Exercises for the Jaw

Keep the Muscles of your mouth and jaw moving! These exercises are designed to increase the range of movement and mobility of the muscles in your jaw. This will help your speech and/or swallow functioning. When doing these exercises, it is important to move your jaw as far as you can in each direction until you feel the muscles stretch. You shouldn’t feel any pain, only a strong stretch. Practice these exercises EACH 10 times a day.

Range of Motion:

1. Jaw Opening (Yawn)

• Open your jaw as wide as you can until you feel a stretch, but no pain.
• Hold this open position for 5 seconds, then relax and close your mouth.
• Repeat this 5 times.

2. Side-to-Side Movement

• Move your jaw to the right side as far as you can until you feel a stretch, but it does not hurt.
• Hold it there for 5 seconds, then relax.
• Move your jaw to the left side as far as you can until you feel a stretch but it does not hurt.
• Hold it there for 5 seconds, then relax.
• Alternate this right to left movement 5 times.

3. Increasing Circular Jaw Movement

• Move your jaw around in a circle, moving it as far as you can in each direction until you feel a stretch, but no pain.
• When you have completed a full circle, relax.
• Repeat the circular movement 5 times.

Manual Massage:

1. Target area: Side of jaw, area in front of your ears.

• Using your fingers, rub small circles over the muscles for one minute. Complete on both sides.

2. Target area: Lower edge of jaw, bulkier muscle of lower cheek.

• Using your fingers, rub small circles over the bulky muscle of the jaw. As you rub, move along the jawline. Spend more time on areas that are stiff or more tender. Complete on both sides.

Questions? Call UMMC Speech-Language Pathology 601-815-6064.

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