Orofacial Release - Part 1 (tackling neck and jaw pain, vocal issues, pelvic floor tension) 

To everyone reading this, I sincerely pray for that whatever is causing you pain or stress will pass. May your negative thoughts, excessive worries and doubts disappear, replaced by clarity and understanding. May your life be filled with peace, tranquility and love

The thunder & rain made this even more healing💜 thank you

I thought I'd ended yet another day in despair. Laying in bed after meditating, tapping, massaging, stretching walking - trying to feel better and find a connection to myself, through the mounds of tension. After trying this my whole body feels calmer, I feel connected to my heart and my jaw feels like its been oiled. Thank you ❤

This is crazy. After following along just once. I feel more relaxed than I have in years. Totally chill.

This is so funny- I’ve done facial massages on myself for multiple years now and generally have no tension in my face as a result ❤️ my boyfriend however: his “jaw” is visibly asymmetrical- but it’s not actually his jaw bone, it’s muscle imbalance in his face! It’s so prominent that it actually presents visually on his face- you can see it! (He’s still a cutie tho even with a bit of a crooked face). When we first started dating he wouldn’t let me touch his jaw at all hardly it was so sensitive! Over time I’ve given him facial massages when he was having a headache or was sick and the sensitivity has gotten less and less each time. Last night he let me really go in, I was fully working the muscles of his face, especially his cheeks and jaws. There were some tender spots but I think he actually was enjoying the release of tension after a while. He even let me give him a buccal cheek massage!! I was seriously surprised he let me do all that considering how tense and tender his facial muscles were for a long time. Anyways, when I was done, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so relaxed haha and I swear I can see a visual w difference in his face.😮 I’ve know about the benefits of facial massages for a while but I was really satisfied to be able to do it to him too finally 😁

This was mindblowing 🤯 I have had left hip, jaw, and shoulder issues for years due to asymmetrical pursuits (competitive mountain biking, playing the flute, driving a standard transmission vehicle, etc.) I had a terrible astigmatism (-2 diopter cyl in my OS) as well as jaw pain and even a cracked tooth on the left side due to clenching unfortunately. This past year I have been on an eyesight improvement journey and my astigmatism nearly fully resolved (my glasses prescription went from -2 spherical & -2 cyl left eye to -0.75 spherical with no astigmatism correction!!!); however I have been dealing with a LOT of stress recently. My old symptoms were returning (jaw clenching, left facial nerve issues, eyesight decline) so I started looking for relief. This video was AMAZING. I cannot believe how intense these techniques are!!! Thank you so much ♡♡♡

NOTE Trim fingernails first.

Some of these made that whole side of my body tingle down to the feet and my balance is WAY better after doing a halfassed run through this routine. This is amazing. Definitely gonna do this routinely and subscribing!

Dr Garner, I'm blown away how this is working on my shoulders, chest, behind sternum. It just keeps unraveling me through head and torso. Thank you so much for sharing!

Such a godsend, big release from these massages, thank you 🙏🏻 😭

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise. I’ve had terrible TMJD issues from a car accident in 2018, and this was so helpful. I’m in pain daily, despite seeing 3 different physical therapists, a chiropractor, many rounds of acupuncture, 5 rounds of prolotherapy, 6 rounds of Botox, many deep tissue massages, 5 dentists, and countless mouth guards to “fix” my bite. No one has showed me what you demonstrated in this video.

I don't even know where to begin. I've only done this twice today and I can't believe how accurate your words were. I've been having shoulder pain for months. I've had pain above the chest for years. Neck, jaw, head. I saw someone else say it feels like they've been oiled. Yes that's exactly it. My range of motion has been instantly improved. I can't say enough thank yous for this! ❤

Thank you❤ having such mysterious pain issues. This really helped to relax parts of me that have been so bound up! ❤having spasms in upper ribs, lats Rhomboids scapular stability is all wonky with selective spasms throughout day, all around shoulder complex Night time is torture. There is no sleeping. ❤ I am already able to take deeper breaths after following m this

My neck was snapped as a child and I've had quite a lot of orthodontia work and these exercises brought immediate relief to what has been years of pain and tension. Thank you for sharing!

Wow, I cannot thank you enough for this information. I loosely followed along with your video while making my kids breakfast and half the tension from last night’s sleep is diminished. I feel better than I have in more than 8 years. Thank you 🙏🏽

Hey lady, thanks! I'm a clencher (it goes and comes, since 2018) and have been waking up with headaches these days, and seeing stress flashes of light at the corner of the eye on the tight side (left). I didn't know that my tight hip and groin on the left side were related, until just now I was massaging my jaw and the hip loosened up! I'll keep doing these, thank you ❤

I did this ONCE and my jaw area feels like new 🤯 Thank you

I’ve been finally addressing my dental health after having a huge fear of the dentist with lots of work as a kid - my teeth look and feel good for the first time in a long time after paying for iv sedation to get a cleaning and lots of fillings. This video made so much click finally. I thought I was just slow coming back from sedation but these exercises made me realize “omg of course - I don’t remember being at the dentist, but my body does.” Excited to learn more on breathing as you mentioned.

