Effectiveness of Muscle Energy Technique in patients with Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction: A systematic review

The Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) dysfunction of myogenic origin is prevalent in present time which has been treated with various therapeutic approaches including manual therapy techniques like the Muscle Energy Technique (MET), whose effects require further exploration. Hence, this systematic review aims to assess the efficacy of the same in TMJ dysfunction patients. The database search was executed under MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), Cochrane Library followed by data extraction for the included studies with the keywords relevant to the search with publications done from inception to March 2025, followed by data synthesis and assessment of methodological quality and Risk of Bias assessment using Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB 2.0). 7 studies out of 345 articles were included after title screening in present review which revealed significant effects of MET of various muscles of mastication on Maximal Mouth Opening (MMO), pain intensity, lateral deviation in patients with TMJ dysfunction. The total number of participants in all the included studies were 553 out of which 133 were males and 420 females. The intervention period for the studies was between one intervention and 3 months. The findings of present review suggest the evident role of MET in management of TMJ dysfunction of myogenic origin and indicates the modification of clinical decision-making while treating TMJ dysfunction and addition of MET in management of TMJ dysfunction considering bias in included studies.