The vagus nerve is an extremely important cranial nerve for regaulating the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, and thus can be a massive component in regulating organs, stress and anxiety.
What does the vagus nerve innervate:
Pharyngeal muscles: Affects swallowing.
Laryngeal muscles: Responsible for breathing, voice production, and protecting the airway when swallowing.
Smooth muscle fibers of the heart.
Gastrointestinal Tract: mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus.
Cutaneous (feeling and information on skin) Innervation of the ears.
Signs and symptoms of dysfunction of the vagus nerve:
Gastrointestinal Issues: Acid reflux, bloating, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea.
Heart problems: Increased/decreased heart rate or low blood pressure.
Mood issues: depression, anxiety, chronic mood problems.
Excessive sweating.
Gag reflex issues or swallowing problems.
Voice change problems.
Dizziness and sweating.
What Level Up can do to improve the Vagus Nerve
The goal of Level Up's approach to any Vagus work is to assess the cranial nerve itself and work on strengthening it and anything the vagus nerve innervates.
Check Diaphragm and breathing mechanics.
Work on viscera and emotional components.
Assess the Vagus nerve itself.
Work on the component of spinal pathway that helps regulate stress.
Diaphragm
The vagus nerve innervates the crural area of the diaphragm and runs through one of the hiatus's (openings in the diaphragm) as it moves towards the organs. So whenever the diaphragm moves we can stimulate the parasympathetic portion of the vagus nerve. So proper diaphragmatic breathing is important for regulating the parasympathetic nervous system.
Organs
Organs should naturally be able to move in and out of sympathetic and parasympathetic states. If we have increased drive of either states the organs can become dysfunctional and lead to other problems. P-DTR can be used to assess the organs to see if there is too much sympathetic stimulus or parasympathetic stimulus going to the viscera as well as visceral parietal pain.
Past trauma and stressors can also increase stress on these organs. P-DTR can be used to help you process any of these emotional stressors so you can move past and process these issues, but also unload the stress on the organs.
Cranial Nerve
Cranial nerves can be directly assessed, corrected, and re-calibrated using P-DTR. WE can use the cutaneous innervation of the ear to asses for the vagus nerve. The important thing to remember though is there are many things this cranial nerve innervates so this could be considered a great starting point.
Parasympathetic Nervous system
Assessing the spinohypothalamic system which can regulate stress and lots of sensory information coming to and from the brain is very important in making sure your body is properly in homeostasis. P-DTR works to assess the nervous system and the spinohypothalamic tract.
Photobiomodulation
Using photobiomodulation or low level lasers we can help give the cells the resources they need to operate most efficiently. This means we can work on the nerve to help with conduction and any structures associated the vagus nerve to make sure its as healthy as possible.
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