This is a controlled jaw opening exercise. Sitting up straight, you rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth and keep it there while you open and close your mouth slowly. Physios sometimes include it in home programs for jaw pain, clicking or stiffness (temporomandibular disorder, or TMD). With the tongue held up, most people cannot open quite as wide as usual, so the movement stays a little smaller. You open only as far as the tongue allows and only as far as it stays pain free.

How to do the jaw opening with the tongue on the roof of the mouth

Sit up straight on a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting on your thighs.
Let your teeth part slightly, then place your tongue on the roof of your mouth. It stays there for the whole exercise.
Open your mouth slowly, keeping your tongue up. Stop as soon as the tongue starts to lift away or you feel any pain, whichever comes first.
Hold the open position for about 5 seconds and breathe through your nose.
Close slowly back to where you started, tongue still in place, and let your teeth rest apart.

What you should feel

A light working feeling under your chin and in front of your ears as the jaw opens. The jaw may feel a little stiff, but there should be no pain.

Common mistakes

Letting the tongue drop so the mouth can open wider.
Pushing the jaw open as far as it will go. Only open as far as is comfortable.
Opening fast, or letting the jaw swing to one side.
Clenching your teeth together between repetitions.

How often

Many programs use 5 to 10 slow openings, each held for a few seconds, a few times a day. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Pain in your jaw, face or ear that builds with each opening, or your jaw starts to catch, click painfully or lock so it will not open fully. Stop. If it stays stuck, or the pain stops you eating or drinking, get medical advice the same day from your doctor or dentist.
Your mouth gets stuck open and will not close, or your jaw feels out of place and your teeth no longer meet as they did. Go to an emergency department straight away, supporting your jaw gently with your hand, and do not drive yourself. Call emergency services if you also find it hard to breathe.
Things look double, your vision suddenly blurs or goes, your speech slurs or becomes muddled, swallowing becomes hard, your face or lips go numb, one side of your face droops or one side of your body goes weak or numb, you suddenly become so dizzy or unsteady that you fall or cannot stand or walk, your legs suddenly give way but you do not black out (a drop attack), or you get a sudden severe headache. Stop and call emergency services, even if it goes away.
Jaw, neck, shoulder or arm pain that comes with chest pain or tightness, sweating, feeling sick, feeling light-headed or being short of breath, or that comes on when you exert yourself, feel stressed or go out in the cold and does not ease within a few minutes of rest. Call emergency services straight away, as this can be a heart attack. If it eases quickly with rest and none of these happen, get medical advice the same day, and do not exercise again until you have been checked.

From the clinic

The voice guide says to open as wide as possible. With a sore jaw, treat that as "as wide as the tongue allows, without pain". In the video the mouth opens a moderate amount and closes calmly between openings. Aim for that size of movement. A painless click now and then is common in jaws, but a click that hurts, or a jaw that catches, is a reason to stop and tell your physio.

If your jaw has ever got stuck open, check with your dentist or physio before you start. After jaw surgery or a broken jaw, check with your surgeon before you start, and follow their plan. Jaw pain that comes with effort and goes with rest can be a sign of angina, a heart problem, rather than TMD. New, frequent headaches with pain or tenderness at your temples or on your scalp, or, if you are 50 or over, new jaw aching that comes on as you chew or talk and eases when you stop, need medical advice the same day, as they can be signs of inflamed arteries in the head (giant cell arteritis). If your vision changes, call emergency services.

Between sessions, keep your teeth apart when you are not eating. For a gentle stretch of the chewing muscles, see the temporalis stretch, and if your neck tends to poke forward, the chin tuck is often paired with it.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Jaw opening with the tongue on the roof of the mouth