Weeks 1–2
Pain
Calm the jaw down.
Hands-on manual therapy to the jaw and neck eases tension and takes the edge off pain, starting your very first visit.
What We Treat
TMJ/TMD treatment in Temple.
The click every time you open wide. The tension headache that starts at your jaw. You’re not overreacting, and it’s fixable. It starts with a cause-first evaluation, not a guess.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- That click or pop every time you open wide for a bite of your burger
- Waking up with a tension headache that starts right at your temples
- Catching yourself clenching your jaw mid-scroll on your phone
- Your jaw locking for a second before it pops back into place
- Rubbing your jaw and neck by the end of a long, stressful workday
- Chewing on one side because the other side just doesn’t feel right anymore
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
Jaw pain is a symptom. Something causes it.
Your jaw doesn’t hurt for no reason, and it doesn’t mean you’re not managing stress well. It’s usually some mix of a few culprits: clenching or grinding that overloads the jaw joint, often overnight without you knowing. Stress that quietly lives in your jaw before you ever notice it. Neck and upper-body posture pulling the jaw out of its natural alignment. And daily habits like chewing gum or biting your nails that keep reloading the same joint.
None of that shows up from just pointing at where it clicks. It takes a real, cause-first evaluation to sort out which one is actually driving your symptoms. That’s why “just relax your jaw” so often falls short: it treats the symptom, not the source. We work alongside your dentist when a mouthguard or dental care is part of the picture. Find the real cause, and the fix gets obvious.
The Honest Truth
Waiting on a jaw doesn’t make it wait on you.
If you keep waiting
- The clicking turns into catching, and the catching turns into locking
- Tension headaches stop being occasional and start being a daily thing
- You keep favoring one side to chew, and the joint imbalance gets more entrenched
If you start this week
- You know the actual cause of the clenching or misalignment by the end of visit one
- Hands-on jaw and neck work start easing tension right away
- You get a plan with an endpoint, working alongside your dentist if needed, not months of guessing
Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built for your jaw.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for TMJ/TMD.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Get your jaw moving right.
Targeted mobility work restores smooth, even motion to a jaw that’s been clicking, catching, or favoring one side.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Build a jaw and neck that hold up.
Progressive strengthening and postural retraining build the control your jaw needs to stop overloading under stress.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Return better than before.
Chewing, talking, and stress patterns get tested under real conditions before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.
Bret provides that superb 1 on 1 patient care that’s specific to each individual and their situation. It was great to have my questions answered right away.
Megan W. · TMJ/TMD
Week 1: wincing every time I opened wide enough for a sandwich
Week 8: tension headaches gone, jaw opens smooth
TMJ/TMD
8 weeks
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for TMJ/TMD.
It doesn’t have to be one or the other. A night guard can protect your teeth while you sleep, but it doesn’t address the muscle tension, joint mechanics, or stress patterns behind the clenching in the first place. We work alongside your dentist so both pieces are covered, not competing.
Not always on its own. A click without pain or locking is common and often not urgent. It becomes worth addressing when it’s paired with pain, catching, or headaches. A cause-first evaluation checks what’s actually driving your specific symptoms, so you know whether it needs treatment or just monitoring.
Most patients feel meaningful change within 4–6 visits. A full plan for TMJ/TMD runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, typically over 8–10 weeks, depending on how long you’ve been dealing with it. Either way, you get a plan with an endpoint: you’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
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Hours
Mon 10 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Tue 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Wed 8 AM–12 PM, 4–7 PM
Thu 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Fri, Sat, Sun: Closed - 512-763-0526 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Same-week appointments available
5.0 · 195+ Google reviews
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time. Most people are on the schedule same week.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Gardner Sports Physical Therapy
- 2329 S 57th St, Temple, TX 76504 (opens in a new tab)
- 512-763-0526
- Fax: 737-237-0793
- bret@gardnersportspt.com
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Mon 10 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Tue 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Wed 8 AM–12 PM, 4–7 PM
Thu 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Fri, Sat, Sun: Closed