Association of Jaw Dysfunction With Neck Disability in Subjects With Chronic Cervical Spine Disorders: An Observational Study

Background: The incidence of temporomandibular dysfunction has been rapidly increasing in the past years especially among women and still no definite treatment protocol and that's due to the inter lapping of anatomy and neurology of this joint with other structures all over the body. The cervical spine dysfunction has a high incidence as well, and they are common to coexist as they are highly interrelated. Objective: The objective of this study is to emphasize the interrelation between cervical dysfunction and TMJ dysfunction by examining the relationship between cervical spine ROM and TMJ vertical opening ROM to provide better recognition of the etiology of TMJ dysfunction thus a holistic intervention. Materials and methods: It is a bivariate correlational research design. Forty subjects between the age of 20 -40 years (15male/ 25females) were recruited. Cervical ROM was measured by CROM device for all 6 cervical movements. The TMJ vertical mouth opening was measured by a 10 cm ruler. The CROM will be used consistent with standard clinical procedures, with 3 takes for each measurement to decrease human error. The measurements were taken one shot.