One of the odder stories to come out of Wimbledon 2016 – at least for those who might not make the connection – was that Milos Raonic uses a mouthguard to help fight back pain.
Raonic, the tall Canadian who faced Andy Murray in the final, had battled chronic back pain throughout the previous season and had tried custom orthotics in his shoes.
However back pain is often be caused by tension throughout the body and this tension can be exacerbated, if not caused, by the act of grinding your teeth at night.
This was the case for Raonic who found relief from his back pain lay in a custom mouthguard. As he told the Wimbledon website:
“I think the whole point is so you don’t grind your teeth. So I think it’s meant to give you like a certain amount of spacing, which doesn’t force muscles to tense up and so forth.”
If you have questions about custom or bespoke mouth guards and how they can help alleviate back pain in some specific cases, contact the practice and we will be happy to advise.