Posture correction as part of behavioural therapy in treatment of myofascial pain with limited opening

Abstract

In this study, we applied cognitive behavioural intervention to subjects who had painful limited mouth opening, with or without posture correction in daily life. The efficacy of non‐intervention control was then compared with it in order to study the effectiveness of posture correction as part of a biobehavioural therapy. The visual analogue scale (VAS) value of pain intensity at maximum mouth opening and disturbance in daily life sharply declined in the group which received only cognitive behavioural intervention and those who received it together with posture correction in daily life compared to the non‐intervention control group although there was little difference between the intervention groups. Moreover, pain‐free unassisted mouth opening was restored earlier in the group which had added posture correction. This suggests that posture correction in daily life has a positive effect in alleviating myofascial pain with limited mouth opening.