Why jaw muscles might hurt more when hurt again
Repeated Muscle Injury as a Presumptive Trigger for Chronic Masticatory Muscle Pain
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Masticatory muscles get *more* damaged with repeated injury, unlike all other skeletal muscles.
The 'repeated bout effect'—where muscles become more resilient after initial injury—is a well-established principle in exercise science. This study shows jaw muscles break that rule completely.
Practical Takeaways
If you grind your teeth, consider using a night guard to prevent repeated micro-injuries to your jaw muscles.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Masticatory muscles get *more* damaged with repeated injury, unlike all other skeletal muscles.
The 'repeated bout effect'—where muscles become more resilient after initial injury—is a well-established principle in exercise science. This study shows jaw muscles break that rule completely.
Practical Takeaways
If you grind your teeth, consider using a night guard to prevent repeated micro-injuries to your jaw muscles.
Publication
Journal
Pain Research and Treatment
Year
2011
Authors
D. Dessem, R. Lovering
Related Content
Claims (6)
Your muscles get used to tough workouts over time, so they hurt less and recover faster the more you do them.
If you keep injuring your jaw muscles, it might make the pain-sensing nerves more sensitive over time, which could lead to long-lasting muscle pain.
When you hurt a chewing muscle, your body might produce more of a protein called NGF, which could make the nerves in that muscle extra sensitive over time and lead to long-lasting pain.
Your jaw muscles don't heal as well after injury compared to leg muscles — they get scarred and don't fix themselves properly, at least in animal studies.
When jaw muscles get injured over and over, they don’t get tougher like arm or leg muscles do — instead, they get more damaged and weaker each time.