Nervus vagus - our X. nerve and the therapy
Functions of Our Nervous System
Stress affects all of us nowadays. In the past, when we were primitive humans being chased by saber-toothed tigers, we developed numerous nervous responses for successful survival during our escape, during which the function of internal organs was deprioritized. This is because, for quick escape, a significant portion of blood supply needed to be directed to muscle tissue (so we could run). This response was triggered by the sympathetic nervous system.
Once we successfully escaped from the tiger and could consider ourselves safe, the parasympathetic nervous system engaged, allowing for "relaxation": there was time to recover after the sprint, digest the food in our digestive system, and even sleep.
Many of these reactions have remained with us to this day and activate similarly when we feel anxious. However, due to our changed lifestyle and circumstances, chronic stress in Western civilization often keeps our sympathetic nervous system activated more frequently. Factors such as prolonged psychological stress, too little or too much exercise, processed foods, metal placements during surgeries, and working night shifts (along with disrupted, irregular sleep patterns) all impact this. As a result, we may struggle to recover properly, inflammatory diseases may persist, sleep quality and duration may deteriorate, and we may experience forward head posture, teeth grinding, or jaw clenching at night. We could also suffer from neck, shoulder, jaw, and radiating head muscle pain, as well as diarrhea and digestive issues. Treatment for this is a manual therapy that, when combined with lifestyle changes, can significantly improve our ability to manage stress rather than being dominated by it. :)
What Does the Treatment Look Like?
During the treatment, we meet once a week, minimum 5 times in a row to manually relax the areas innervated by the vagus nerve. We apply many gentle manual techniques to the neck, chest, stomach, and partially to the intestinal area from the abdomen.