[A primary research on the concomitant symptoms of temporomandibular joint pain].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the states of chronic symptoms of other parts of the body concomitant with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain.


METHODS
Fifty-one patients with TMJ pain and thirty-one control subjects without TMJ symptoms were chosen randomly. The TMJ symptoms and chronic symptoms of other regions were investigated at the base line. The TMJ pain patients were investigated again half year after treatment. Between-symptom correlations were analyzed using linear regression and Chi-squared analysis method (alpha = 0.05).


RESULTS
The chronic symptoms related to the TMJ pain at the base line were headache, back pain, numbness of hand, neck and shoulder pain, insomnia, dizziness, reduced hearing ability, eye pain and fatigue (P < 0.05). The incidences of the symptoms of patients were higher than those of the control subjects (P < 0.01). Half year later, the headache, neck and shoulder pain and fatigue were the symptoms improved with the TMJ pain treatment (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The symptoms of adjacent regions of orofacial area such as neck and shoulder pain and headache are the main concomitant symptoms of the TMJ pain, and these symptoms may be improved by the treatment of TMJ.
Jiang
Ting
T
Department of Prosthodontics, Peking University School of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, China. janqi@263.net
Li
Jian
J
Zhang
Zhen-kang
ZK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000150:complications; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000150:complications; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D055815:Young Adult