| Research Abstract |
At present, complaints of pain in the face, head, and neck regions cannot be solved through medical care using somatic approaches alone. To test a combination of mental and physical approaches together, we have investigated the relationship between mental stress and muscle tension and the role this relationship plays in face, head, and neck pain that is believed to be due to muscular stress.
Regarding stress-induced muscle tension and the mechanisms of physical expression of this tension, we evaluated autonomic nervous function and examined pain in the head and neck areas that is due to stress and muscle tension. We also studied how other parts of the body are affected.
Frequency analysis of heart rate variability was conducted to assess autonomic nervous function and test for correlation to complaints in the mouth, face, and head and neck regions. An investigation by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare reports a large number of physical complaints in the mouth, face, and head and neck regions, and many of the people with these complaints have muscular tension in the neck and shoulder areas. Our experimental observations using Kraepelin tests, neck and shoulder tension surveys, and biofeedback showed that muscular tension caused by daily chronic stress appears physically as tension in the neck and shoulder areas, suggesting that stress and muscle tension is expressed in the neck and shoulder regions.
Furthermore, we found that stress-induced muscle tension and oral stage swallowing due to clenching account for stress and aerophagic mechanisms that were not understood previously, and contribute to an explanation for aerophagia.
Based on our experimental and clinical studies on the various conditions which develop out of stress and muscle tension in the head, neck, and shoulder regions, we have summarized the knowledge necessary for a psychosomatic approach to medical treatment of the dental region and published this information in a psychosomatic medical handbook.
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