Tag: vagus nerve hack

Vagus Nerve Hack Diaphragm Release

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Have you ever been told to try diaphragmatic breathing to support your nervous system? It’s solid advice, but sometimes we may not be able to breathe optimally, and occasionally, it may feel like breathing causes more anxiety. In this blog, I’d love to show you a very specific technique—a diaphragm release—that can help you settle into your breath and optimize your breathing for your nervous system.

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Brief Anatomy of the Diaphragm

Let’s quickly explore the functional anatomy of the diaphragm. This crucial muscle of inspiration sits like a dome beneath your lungs. When you breathe in—ideally through your nose with your tongue resting on the roof of your mouth—your diaphragm flattens from its dome shape, creating intra-abdominal pressure that extends down to the pelvic floor. As you exhale, your pelvic floor and abdomen contract, and your diaphragm returns to its resting position. This seamless sequence is vital for effective breathing, and the vagus nerve, while not innervating the diaphragm, passes right through it.

Preparing for the Exercise

Today, we’ll use a soft ball to work on the myofascial tissue around the diaphragm, particularly in the intercostal areas, which often become tight due to prolonged sitting, phone use, and computer work. Before starting, take a few breaths while lying on your back, inhaling through your nose and exhaling slowly. Notice how your breath feels before the exercise.

How to Perform the Diaphragm Release

Here’s how to perform the diaphragm release:

  1. Use a soft ball and place it right underneath your sternum. 
  2. Relax your legs and prop yourself up on your forearms. 
  3. Begin to move front to back, side to side, working the tissue in the rib cage and intercostals (the space between each rib). 
  4. Move slowly, and when you find areas of restriction, pause and breathe into those areas. 
  5. Consider doing this on a soft surface, like a bed, to make it more comfortable.

After the exercise, assess how you’re feeling. Lie on your back, hands on your abdomen, and breathe deeply, expanding your breath fully. Notice any changes in how your breath feels compared to before the exercise.

Share Your Experience

Please consider this as a way to tap into your superpower, which is your breath. Give this vagus nerve hack a try, and let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear your comments and experiences. If this was helpful, please give it a like, share it, and subscribe to our YouTube channel, the Movement Paradigm, for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement. Our goal is to help you live your best life, heal, transform, and, more importantly, thrive.

Join Our Community

You can always join us in our app, the Movement Paradigm. We have lots of challenges every other month—everything from movement to the nervous system, nutrition, and so on. And we have a great community of people. 

You can also reach out to us for an individual appointment for functional medicine or holistic physical therapy. If you really want to get to the root cause, please reach out to us.

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Vagus Nerve Hack | Side Lying Visceral Release Technique

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Are you experiencing gas, bloating, indigestion, bowel irregularities, or feelings of anxiety, depression, or irritability? The side-lying visceral release technique is a powerful vagus nerve hack that can provide relief from gastrointestinal symptoms and nervous system regulation by stimulating the viscera and sending sensory information from the vagus nerve to the brain.

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What is the Side-Lying Visceral Release?

This technique is beneficial for addressing issues related to nervous system dysregulation and gut health. It’s particularly effective when done before bedtime, as it helps down-regulate your nervous system, promoting relaxation. Begin on your left side and then switch to your right to support the natural digestion process.

How to Perform the Side-Lying Visceral Release Technique

To perform this exercise, you’ll need a small ball—such as a Coregeous Ball, RAD Ball, or even a rolled-up towel or pillow. Follow these steps:

  1. Lie on your left side: Take a few deep breaths to settle in.
  2. Position the ball: Place it between your pelvis and rib cage. Adjust it according to your anatomy, allowing the tissue to gently drape over the ball.
  3. Relax: Focus on letting your skin, fascia, and organs completely relax over the ball. For best results, use your hand to maintain direct contact with the skin of your abdomen.
  4. Interoception: Spend one to two minutes in this position, tuning into the sensations in your body. Pay attention to the relaxation of the tissues and your overall physical sensations.

Eighty percent of the sensory information from the viscera is transmitted to the brain via the vagus nerve. By practicing this technique, you may activate a relaxation response and potentially release acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that promotes calmness. After completing the exercise, lie on your back with your knees bent, and take a moment to reflect on your physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts.

Share Your Experience

Give this technique a try and let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear your comments and experiences. If this was helpful, please give it a like, share it, and subscribe to our YouTube channel, the Movement Paradigm, for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement. Our goal is to help you live your best life, heal, transform, and, more importantly, thrive.