🙀 I followed along did all of these and I can feel a gentle release all the way into my right shoulder ❣️ omg thank you 🙏 SO much

Wow i love you thank you. This is exactly what I been suffering with and I was diagnosed with vocal cord dysfunction as a kid

Thank you..I have been suffering years with my jaw ..it’s eff3cted my life ..painful.

Thank you thank God...incredible positive results!!! Recent dental disaster causes tension , grip and grinding...these muscle release exercises gives relief!!!!!

I didn't have any pain or tenderness--probably because I do some different massages most nights when I go to bed, but these felt really good, so thanks!

This video is incredible. I’m a jaw clencher and my face is always a rock, did these exercises and my face is so relaxed, thank you so much!

Just what I need today! Thank you! I've been tightening up , or not opening throat, enough when singing.

as soon as i started doing the very first jaw massage move I started feeling a huge release in between my scapulae, around rhomboids and under the bone

Incredible! 6 minutes in and my jaw is more relaxed than it has been in YEARS. I feel like I’m floating 😄 Thank you for making this video.

Wow!!! Thank you so soooo much, Dr. Ginger Garner! Also, cool storm happening near you. :) Stay safe.

Just subscribed - thank you for this very easy to follow tutorial. I followed along and felt the release of tension in my jaw.

This was lovely had a really sore throat for days and this was brilliant, many thanks

We need someone like you at the VA hospitals all over the country. Esp since a lot of our problems are from active duty. The stress we’ve been through and trauma are only dealt with on a certain level. Mostly with psychotropic medications unfortunately

🙏🤗💞Thank you for such a wonderful healing, to the point and thorough demonstration video. I will definitely be viewing your part 2. I appreciate your wisdom and you do a great job in explaining and demonstrating!! 💕

Wow! I grind my teeth at night and this was causing so much tension on my face and jaw to the point that my mouth and tongue felt dry. So I started doing these massages and I’m happy to say they worked! Once I released the tension on my face and jaw, my face felt more relaxed and my mouth began to water up! All that tension was making my mouth dry. Thank you so much! ❤

Thanks, I didn't know about any of these. Been having a little neck pain and accompanying headache, and I think this might help :)

Wonderful, thank you! So glad that I came across this video, it has opened up my exploration of pain in my neck and helps greatly. I'm very grateful that you share your knowledge. ❤️🙏

This is incredible, I always have jaw tightness it never goes away. After doing these my jaw feels so loose! Great relief, thank you!

For me it was difficult to use two fingers like that. I have short nails, but they still dug in. An an awkward position. Using the thump of the opposite hand worked better for me.

This was fantastic! Thank you so much!

OMG this was amazing! Ever since I had dental work done I have been having major shoulder pain. Just rubbing the muscle under my jaw for a few seconds relieved my shoulder pain more than it's been relieved in months. Thank you!

Thank you 🙏🤗🌹

That last one was necessaryyy

OMG! I felt lots of tenderness with each and every one of these points with some radiating pain to my ear!! I’ve had 5 auto accidents mostly rear ended. I’ve suffered with migraine like headaches all my life that have been quite debilitating at times. I’ve also had full mouth tooth extraction and have lots of difficulty from that simply wearing dentures. I have a severe gag reflex. Maybe these will help with the gagging thing!It’s pretty embarrassing to have to yank my dentures out as I start to retch and almost throw up many times. I always enjoyed wearing a mask thru COVID since I didn’t have to worry about wearing my dentures but it has cause even more bone deterioration. I’ve done a pressure points underneath my chin but never gave much attention there. My hearing in my right ear has been diminished since my first accident when I was 18. It’s gotten much worse since and both ears are bad now. I can’t hear well if I have my back turned towards someone. I have to use closed captions watching anything on tv or you tube. My ears have constant crickets chirping in them or bells ringing. Been that way for years but now it’s getting worse. I’m no longer practicing now, but I was a massage therapist for 20 years, and I learned a lot about the neck mostly releasing the sternocleidomastoid muscle by the ear and down underneath it but didn’t take it to the hyoid bone. Releasing the masseter is always a taught in basic Swedish massage in school, but these things you’re teaching weren’t covered by any of my training and just adding the muscles attached at the hyoid bone helps tremendously!! Great video and instruction. My nails keep keep me from doing these accurately at the moment, but it’s worth cutting them to get this area worked that really hasn’t ever been thoroughly worked. Can’t wait to dig in more! I can already tell by using my thumbs that it will help immensely! I’ve always thought there was more to be done to help my heating since my first accident! Thank you for this video and your knowledge!

