticatory muscles [24,28] while others including cervical or upper-cervical spine structures [21].”
Influential
- Authors
- Capellini, V. K., Souza, G. S. D., & Faria, C. R. S. D.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Capellini, Verena Kise
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Oral Science
- Publisher
- FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
- Published
- 2006-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 21-26
- ISSN
- 1678-7757 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4327166
- OpenAlex
- W1993175879
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 4.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Oral Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion)
- Acervo Digital da Universidade Estadual Paulista (Universidade Estadual Paulista) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Complementary and Manual Therapy › Temporomandibular Joint Disorders
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Muscle activation and electromyography studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Myofascial pain diagnosis and treatment
- Keywords
- massage, temporomandibular disorders, analgesia, masseter muscle activity, electromyography, bruxism, mandibular rest position
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