The Vagus Nerve – What’s Not Being Talked About

What is NOT being talked about however is HOW the Vagus nerve is triggered to suppress the body’s ability to “rest and digest”  and perform all of the 40 different metabolic functions /organ functions that it is responsible for, including tissue healing and cell regenerations. For many decades now science has let us know that it is STRESS that kills or makes us sick. When we are stressed the adrenal cortical system triggers a tensioning and contraction of the muscular system throughout the body.

Some very particular muscles are expressive of “stress”. Can you guess which they are? How about the cringe muscles in the back of our neck and shoulders? How about the Psoas which draws our body forward and onto our toes in anticipation of the need to take action? How about the very primitive shrinking of our neck to keep us safe from “losing our head”?

The Vagus nerve exits the skull in the crowded and tense space between our Occiput (the back of our Cranium) and our neck. Too tight sub-occipital muscles at the base of the skull put bio-mechanical pressure on the Vagus nerve. It seems that bio-mechanical pressure triggers a suppression of the Parasympathetic functions. The results are: the inability to digest one’s food, poor drainage of fluids from the sinuses of the head (chronic migraine), pressure on the Trigeminal nerve (Trigeminal neuralgia) and the Vaso-Basilar Artery (VBA) known to cause unconsciousness when compressed. The term that you’ll see in the article implies that we need to STIMULATE Vagal TONE. This is a bit confusing as it appears to be PRESSURE on the Vagus that SUPPRESSES parasympathetic functions.

The article refers to the use of regulating the breathing mechanism for stimulating Vagal Tone and releasing the dominance of the Sympathetic Nervous System (our fight/flight mechanisms). That’s a valuable tool to be sure, but it will NOT correct problems with the Vagus that are created out of unilateral tension patterns in the Sub-occipital rotators, the Obliquus Capitis Superior and Inferior.

Bio-mechanically the torque at the top of the neck OCS/OCI can also inhibit the whole lateral line of support for the ipsilateral leg and shoulder and the medial support of the opposite hip flexor. These patterns are repeatable and testable in every client with a dominant Obliquus Capital Superior.

Since I began correcting this problem, clients with chronic migraine patterns and low back/hip problems have been recovering from these persistent symptoms.

If you know muscle testing I invite you to check out my observations and discover this for yourself.