The Cause of Ear and Jaw Pain on One Side - The SCM Muscle

Experiencing ear and jaw pain on one side can be really confusing and you can find yourself going around in circles trying to work out what the problem is! And when you add headaches or migraines into this mix as well, this can have a huge effect on your life and make it difficult to function. 

If you are experiencing ear pain and jaw pain on one side, the first step is to really rule out any ear infection or infection of any teeth. This can be done by a doctor and a dentist, and it is worth chatting to them about the problems that you have been experiencing incase anything flags as needing more investigation. 

However if you have already been down that route and the ear and jaw pain on one side is persisting, either with or without the headaches and migraines then it is worth thinking about the muscular causes. This is usually the path that is taken once anything medical is ruled out. 

The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle lives towards the front of your neck. It is somewhere that often we get problems with, and this is usually related to posture. When the neck isn't aligned properly over the head these muscles can become over stretched and over worked and then they go on to develop trigger points and fascia adhesions.  

Have a look at this video where I chat a bit more about the SCM muscle and what it is and how to locate it: 

 In the above video we talk about why the SCM muscle causes ear and jaw pain on one side also the headaches. It is a really key muscle when it comes to these types of conditions and this is for two main reasons. 

Firstly, trigger points can develop in this muscle (think knots and you're on the right track). These trigger points cause a crazy referred pain pattern, causing guess what - ear and jaw pain on one side and of course headaches. Have a look at the image that shows the type of pain pattern that this muscle can cause.  

Secondly, the SCM muscles, as you can see by it's location (the X's in the picture) attach just behind the jaw and the ear. If you imagine that there is tightness in this muscle, due to it's positioning with posture, then it becomes quite easy to picture how this can create ear and jaw pain on one side, because of the way that it pulls on the jaw and ear area. 

You see, this muscle has connective tissue called fascia that runs through it. This connective tissue runs right up into the muscles and the bones and ligaments of the jaw. So any tightness or restriction in the fascia in and around the SCM will also cause problems further up in the jaw, ear and head area because of this pulling effect. 

Have a go at feeling for your SCM, it can be quite a job to get hold of especially if it is tight. Let me know - can you manage to locate it?