The pattern of elevator activity during mastication in temporal and masseter muscles of 37 patients with functional disorders and pain in the masticatory system was studied before and after conventional treatment and compared with a control group of 43 subjects. As compared to controls, patients before treatment chewed with greater relative strength (percent of maximal elevator activity), longer relative contraction times (percent of total duration of chewing cycle) and stronger intermediary activity between strokes. These parameters of muscle coordination are proposed as quantitative estimates of "hyperactivity". Conventional treatment abolished pain, tenderness and other symptoms and signs completely in 18 patients in whom the most significant findings in the muscles under study were reductions in absolute and relative contraction times ascribed to increased stability produced by occlusal adjustment. It is suggested that relatively shorter pauses before treatment impaired blood flow and that their prolongation following treatment improved circulation. During the strong, dynamic contractions of mastication, masseter muscles tended to be more susceptible to hyperactivity than the temporal muscles.