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Writer's pictureCatherine

Masseter Spiral For Jaw Tension Relief

Updated: Apr 16

This month I’ve seen a lot of corporate clients.  I offer a format with my corporate partners where I’m on hand in the office and employees come in throughout the day for 1:1 or small group Roll & Release sessions. 

Employees come in and, similar to any private session, tell me what’s going on with their bodies and let me know if there’s anything specific they want to work on.  These are all employees who spend their day at a desk so the majority of what we worked on are related to that - sitting at a desk.


A theme that came up over and over was the need for tension relief in the head, neck, shoulders.  Something that I always address when dealing with head, neck and shoulder tightness is the jaw.  Why?  As I’ve shared before, the masseter muscle, that small, dense muscle in our cheek that helps us chew, can exert more than 200lb of pressure onto the molars when the jaw is clenched.  That pressure travels down into the neck which travels down into the shoulders, down around the ribcage, etc. 


So, to address the head, neck and shoulders, I made sure to address jaw tension in a sequence that I'm sharing here.


This only takes ~5 minutes, you need a soft ball (no lacrosse balls!) and this is one of the most accessible release sequences I teach.


Masseter Spiral for Jaw Tension Relief


Step 1: Take your ball, make sure it’s soft!, place it against the masseter muscle (on the cheek above the jaw bone).  Take a deep breath in and out, relaxing the neck and chest.


Step 2: Apply gentle pressure to press the ball into your cheek.  While doing so, spiral the ball, twirling the skin, muscles and fascia as you do.


Step 3: Release the ball, skin will de-spiral, and repeat as you move the ball to a new place along the check.  Repeat 5-6 more times working your way toward the cheekbone, and ear.


Step 4: Spend 1-2 minutes per cheek.  Open and close the mouth a few times before switching sides.  Breathe deeply as you


Watch the demo:


I hope this serves you!


If you're interested in becoming a corporate partner, let's chat! I am currently expanding programming for companies across industries in Tech, Law, Finance and the Non-Profit* space. Programming includes Private Classes, 1:1 Myofascial Release Sessions, Leadership Events, Town Halls, Health Fairs.


**We offer non-profit rates.




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