Behavioral therapy as an early intervention of acute local myalgia and headache attributed to temporomandibular disorded

Introduction: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are generally thought as conditions comprising both psychosocial and neuro-physiologic entities; notwithstanding this, their treatment is commonly based on physical interventions, which are usually proposed when the clinical feature is chronic. However, there is some evidence that cognitive behavioral skills training is an early intervention effective in patients with acute TMD pain. Case description: We report the case of a 39-year-old woman with acute local myalgia and headache attributed to temporomandibular disorder secondary to allostatic overload who received a 4-session behavioral therapy. The intervention induced the remission of symptoms. Discussion: Behavioral therapy seems to be helpful as an early intervention in acute local myalgia and headache attributed to TMD patients. Further studies and large-scale implementation are warranted.