If you are pregnant, or planning to be, watch this video or read the blog below.
Addressing jaw pain and headaches when pregnant
A lot of pregnant clients tell me they don’t want to take medication unless the jaw pain or headaches gets to a 6 out of 10. But even that level of discomfort is miserable — especially while you’re pregnant and just trying to get through daily life. Often it is very treatable without meds.
When we work on the muscles — like the neck, masseter, and temporalis — through professional massage or self-massage, that pain level can drop to a 2 or 3. And that shift matters.
It can mean avoiding medication altogether, or using a lower‑dose, over‑the‑counter option less often instead of a stronger prescription. Small changes in how your body functions can make a big difference in how you feel — and in how you navigate pregnancy more safely and comfortably.
Hormonal involvement
Hormonal changes in pregnancy affects ligamentous laxity — your joints get looser during pregnancy. This is thanks to hormones like relaxin and estrogen, which are designed to help your pelvis expand for birth, but they affect all the joints in the body, not just the hips.
That includes the TMJ, which is your jaw joint, as well as the neck and spine. So if you already have a history of clicking, popping, or instability in your jaw, those symptoms can flare up or get worse during pregnancy.
Jaw stabilization & perpetuating factors
With those clients, I often teach a technique called jaw tracking to help retrain the joint’s movement and build more stability. And I always want to look at what might be feeding into the problem — what we call perpetuating factors. For many people, that includes how they’re sleeping: the position of the head, the neck, even how the jaw is resting during sleep can make a huge difference.
Changes in the pregnant body, including breathing
Pregnancy changes so much about how your body moves and functions — your center of gravity shifts, your sleeping positions change, and even your breathing patterns adapt. All of that can quietly build up into chronic tension in the neck and jaw.
By the third trimester, there’s simply less space inside the torso. As baby grows, they press upward under the ribs, and that pressure on the diaphragm and stomach reduces how much room your lungs have to expand. Reasons why so many pregnant people feel short of breath or tight through their upper body.
When I’m working with someone in late pregnancy, one of my goals is to influence the breathing muscles of the torso — not just the belly, but the ribs, back, and sides.
I’m also trying to create more vertical space here between the pelvis and ribs so baby has more room to come forward here, instead of baby being pushed upward, crammed under the ribcage.
That space helps you breathe more efficiently — with the diaphragm — instead of relying on the neck muscles like the scalenes and SCM, which are really meant for emergency breathing, not daily life. If those are overworking, they’ll feed into headaches, jaw tension, and even shoulder pain.
Just a little soft tissue work and awareness here can make a big difference in how your body breathes and functions in the final trimester.
Pregnancy can affect your breathing at night
If you have undiagnosed or even mild sleep apnea, it can actually get worse during pregnancy. Increased weight, fluid retention, and hormonal shifts can all cause swelling in the nasal passages or pressure on the airway, which makes it harder to get enough air when you’re asleep.
Your body will try to fix that on its own. Very often, it will instinctively thrust the jaw forward during sleep to open up the airway. You might have not connected it — but it can show up as nighttime grinding or clenching, causing those morning headaches that are hard to shake.
That constant jaw-thrusting doesn’t just wear on your teeth. It can irritate the TMJ itself and overwork the jaw muscles. Over time, that leads to pain and dysfunction all through the face, head, and neck.
Labor
During labor, your whole upper body gets involved. Pushing doesn’t just use your core — it activates your neck, jaw, and diaphragm, especially when you’re holding your breath or bearing down.
That’s why it’s so important to address any head, neck, or jaw pain ahead of time. You don’t know how intense or how long your birth will be, and the more ease and freedom you have in those areas, the better support your body will have when it really counts.
Important muscles to address
During pregnancy, the gag reflex is often more sensitive. I have seen a lot of jaw improvement happen without treating the few intraoral muscles that tend to set off that reflex.
When I’m working with my prenatal TMJ clients, I start with the areas that make the biggest difference: the neck muscles, the temporalis, and treating the masseter both externally and intraorally.
The masseter is the muscle that makes up what you think of as your cheek — so we work in that safe zone and stay far away from any gag‑triggering areas. It’s gentle, it’s targeted, and it can make a big impact without making you uncomfortable.
Working with a professional or learning self-relief
If your symptoms are getting worse than you can comfortably handle — especially if they’re severe, constant, or affecting your sleep or eating — that’s the time to work with a professional.
Ideally, look for an advanced TMJ‑trained massage therapist who can provide a full‑body prenatal massage and also address the specific TMJ muscles, including intraoral work, in the same session. I also have another video here on YouTube with tips for working with a manual therapist for TMJ pain.
But I don’t want you to feel like you’re helpless in between appointments. I highly recommend learning how to treat your own muscles at home — not only for added relief, but also to save time and money over the course of your pregnancy.
When you’re doing self‑work, remember:
✅ Use gentle pressure. Hormones affect tissue sensitivity, so less pressure can still be effective.
✅ Always treat both sides. Even if the pain is one‑sided, balance matters.
To get step‑by‑step guidance, I’d recommend my online course, “Self‑Relief for Head, Neck, and Jaw Pain.” Here are the specific things I want you do from that course:
SCM stretch for the neck,
the relaxing head & neck warm up routine
self-massage for temporalis, and external and intraoral masseter,
jaw and neck stabilization exercises
perpetuating factors including supportive side lying positions for sleeping
counter‑stretch to open up your breathing muscles — plus, in that I explain how this can actually take some of the baby’s weight off your spine
All of that can make a big difference in how you feel day to day.
When to talk with your medical team
There are times when you really do need to get your medical care team involved. If you suspect sleep apnea — maybe you’re snoring heavily, waking up gasping, or feeling completely unrefreshed — talk with your OBGYN or an ENT.
And if your headaches suddenly get worse, or come with vision changes, speech changes, dizziness, or swelling in your hands and face, call your doctor right away.
Pain that’s constant, worsening, or just doesn’t feel like your normal pattern is always worth bringing up.
Pregnancy already asks a lot of you, so you don’t need jaw pain and headaches on top of it. I hope these ideas help you feel more comfortable and more in control of your own care.
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