© 2019 |Published by Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 139 Journal of Advances in Sports and Physical Education Abbreviated Key Title: J Adv Sport Phys Edu ISSN 2616-8642 (Print) |ISSN 2617-3905 (Online) Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Journal homepage: https://scholarsmepub.com/jaspe/ Original Research Article Prevalence of TMJ Disorders in Competitive Swimmers: A Cross Sectional Study Ajay Kumar 1 , Arya Dharan B *2 , Deepak Kumar Pradhan 3 1 Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, Srinivasa University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India 2 Post-Graduate Student, Department of Physiotherapy, Srinivasa University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, Srinivasa University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India DOI: 10.36348/JASPE.2019.v02i07.003 | Received: 28.08.2019 | Accepted: 04.09.2019 | Published: 29.09.2019 *Corresponding author: Arya Dharan B Abstract Swimming is an unique sport. It is the combination of upper limb and lower extremity strength exercise and also cardiovascular training in non-weight bearing environment . In competitive swimmers, there are four strokes freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke. Competitive swimmers trains 10,000 to 20,000 meter per day. At an average of 8 to 10 arm cycles per 25 meter. Swimmers push their body to the limits of the functions so normal variations in anatomy or biomechanics and poor technique may lead to overuse injuries and micro trauma. The most common swimming injuries are shoulder, neck and back. The prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in competitive swimmers is, shoulder 37%, knee 28%, spine 22% and foot and ankle is 19%. Limited number of studies are available to find out the prevalence of TMJ disorders in competitive swimmers. This study puts in an effort to find the same. Keywords: TMJ, TMD, Competitive, Swimmers. Copyright @ 2019: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is complex junction. It consists of three articular surface mandibular fossa, articular tubercle and head of the mandible [1-3]. The main function of the joint is opening and closing of the mouth [8]. The important muscles are involved in TMJ movements are the digastricus, masseter, lateral pterygoid and masticator muscles such as supra hyoid and infra hyoid. In temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), the TMD, masticatory muscles or both are involved. It can cause non dental pain in orofacial region. Impaired joint mobility clicking or crepitus, pain in the TMJ and ear, Eustachian tube dysfunction and dizzy spells. The predisposing factors are joint laxity, anatomical variations, capsular or muscular inflammation, repetitive motion and static articular stress [4, 5]. TMJ dysfunction is multifactorial disorder commonly associated with masticatory and articular disabilities and it is the combination of physiological structural and postural factors leads to derangement of functional balance between structures of TMJ. The association of pain is an important symptom has leads to need for investigation of epidemiology. However, swimming is a unique sport require combination action of both the extremities and trunk motions. According to previous studies there is a high demand on neck rotation and upper limb activities for the propulsion of the body inside the water and which negative synchronized activities of jaw and mastication structure. The importance of epidemiology of mastication and its knowledge requires effective diagnosis and therapeutic planning to completely all alleviate signs and symptoms. Previous studies has evaluated the prevalence of TMJ disorder among various population But till date there is no studies have been attempted to find out the prevalence of TMD among competitive swimmers through there is a greater demand on TMJ structure due to their swimming mechanics. So there is a need. AIM OF THE STUDY To find out the prevalence of TMD in competitive swimmers.. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY Study Design: A cross sectional study Study Population: competitive swimmers Study Sample Size: 300