Wendy Melkonian

I am a licensed and practicing neuromuscular massage therapist, practicing for more than 10 years, and specializing in TMJ massage therapy. My career has been greatly influenced by my father, Dr. Roger Melkonian. He was a leader in the field of cranio-mandibular disorders, TMJ orthopedics and achieved international recognition as an expert in pain management. It always amazed me how his work positively affected so many of his patients by exponentially decreasing and/or eliminating their chronic pain.

My field of work includes the nerves (neuro) and muscles (muscular) and is rehabilitative (to get you better). I started my schooling with the intention of specializing in the jaw specifically – the Temporal Mandibular Joint. I am still fascinated as I continue to learn more about this joint and its surrounding muscles, as well as its effect on the rest of the body. For example, when we get stressed, the first thing most of us do, consciously or not, is clench our jaw. The muscles that clenching activates can cause a domino effect of structural and muscular misalignment which in turn can cause pain that can occur anywhere in the body. I always say, “The elbow is connected to the knee bone.” What I mean by that is that you may be having pain in your hip, but during our sessions we will find the origin of that pain, and often it will be somewhere other than the hip. Very often, it is found in the jaw. Like I said- Fascinating!

I always work on a pain scale of 1-10 (10 being the worst), and never want you to experience anything past a 4. Pain causes us to tense up, and that is exactly what we are trying to remedy. The beginning of each session is spent helping you settle into a good headspace- I call it “connecting mind to muscle”. The better your headspace, the more we can accomplish. I will educate you on what is happening with your muscles, and give you stretches you can do at home to continue your progress.

My goal is to have you feeling significantly better when you leave the office, and continue therapy as needed until you are pain free. Every body is different, so some may need more therapy than others, and that is a plan we can work on creating together. I cannot wait to get you on that path to a life free of pain!