Scoping review demonstrates frequent prescription of jaw opening and motor control exercises for temporomandibular disorders, highlighting inconsistent reporting of pain guidelines.
OBJECTIVE: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are musculoskeletal conditions causing pain and functional limitations. This scoping review aimed to map therapeutic exercise interventions described in clinical studies on TMDs. METHODS: Following Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Scopus, CINAHL, Embase, PEDro, Google Scholar, and OpenGrey. RESULTS: Seventy-six studies were included, most prescribing oral opening movements and motor control exercises. Daily home practice was frequently prescribed, predominantly involving multiple exercise sessions per day. Guidance on whether pain should be avoided or permitted during exercise was inconsistently reported. CONCLUSION: Future studies should adopt standardized terminology and pain-parameter reporting, compare single versus multi-session approaches, and assess adherence to exercises to enable meta-analysis.
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Aimini et al. (2026) studied this question.
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