Clinical and Electromyographic Study of the Effects of Muscle Relaxation Appliance of Craniomandibular Disorder Patients

근이완장치가 두개하악장애환자에 미치는 영향에 대한 임상 및 근전도학적 연구

The author studied the changes of subjective, objective symptoms and muscle activities with EM2 (myo-tronics Co., Seattle, USA) before and after MRA therapy. The 11 patients were treated with MRA and active range of motion, pain and mouth opening limitation were checked at each visit for 6-8 weeks. Electromyographic activities were measured in both anterior lobe of temporalis and middle fibers of masseter at the position in rest, clenching and mastication. The obtained results were as follows : 1. There were significant decrease in pain and mouth opening limitation and significant increase in active range of motion after MRA therapy. 2. The muscle activities tended to decrease in general, especially in the temporal and masseter muscles on clenching and in the masseter on mastication after MRA therapy. 3. There were no significant differences in muscle activities between affected and unaffected side, but there was significant differences in temporal muscle on clenching side after therapy. 4. There were no significant differences in active range of motion, pain and mouth opening limitation between acute and chronic groups. 5. There was more significant decrease in muscle activities of the affected side in acute group than those in chronic group.