TMJ relief in San Francisco.
Your jaw feels off. It could range from slightly annoying to incredibly uncomfortable to downright painful. Regardless of whether you've been diagnosed with TMJD, you need help. Maybe you've tried mouth splints, bite guards, painkillers, and even considered surgery, but nothing has addressed the root cause: muscle imbalance.
Our body is simple. It's always asking for balance. Whether it's your back, your hand or your jaw. It's all the same thing. Something is working too hard because something isn't working enough.
The jaw is where you feel it. Almost never where it starts.
The jaw is the body's next compensation point
When your upper back and shoulders shut down, your neck takes over their job. When your neck runs out of capacity, the jaw is what's left. Clenching, bracing, holding — the jaw becomes a stabilizer for tension that should have been distributed across the upper body. It's the last in a long chain.
Why night guards and bite work don't end it
A night guard protects the teeth from the clenching. It doesn't change why the clenching is happening. Bite adjustments address the joint mechanics. They don't address the upper-body pattern that's making the jaw work in the first place. The clenching returns because the demand returns.
The lasting fix is upstream
Once Dr. Garrett brings your shoulder blades, upper back, and deep neck stabilizers back online, the jaw is no longer being asked to compensate. The clenching reduces. The pain releases. The pattern that drove it has changed.
Where TMJ pain actually comes from.
TMJ is the end of a chain that starts in your upper back and runs through your neck.
Your shoulder blades have shut down.
Hours at a desk, phone time, rounded shoulders. The muscles that should hold your shoulder blades back and down stop engaging. The work has to come from somewhere.
Your neck takes the load.
Upper traps and the muscles at the base of your skull pick up the work. They tighten, they hold, they brace. As they reach capacity, the next link down the chain — the jaw — starts to participate.
The jaw becomes the brace.
Clenching, grinding, holding. The jaw isn't dysfunctional — it's doing exactly what the upstream pattern is asking it to do. Change what's asking and the jaw stops bracing.
What happens in your first session.
Full assessment, guided protocols, and a take-home practice. 60 minutes.
Assessment
Dr. Garrett assesses how your body moves. Where it's overworking, where it's shut down. He's looking at your whole body, not just the part that hurts.
Guided protocols
Using simple props (yoga blocks, foam rollers, gymnastic rings), Dr. Garrett guides you through protocols adapted to your body in real time. You're not lying on a table. You're moving, finding positions where your body starts to rebalance itself.
What changes
Most clients feel a noticeable shift during the first session. The overworked areas release. The underworked areas start to re-engage. You feel the difference before you leave.
Take-home practice
You leave with a short practice for what was worked on that session. About five minutes. You do it on your living room floor. It maintains the changes and keeps your body moving in the right direction between sessions.
Virtual sessions work well for TMJ. The work is in finding the upstream pattern — your upper back, shoulders, and neck — not in hands-on jaw work. Dr. Garrett assesses your posture and movement via live video and guides you through positions that release the pattern at the source.
People who came in with the same thing.
I came in for back pain. I didn't expect to sleep better and stop grinding my teeth too. At 24, I didn't think I needed this kind of care.
I finally understand WHY my neck has been hurting. That's worth more than any treatment I've ever had.
I really have tried everything. Nothing has ever come close to this.
Most clients feel a difference in their first session.
Book a session with Dr. Garrett. If you don't experience noticeable relief, we keep working with you until you do, at no additional charge.
Common questions.
If something isn't here, ask on a free discovery call. Dr. Garrett answers everything before you book a paid session.