Oh goodness I just barely followed at your pace and could feel my pelvic floor release !!

This was so helpful!!! Thank you Dr. Garner! I am a designer (at desk always), have issues w/so much tension in jaw mostly, radiating to neck but I feel it in my eyes visually some days. I have to remind myself to step away , stretch etc... I do breath work often, so glad I can use AD with these helpful tension release for these issues. I felt some points more than others and it really helped!!!

Okay, maybe you can help me clarify something because this video helped me clear out a sensation that’s been bugging me for a week. The space below my two front bottom teeth (directly above the point of my chin), I’ve been having this sensation that isn’t quite pain and isn’t quite a tickle. It’s caused me to try to avoid letting my tongue hit the area when I speak and that, in turn, has caused my jaw to fall out of alignment and make my bite feel off. Clicking at the TMJ, you get the picture. I can’t tell you which one of these did it, but one of them caused that sensation to cease. Any idea what that could be? Either way, I feel better in ten minutes than I have all week. Thank you!

Amazing relief with these …. however, I am poking myself with fingernails with the hook approach. Still, I will keep trying to adapt so it is the tips of my finger pads. Thanks!

I’ve got possible torn rotator cuff on right shoulder and sever vertigo that puts me down on floor. Having no help from the VA so I appreciate your helpful video advice. The ENT that the VA sent me to wants to burn out my ocular nerve in my left ear for the vertigo I have. That’s really crazy

I have a left ear or muscle that gets tight when I blink. I'm sure I have some TMJ but how can I relax it. The ENT said it would be and operation but I don't think I have to do that. I don't know what he called it I also sneeze if I clean out my ears Thanks😊

Really interesting to learn these areas! One thing I’ve always experienced that no one can explain to me is when I press behind my jaw in the area you describe in the third location in the video, I begin to cough uncontrollably. Even to the point where if I’m laying in bed and the pillow is pressing in that area too much, I start coughing. Any ideas on what it could be?

You beautiful woman, this is witchcraft! Just kidding but holy moly did my shoulders automatically release tension after the first exercise! Thank you 💛

Thank you so much - I'm hoping to sleep better tonight, not grind and maybe the tinnitus decreases.

My wife worked for Joe McCain, the inventor of the arthroscopic tools to conduct TMJ surgery.

I cannot seem to do the first couple (myelohyoid and digastric) without hurting myself with my fingernails. Weird thing is that I have my nails cut as short as my nail clippers will allow. What am I doing wrong.

Thank you for this! I have broken so many teeth from involuntarily clenching my teeth at night. Even though I have a CPAP mask that I wear every night and a custom dental splint to protect my teeth, I still struggle with jaw pain. Going through these exercises was so helpful.

What do we do if we have sensory processing disorder and the feeling of rubbing muscles and tendons under the skin makes me cringe and nauseated?

Hello doc.What can I do for my tinnitus caused by neck and jaw .Please reply❤

So I have been to pelvic floor and it was someone on the site links you gave to find a therapist. They did not check my vocals with pelvic floor. Would love to know if there is a connection. And how to work that part to help pelvic floor.

Just subscribed. Great work! Thank you.

Want more help? Join my newsletter for free - which will give you a steady stream of research and resources on best care practices for orofacial to pelvic floor health garnerpelvichealth.com/ to sign up (scroll to the bottom of the homepage)

I'm going through a really stressful time right now--problems with adult child, my father has Alzheimers, and I'm trying to finish an addition on my parents vacation home near us so they can move here and I can better help my mother. This all is causing me issues with my health, which wasn't the greatest anyway, and headaches/jaw pain. I tried these release exercises just now and felt terribly clumsy and awkward doing them,...but my jaw is less tense than is has been in months. I'm going to keep doing this a couple of times a day and see what happens!

OMG😮 this was amazing!!! I think my life just changed 😊

Not even 3 minutes into the video and my jaw/neck pain I’ve been trying to release all morning is gone - thank you!!!

I was fully able to talk while working the jaw and tongue

Thank you so much 💓 just what I needed 💗

Can’t wait to watch this. I know I have hEDS with lots of symptoms a sublaxed left jaw constantly. I lost my voice due to grief, it’s getting better after 13 months. It was so bad I was sent to ENT but they said my vocal cords were in good health.

Dr. G, you just changed my life 😭 Thank you so much and God bless you! ❤️ 🙏🏻

New sub here, thank you for the information and I like to ask if you have such a remedy for cracking jaws due to TmJ that caused hearing loss in on my right ear and tinnitus !

Thank you! I tried these and found them helpful. Will be coming back to them regularly.

