04/03/2026
Hot Take: Protocols suck
Myofunctional Therapy or Physical Therapy didn’t work for you because it wasn’t tailored to you.
It didn’t help because the provider doesn’t know how to work outside of the protocols they have been taught.
For them, doing your exercises 3x/day should work!
But they’ve never been taught how to get you out of a flare.
Now you’re stuck wondering (and them too!):
Do I stop?
Push through?
Am I doing too much… or not enough?
So you (both) start overthinking it.
And eventually… you stop doing it altogether.
Not because myofunctional or physical therapy doesn’t work.
And not because you’re not trying.
But because this protocol didn’t match your capacity.
Most people don’t need exercises 3x/day— or even 2x/day for that matter!
They need a plan, that meets them where they are at and something they can actually stick to — especially on the crazy days or when their symptoms spike.
That might look like:
doing less (on purpose)
adjusting on flare days
building consistency before adding volume
Because doing a small amount consistently will always win.
If you’ve tried myofunctional or physical therapy before for your TMJD and it didn’t work for you, it doesn’t mean it won’t.
It might just mean you needed a slightly different approach.
If you want help figuring that out for your jaw, comment “TMJ” to chat more about the right approach for you.
If you are clinician wanting to learn more about exercise programming for TMJD, comment BTB to learn more about my course Beyond the Bite which will help you be better and do better!