The Study

Temple Massager · Field record and clinical data

Fifteen years in the field. Now the data agrees.

Long before a clinical study existed, combat units, VA clinics, and 911 dispatch centers were reaching for the same small device between shifts. In 2026, a formal study measured what they'd been telling us for years.

IRB-approvedIRB expedited review
Registered studyClinicalTrials.gov NCT07639658
Non-electric, drug-freeA mechanical device, no battery or medication
Field record, 2008–2026

Where it's actually been used

A general wellness device doesn't usually end up in a combat engineer company's after-action file, or a police department's wellness unit. Here's the documented trail — donation letters, unit memos, and clinician correspondence — that led up to the study below.

2008
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
First documented use in recovery care, delivered through an American Red Cross donation to wounded troops.
2009
Stanford University School of Medicine
A TMJ and craniofacial pain specialist reviews the device's approach to temporal-muscle tension.
2010
235th Engineer Company, CA Army National Guard
Used by soldiers as a stress-relief tool during pre-mobilization training and deployment to Afghanistan.
2011
National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda
The Department of the Navy formally accepts 20 units for wounded warriors and their families.
2017
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Additional units donated to support patient care and recovery.
2017
Veteran support group, Fort Bragg, CA
A clinical psychologist introduces the device to combat veterans managing PTSD, headaches, and anxiety.
2021
Dental and craniofacial specialists
Clinicians begin recommending the device to patients for jaw clenching and facial-nerve conditions.
2022
North Bay Vet Center
A VA-affiliated clinical social worker documents its use in ongoing veteran mental health care.
2023
Santa Rosa Police Department
Seventy-five units donated department-wide, including to dispatchers working high-stress shifts.
2025
Reno and Denver 911 dispatch centers
Adopted for on-shift use in quiet rooms, alongside San Diego PD's wellness and detective units.
2026
The clinical study begins
The first IRB-approved, ClinicalTrials.gov-registered study of the device, described below.
The 2026 study

What we actually measured

This wasn't a lab test of what the device does to nerves or muscles. It was a real-world study of what happened to the people using it — tracked with the same standardized surveys clinicians use to measure anxiety, sleep, and quality of life.

Temple Massager System — observational wellness study
Protocol MOQ-TM-2026-01 v02 · IRB 16370 · NCT07639658
Who was studied
68 women, ages 35–65, with recurring headaches, jaw tension, or clenching
What they did
Used the device at home, 5+ minutes daily, for 4 weeks
Study design
Single-arm, observational — everyone used the device; no separate comparison group
Completion
57 of 68 finished the study; 35 met the strict criteria for the main analysis
Conducted by
MOQ Collective, Ltd, fully remote, June–July 2026

In plain terms: because everyone in the study used the device — there was no group who didn't — this design can tell us what changed while people used it. It can't, on its own, prove the device was the only reason. That distinction matters, and we've kept it front and center below rather than in the fine print.

Within that limit, the results were consistent: they held up across three different ways the researchers sliced the data, including a conservative check that assumed no improvement at all for anyone who dropped out. A second analyst, working independently from the raw numbers, reproduced the results exactly.

Results, translated

What changed over four weeks

9.9 → 5.1
Average anxiety score (GAD-7) — a drop past the threshold clinicians consider a meaningful change. 30 of 35 participants improved.
−32%
Fewer headache days per week, from about 4.4 down to roughly 3.0.
−57%
Drop in over-the-counter pain medication use, from 1.66 to 0.71 days a week.
0
Adverse events reported, across 286 completed check-ins over the study.

Share of participants reporting meaningful improvement, by area

Bar chart showing share of participants reporting meaningful improvement across fatigue, pain interference, emotional wellbeing, anxiety, headache days, sleep disturbance, and physical function control.

Physical function wasn't expected to change from a temple-and-jaw device, and it didn't — researchers included it deliberately as an internal check. That participants' answers moved differently across categories, rather than uniformly, is a sign people were reporting real experience rather than just rating everything better.

Secondary Outcomes Breakdown (n=35 Analysis Cohort)

Detailed secondary outcomes data chart detailing baseline vs week 4 changes across all PROMIS domains, GAD-7, headache frequency, and OTC medication usage.

Complete breakdown of primary and secondary study outcome measures across baseline and Week 4 checkpoints.

Reading the data honestly

What this study shows — and what it doesn't

What it shows

  • A real, statistically significant improvement in self-reported anxiety and quality of life over four weeks.
  • That improvement held up across every way the researchers checked it, including a conservative analysis that assumed no benefit at all for anyone who dropped out.
  • No adverse events, across 286 completed check-ins.
  • High follow-through for a fully remote, unsupervised study — most participants kept using it.

What it doesn't show

  • That the device alone caused the change. There was no comparison group, so some of the improvement may reflect other factors.
  • How the results generalize beyond women aged 35–65 with recurring headaches or jaw tension — that's who was studied.
  • The exact size of the headache reduction — the daily diary format changed partway through the study.
  • A mechanism of action. No claim is made about nerves, muscles, or how the effect happens.
In their own words

What the field record says

"After just a few minutes with the Temple Massager, my team was hooked. It's a drug-free way to get relief and reduce anxiety and intrusive thoughts."

Emergency Communications Supervisor, Denver 911

"Within 24 hours of drop-off, a dispatcher reported significant relief from a severe migraine within 10 minutes — a scenario that would normally have resulted in sick time and the department being short-staffed."

Chief of Police, Santa Rosa Police Department

"The second I handed them out, everyone immediately started to use them. The mood in the office instantly lifted."

Wellness Unit, San Diego Police Department

"It has allowed some to get through periods of stress or anxiety without having to use a PRN medication — a useful addition to their toolbox."

Licensed Clinical Psychologist, working with combat veterans

"An experience of pain relief results in an improved mood, which generates enough space for positive change. We call this the 'virtuous cycle.'"

LCSW, Director, North Bay Vet Center

"My wife has seen measurable improvement with her Bell's Palsy, and I've seen a definite decrease in my own clenching and grinding."

DDS, Fellow, Academy of General Dentistry

Temple Massager is a general wellness product and is not a medical device. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The 2026 study describes self-reported changes among participants using the device; it does not establish that the device alone caused those changes. Individual results vary.