Join Our Community

You can always join us in our app, the Movement Paradigm. We have lots of challenges every other month—everything from movement to the nervous system, nutrition, and so on. And we have a great community of people. 

You can also reach out to us for an individual appointment for functional medicine or holistic physical therapy. If you really want to get to the root cause, please reach out to us.

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Vagus Nerve Hack for Stress Relief

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Are you experiencing neck tension, upper back tightness, or perhaps feeling your nervous system out of balance? If so, keep reading for an incredible technique—vagus nerve stress relief.

This unique method works best for downregulating the sympathetic nervous system and upregulating the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting a state of rest and digestion.

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Understanding the Stellate Ganglion & Stress Relief

In this technique, we’ll focus on the stellate ganglion. Located near the first rib, beneath the collarbone, the stellate ganglion is part of the sympathetic nervous system. By inhibiting this bundle of nerves, we induce a relaxation response, effectively dialing down the fight-or-flight response.

Before attempting this technique, it’s essential to consult with a medical professional, especially if you have underlying heart or vascular conditions.

How to Perform the Exercise

Begin by locating the tightness in your trapezius muscle—the area where neck tension often manifests. With your fingertips, feel along the border of this muscle towards the front of your body. As you sink down, you’ll encounter the first rib. Sink slightly forward from there, applying gentle pressure for about 90 seconds.

This deliberate pressure inhibits the sympathetic ganglion, gradually reducing the stress response. While you may initially experience a brief increase in sympathetic activity, this typically subsides as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is downregulated.

As you continue holding the pressure, you may notice calming signs such as a sigh, swallow, or an overall sense of relaxation.

Key Takeaway

This technique effectively balances the autonomic nervous system, complementing activities that promote parasympathetic responses like diaphragmatic breathing. Tempering the sympathetic response facilitates a smoother transition into relaxation.

Moreover, it enhances blood and lymph flow, particularly beneficial for addressing nerve issues, swelling, or symptoms associated with thoracic outlet syndrome. This technique can be applied to either side of the body and also aids in releasing tension in the thoracic spine.

Exploring this method can yield significant benefits in alleviating stress and promoting overall well-being.

If this was helpful, please give it a like, share it, and subscribe to our YouTube channel, the Movement Paradigm, for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement. Our goal is to help you live your best life, heal, transform, and, more importantly, thrive.

You can always join us in our app, the Movement Paradigm. We have lots of challenges every other month—everything from movement to the nervous system, nutrition, and so on. And we have a great community of people.

You can also reach out to us for an individual appointment for functional medicine or holistic physical therapy. If you really want to get to the root cause, please reach out to us.

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Vagus Nerve Hack Neck Relief

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Did you know that mechanical issues at the level of your cervical spine can influence the proper function of your vagus nerve? This can ultimately affect your blood pressure, heart rate, gut issues, anxiety, depression, and more. Essentially, this is yet another potential underlying cause that you may want to explore as the root of your vagal nerve dysfunction.

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Anatomy

As we know from our vagus nerve anatomy, the vagus nerve exits the brainstem. As it comes forward through this jugular foramen, it branches into the ear and throat. Then it comes actually down right through the front of the neck before it enters the heart, lungs, and digestive track.

What happens when there is a restriction in mobility?

Any restriction in mobility can create mechanical pressure and, therefore, neuroinflammation of the vagus nerve. For example, forward head posture can create compression of the vagus nerve.  If you are sitting at a desk all day, have an airway dysfunction such as a deviated septum, small nasal valves, enlarged turbinates, tonsil and adenoid issues, could influence forward head posture.

We also want to think about forward head posture as a result of the nervous system. If we are stressed, anxious, and depressed, that will also lend itself to a forward head posture, potentially a rounded posture.

Breathing and posture are interdependent on each other. If there’s a breathing issue, there’s a posture issue; if there’s a posture issue, there’s a breathing issue.

What can you do if you have posture issues

1. Body awareness

We can become aware of how we hold our bodies throughout the course of the day. We can become in tune with our postures and our positions, how long we’re there,  and be able to simply just check-in.

2. Addressing the issue

The second thing is addressing or exploring what airway issues may be present for you. If you are suspicious of this, seek out a professional to evaluate you.

At the minimum, try Mutes, a nasal dilator at night, to open the airway up to 38 percent, along with Xlear. It is important to reinforce nasal breathing.

3. Try these vagus nerve hacks

There are many ways to stimulate the vagus nerve, and I’ve done several blogs and videos on different exercises that can be very helpful.

●     Trapezius twist

The first, by Stanley Rosenberg, is the trapezius twist.

