Facial Pain: RCT between Conventional Treatment and Fascial Manipulation^® for Temporomandibular Disorders

Background: To investigate the effectiveness of a specific manual therapy, Fascial Manipulation® (FM), in comparison with conventional treatments in temporomandibular disorders (TMD) patients using a two-arm randomized controlled trial. Methods: The study consisted of 28 patients that were divided in two groups (Group 1: Fascial Manipulation® vs. Group 2: conventional TMD treatment). The Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), RDC/TMD, electromyography (EMG) and Pression/Pain Evaluation on Masseter and Temporalis Muscle were assessed with different times. Results: In both groups, the improvement in pain was evident on the VRS scale (p < 0.0001) and pain-free opening (p < 0.001). In Group 1, the recovery of the function was faster; maximum unassisted opening T0 vs. T1 (p = 0.001). Conclusions: FM® can be used as an effective method for facial pain, being a rapid, safe and cost-effective approach to reduce pain, gain function and mouth opening that can be used prior to occlusion stabilization appliances.