The Jaw–Core Connection: What Your Bite Has to Do with Your Stability

Body Moxie
Sep 11, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Thomas Myers, Anatomy Trains, The Deep Front Line

When we think of core strength, most of us imagine planks, crunches, or maybe a Pilates class. But at BodyMoxie, we take a much broader view of the core — one that includes not just your abs, but your breath, pelvis, spine, and yes… even your jaw.

It might sound surprising, but jaw dysfunction can have a direct impact on your core stability, posture, and movement patterns. And if you’ve been struggling with lingering low back pain, hip tightness, or a core that just doesn’t feel “online,” the jaw might be an important missing piece.

Let’s break down the jaw-core connection, how compensation happens, and how we use NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT)at BodyMoxie to help you rebalance and reconnect.

Why the Jaw Matters

The jaw (temporomandibular joint or TMJ) is part of your body’s deep core stabilizing system. It's directly linked to the cranial nerves, which influence motor control, breathing patterns, and muscle activation throughout the body — especially in the core and pelvic floor.

Here’s how it plays out in real life:

Clenching or grinding (often unconscious) increases tension throughout the upper body
TMJ dysfunction can affect head and neck posture, which shifts your entire spinal alignment
Chronic jaw tension can cause the core stabilizers (like the diaphragm, pelvic floor, or deep abdominal muscles) to downregulate, meaning they stop firing properly

This creates a compensatory loop: other muscles — like the quads, lower back, or even the shoulders — jump in to provide stability that the core isn’t delivering. Over time, this leads to pain, fatigue, and dysfunctional movement.

Signs Your Jaw Might Be Disrupting Your Core Function

You don’t need to have jaw pain to have jaw-related compensation. In fact, many people don’t even realize their jaw is involved until we test it.

Here are a few common clues:

You clench your jaw during stress, workouts, or sleep
You have a “soft” or disconnected feeling in your core, even though you’re active
You experience persistent hip, low back, or pelvic floor tension
You’ve had dental work, braces, or jaw trauma in the past
You notice neck stiffness or headaches that come and go
You’ve tried strengthening your core, but it doesn’t seem to “stick”

If any of that sounds familiar, it’s worth exploring the jaw–core relationship through an NKT lens.

How We Use NeuroKinetic Therapy® (NKT) at BodyMoxie

NKT is a powerful assessment and retraining system that helps us uncover which muscles are overworking, which ones are underworking, and why. It uses manual muscle testing (in a non-invasive, consent-based way) to identify compensations in real time.

Here's how a session might look:

Assessment: We test key muscles in your core, hips, and jaw to find out what’s not functioning well.
Identify Compensation Patterns: For example, your masseter (jaw muscle) might be compensating for a weak transverse abdominis (deep core muscle).
Reprogram the Pattern: We use gentle, specific techniques to bring awareness to the dysfunctional pattern and help your nervous system "reassign" the job to the correct muscle.
Reinforce with Movement: You’ll get simple, targeted home exercises to help your brain and body keep the new pattern.

This isn’t about “strengthening” muscles harder — it’s about restoring communication between your brain and body. Once the right muscles are doing their job, everything else becomes easier: movement, posture, breath, even stress management.

Why This Matters

The body doesn’t work in isolated parts — it works as a system. At BodyMoxie, we look for the hidden connections that might be keeping you stuck, and we work with your body’s own intelligence to help you move better, feel stronger, and reconnect with ease.

If you’ve been doing “all the right things” — stretching, strengthening, foam rolling — but still feel like something is off, it might be time to look higher up the chain. Sometimes the answer is just under your nose — literally.