Impact of Emotional Stress and Physiotherapy Treatment on Prognosis of Temporomandibular Joint Disc Displacement with Reduction - A Case Report

Abstract

Many conservative treatment approaches are used for patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD). Nonetheless, only a few studies have been published about physiotherapy treatment for patients with temporomandibular joint disc anterior displacement with reduction. A few studies have emphasised the relationship between increasing emotional stress and the occurrence of TMD. This report aimed to study the impact of integrated physiotherapy treatment (ultrasound therapy, soft tissue mobilisation, manual therapy and exercise therapy) approach for patients with temporomandibular joint disc displacement with reduction. The initial hypothesis of this study was that integrated physiotherapy treatment will reduce the patient’s symptoms and improve the quality of life. The outcome measures of our report showed that integrated physiotherapy treatment reduced the patient’s symptoms for a short period of time (3 weeks) post-treatment but was not effective in the long term. Even-though, the patient had followed all the self-management strategies, the patient was not able to cope with increasing emotional stress from day-to-day life which resulted in aggravation of the clinical condition. Our report concludes that the psychological aspect of the clinical condition must be included during the evaluation and treatment of patients with TMD for better treatment prognosis. How to cite this article:Durai V, Thiyagarajan A. Impact of Emotional Stress and Physiotherapy Treatment on Prognosis of Temporomandibular Joint Disc Displacement with Reduction - A Case Report. Chettinad Health City Med J. 2023;12(2):117-121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2278.2044.202339