Grab your elbows and rock them back and forth at waist level, chest level, and above your shoulders.

It wakes up the trapezius muscles in the back and improves your posture immediately.

●     Myofascial release

When your lymph is congested, this can cause inflammation of the vagus nerve.

With your hand moving in a diagonal direction under your jawline towards your ear, traction the tissue up very gently. Move the skin over the tissue.  

Hold that position until you have some release. This may come in the form of a sigh, swallow, yawn, or a feeling of just a sense of relaxation. It will immediately bring your neck into a better position and could potentially relieve not only mechanical pressure on the vagus nerve but the other cranial nerves and even spinal nerves as well.

●     Salamander exercise

This is a version of Stanley Rosenberg’s exercise that I found to be extremely helpful. You’re stimulating the vagus nerve while also relaxing the spinal accessory nerves.

To do this exercise, interlace your fingers and bring them behind the back of your head. From this position, side-bend your upper body, and look with your eyes in the opposite direction. Hold that position for 30 seconds, and then you’ll come back to the center and repeat on the other side.

You want to check your range of motion in your neck before and after, and there should be an immediate improvement.

This provides neurological input from your eyes and your hands to the back of your head. It brings blood flow to the brain stem, where the vagus nerve and other cranial nerves exit. This creates a relaxation response as well as stimulates the spinal accessory nerve to create relaxation in the Sternocleidomastoid muscle and the upper trap muscle.

The mechanical influence of how your neck is positioned, joint mobility, soft tissue elasticity, lymphatic congestion, and airway dysfunction can all influence your vagus nerve.

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Movement Paradigm, for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement, and if you’d like to reach out to us for a consultation, please do so we would love to help.

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What if vagus nerve hacks aren’t working

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Have you been trying all of these different vagus nerve hacks, and they just don’t seem to be doing the trick? You’ve tried breathing, meditation, humming and cold showers, but you still feel like you’re dysregulated?

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How vagus nerve issues present

As many of you know, vagus nerve issues can present very differently for each person.

For one person, it may present as heart rate and blood pressure dysregulation. Another person may experience dizziness, headaches, or digestive issues, even something such as gastroparesis. Some may have increased anxiety or depression.

Even if you’ve tested your vagus nerve, such as the uvula or gag reflex test, and it’s shown that there has been some dysfunction of the vagus nerve, it is important to ask why there is vagus nerve dysfunction.

Why you may be having vagus nerve issues and how to address them

Although vagus nerve dysfunction may cause a whole host of different symptoms for each person, it is really imperative to figure out why that is happening. I know that many of you have heard, “getting to the root of the issue.” Many times, there is more than one underlying cause.

You may have had a predisposition in addition to a triggering event such as an infection, toxin exposure, vaccine, or even a stressful event.

And we also have some kind of, you know, triggering event or perpetuating factors that might be contributing to this ongoing process. So it’s really important to look at all of those.

If, for example, you have a gut issue like Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), leaky gut, candida, or even a parasite, this will largely impact your gut-brain connection. Your gut and brain are connected via the vagus nerve.

Eighty percent of the information from the vagus nerve goes to the brain from the viscera. Conversely, if there is any type of structural pathology, such as airway dysfunction (deviated septums, small nasal valves, enlarged turbinates, jaw issues, tongue tie, etc.), these will influence the vagus nerve, as the vagus nerve passes through the diaphragm.

If we are breathing from our neck and shoulders 25,000 times a day, that will affect how that nerve functions.

The last is a lymphatic issue. Our nerves are bathed in our lymph system. If there’s any congestion from systemic inflammation, perhaps stemming from the gut originally,  or myofascial restrictions, these will impact the vagus nerve. Our vagus nerve passes right through the left supraclavicular region, where we have the majority of our lymph draining here. If it’s congested, it will affect the rest of the system.

I hope you can appreciate that there are many reasons to delve into to be able to understand why you have vagus nerve dysregulation.

We offer integrative vagus nerve therapy to be able to help you, through this journey to be able to identify what these causes are and really help you take the next step forward, It’s important to continue to do all of the suggested vagus nerve hacks, all while determining the underlying causes of why you have it in the first place, emotionally and physically.

If you are ready to take action now, schedule here: https://p.bttr.to/3Qu7wRd

If it was helpful, give it a like, give it a share, and of course, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Movement Paradigm, for weekly tips on mindset nutrition and movement thank you as always.

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Vagus nerve test | Gag reflex

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

You know I love to hack the nervous system, and here is another way to explore your vagus nerve.

