Take a look at a photo of yourself from ten years ago. Does your face look wider at the bottom now? Do you feel like your jawline has become "heavy" or square?
While many people blame this on weight gain or normal aging, the actual culprit is often sitting right in your jaw: Chronic Clenching and Bruxism (teeth grinding).
The Bodybuilder Effect in Your Face
Your masseter muscles (the ones located at the angle of your jaw) are the strongest muscles in your body relative to their size. When you clench your teeth out of stress or during sleep, you are essentially putting your jaw through a heavy weightlifting session for hours at a time.
Just like your biceps grow when you lift dumbbells, your jaw muscles grow when you clench. This is a medical condition called Masseter Hypertrophy. The muscles bulge outward, creating a widened, bulky, or masculine appearance in the lower face. Furthermore, this hyperactive downward pulling action drags the corners of your mouth down, accelerating the formation of jowls.
Lifting the Face with EMFACE and AK
To restore a youthful, lifted "V-shape" to your face, you have to stop the downward pull and strengthen the upward lift.
At Phelts Chiropractic PC, we use a two-step approach:
- The Neurological Reset (Applied Kinesiology): Dr. Phelts uses AK to identify why your masseters are locked in a spasm. By correcting cranial faults or emotional stress reflexes, we neurologically signal the masseters to relax and stop "lifting weights."
- The Structural Lift (EMFACE): While the masseters are pulling down, the elevator muscles in your cheeks and forehead are usually weak. EMFACE uses HIFES technology to specifically strengthen these lifting muscles, pulling the facial structure back up. Simultaneously, the Radiofrequency (RF) tightens the skin, smoothing out the heavy lower face.
You don't need surgery to slim your jawline; you just need functional balance.
Learn how we treat the structure of the face in our full guide:
Jaw Pain & Headaches? The FDA-Cleared Treatment That Also Lifts Your Face
References
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Masseter Hypertrophy and Facial Appearance: Clinical reviews confirm that chronic clenching and bruxism lead to masseter muscle hypertrophy, which significantly alters the facial profile by creating a squared, enlarged lower face.
Source: PMC - The Role of Botulinum Toxin for Masseter Muscle Hypertrophy: A Comprehensive Review -
Lifting the Facial Structure: Research shows that stimulating the elevator muscles of the face (frontalis, zygomaticus major and minor) significantly increases resting muscle tone and provides a non-surgical lifting effect to counter downward facial laxity.
Source: PMC - The Efficacy and Safety of Synchronized Radiofrequency and High Intensity Facial Electrical Stimulation