Thank you so much for these exercises really felt them in my back

Dr. GInger, new sub here and there are no mistakes! I was supposed to find you today to relieve tension for myself and my family. Thank you for being a conduit to heal my world and beyond! Blessings always!

Here I was thinking that Gua sha was the massage I needed. I’m so glad I clicked on this video. This is 💯 going into my daily routine. My jaw is more relaxed after just doing it once! And I LoVe the attention to the breath

Her: you'll probably find tender points. Me: it's all tender points.

As I was following along with the video, my tighter knee started to have some sort of relief or readjustment causing some brief irritation. It’s incredible how everything is interconnected

I've had chronic headaches and migraines for 20+ years, I have gone to every kind of specialist I can think of, including pt. Three years ago I had a baby and my pelvic floor muscles came detached from the fascia in my trunk which has been very difficult to navigate. I don't have shoulder pain per se but I know that weight lifting that implicates my scapular muscles make headaches much worse. I have never seen advice to massage these muscles, so I am going to try!

Thank you for explaining. Past: I've had severe lockjaw on left side. Present: starting to feel right jaw tightening plus tongue clenching at night so much so that I cannot speak properly on awakening in morning.

Thank you very much. I have Geniclate Neuralgia & had a successful MVD in 2004 and 16 hr emergency Chiari & rebuilt cspine surgery in 2005. I live with constant severe intractable pain. The whole area you concentrated on today are my most painful & tight places.

Great routine! Thank you. I will use this in Me, and recommend this to my Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy patients.

These felt amazing! Thank you! I have fibromyalgia and I have pain in the areas.

Thank you 😊 I felt my tounge loosen up. I have been tense in my jaws, face and tounge since I can think. Recently my tongue is getrimg looser which is a clear sign for me that my condition is changing 🤩 I had help from a Physiotherapist that uses Boeger Therapy to loosen scares and knotted tissue.

The first massage hurts a lot!

Thank you, I'm gonna stick with and see what I notice. More than anything the first time through I felt my eustachian tubes opening up.

Oh My Goodness!!! I burst into tears at 5:05...is this normal? Incredibly painful for me but not just physically, emotionally/spiritually? 😮‍💨Bizarre experience but I will commit to this alot more frequently. Thank you

Whow, complete new sensations afterwards!

ohmygaaaaawd. THANK YOU! I feel so much better.

Wow. This is amazingly helpful to realize this connection. Thank you

My jaw is so tight I can’t even get my fingers into the muscle. I guess that’s where I’m going to start.

Namaste, you got a new subscriber from Bharat (new name of India). I almost instantly released my jaw, throat, neck,shoulder, diaphragm and pelvic floor by the 1 round of exercise taught by you. You are a gem. I have been having this tension in my body from corona time (2020). Dhanyavaad. Thank you.

I must say that the pain while doing these exercises made me nauseous. Very painful. Definitely going to continue these, and hit up the other video part 2, to finally get relief.

Thx much. Been thinking about this to protect my 3 yo lab. Well done.

I am trying to do these on myself as I watch your video. Some are easier than others. Wow! I am super tight on the last area and not sure that I am in the right spot.

Imagine if she was your wife. It'd be heaven if you had someone who knew all this stuff at home.

I was having dizzy spells and thought it was a blood pressure issue only to find out I was suffering from TMJ. Grateful to have identified the culprit as some stretching exercises solved the issues.

Can't believe it.....I just happened across this video as I was simply browsing. I've been suffering with permanent, unrelenting jaw and facial pain for over 25 long and painful years. ( Has also spread to my neck, shoulder etc.) Gave up a long time ago trying to explain and get help from my doctor and many dentist. And now, here YOU are.....I could cry. Thank you, I will do the exercises. Wish you lived in my Country.

The slight drop of one corner of the mouth, without ever having Bell's palsy. Do you think this is neurologic or a muscle imbalance? It seems very common but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

This video changed my life. 😅

Instant headache relief! Thank you so much!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏

I did so many face, neck and scalp messages and nothing helped. This video was the first to have me push my thumb up under my chin and feel for a sore spot. BINGO! Once I do that, I can open my jaw all the way! It doesn’t stay like that but at least now I can eat salad or a big burger 🍔 THANK YOU!!! 🙏🏻 😘

😁🙏💙

Wow! Glad i happened to come across to this video! Me: neck pain, headaches, TMJ, shouldervpsin, weak diaphragm with hiatal herna, breathing issues including linear atelectasis

Thank you so much. This released so much tension from my body, particularly my throat and the back of my tongue. I’ve been doing some facial massage for a while but these moves were new and released tension in a way I never knew was possible. I have felt so much lighter since I did them last night, but not only that I woke up this morning able to BREATHE so much easier than I ever thought possible and the release of tension seems to have given my body a really emotional release - I couldn’t stop crying this morning! For no explainable reason other than this. But I’m feeling so much better. THANK YOU.