***Lockjaw - More Common for Women Than for Men

By Nancy Daniels The Official Guide to Public Speaking
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Throughout my years teaching voice and presentation skills, I have had scores of women complain of tightness and soreness in their lower jaw which I refer to as ‘lockjaw.’ While the true definition of the word refers to the inability to open the jaws due to tetanus, I use the word to describe women who place their tension in their lower jaw, neck and shoulder regions. What results from ‘lockjaw’ is not only soreness in those areas but often poor articulation.

What is fascinating about my study is that ‘lockjaw’ is rarely seen in men: men carry their stress differently. Women, on the other hand, are affected by stress that manifests itself in their shoulder, neck and mouth areas nine times out of ten.

If you experience ‘lockjaw,’ there are several things that you can do to remedy the problem, the first of which is to learn how to breathe with support. Shallow or lazy breathing, which is characteristic of the majority of the population, increases your stress which in turn increases the tension in those regions.

By learning to breathe with the support of your diaphragm, a muscular partition separating your chest from your abdomen, you will notice an immediate difference because your body will begin eliminating the nasty toxins that shallow or lazy breathing cannot.