The gag reflex is innervated by cranial nerves, cranial nerve IV, the glossopharyngeal nerve, as well as cranial nerve X, the vagus nerve. Here is another way to assess your vagal nerve function, amongst other things.

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What you should expect from physical therapy

1. Thorough evaluation

You deserve a thorough evaluation, no matter what you are reaching out to physical therapists for, whether that’s movement issues, chronic pain, acute pain, vestibular, balance issues, post-surgery, pre-surgery, or any other reason.

That means not only a physical therapist should be looking at your current symptom (s), but they are looking to figure out why they happened in the first place, even during post-surgical cases. A thorough evaluation includes looking at a detailed movement assessment, where your compensation patterns lie, what might be driving some of the issues you’ve had, and all of your modifiable lifestyle factors. How is your sleep? Your nutrition? How are your relationships? How is your stress management? If your therapist is missing these details, they are missing a huge element of helping you heal.

2.  Practicing what they preach

You deserve a physical therapist who practices what they preach, whether that’s movement, balance, or exercise. They should be a health leader, educator, and movement specialist, and because of that, they have an obligation to be able to do the things that they are recommending that you should do.

3. 1-on-1 care

It is hard to find 1-on-1 care in today’s healthcare environment. I worked in the outpatient practice for eight years, so I understand a busy outpatient setting, and unfortunately, the demands of insurance companies are dictating this. However, you deserve to be able to be the only person in the room, to be listened to, and to have your therapist understand your diagnosis, prognosis, underlying causes, current concerns, goals, and plan of care without being pulled in a million directions. One-on-one care is extremely important, whether that’s 30-minute sessions or 60-minute sessions.

4. Someone who will look at you as a whole person

You should expect someone who listens to your story and understands that you are not a “shoulder problem,” you are not a “hip injury,” and that you are a person; you are human with a story and emotions and thoughts and all the things that make you wonderful. So, make sure that someone is looking at you as a human with a beautiful story, not just an injury.

5. Mindful and intentional movement

You should expect a therapist to help you perform mindful, intentional movement to help guide you to move with interoception, internal awareness of self, and to be able to understand movement quality, as opposed to high-volume exercises with poor form.  As movement educators, one of the greatest gifts we can share with you is to help you move your body the way it was intended to so that you can continue to do the things you love.

What you shouldn’t expect from physical therapy

What are some of the things that you should not expect from physical therapy? This is equally as important.

1. You should not be on things that will not help you get well

You should not be on hot packs, cold packs, electrical stimulation, ultrasounds, or other modalities that aren’t helping you get well. They are sometimes time-savers for the therapist, but they are not actually creating better movement in your body. They’re not getting to the root of your issue. They are not moving you forward, and you want to be able to maximize your time spent in physical therapy.

2. You shouldn’t be warming up on machines

You don’t want to get to physical therapy and go on the treadmill or bike to warm up for 10 or 15 minutes—you want to learn how to move your body. Every minute counts!

3. You shouldn’t be on tons of band exercises

You should not be going through tons and tons of band exercises with poor form without guidance. Especially when you feel like you are going through the motions and you could do this at home.

If you feel like you could do that at home, that’s your first sign that this is not a good fit.

I want everyone to believe in physical therapy. We have an amazing opportunity to share with you the gift of movement.

In summary, when you think physical therapy is a waste of time, you’re put on machines and lots of modalities, and you feel like you are competing for your PT’s attention, you deserve better.

Please make sure to find a great physical therapist in your area who does one-on-one care, looks at you as the whole person, that addresses potential root causes of your injury or your pain or any other issue that you might be experiencing.

If you need help, please reach out to us, we do virtual and in-person care, and we perform holistic physical therapy. Schedule your evaluation here: https://p.bttr.to/3qHXz8i

If it was helpful, give it a like, share it, and subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Movement Paradigm, for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement.

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Vagus Nerve Hack | Gastroesophageal Release

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Do you suffer from acid reflux, and you’re trying to figure out how to manage your condition? Many factors go into this, but today’s focus is on a visceral release for your gastroesophageal junction that may, in fact, help relieve your symptoms.

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It’s important to remember that when we are in a stressed state, we have blood flow that’s moving away from the digestive tract. To be able to digest optimally, we have to be in a parasympathetic state, i.e., rest and digest.

Stimulating the vagus nerve via the digestive tract by performing visceral releases can be a great way to manage and treat your condition. 

The gastroesophageal junction connects the esophagus to the stomach. The esophagus, stomach, and the rest of the digestive tract are innervated by the vagus nerve. This junction itself regulates the food and fluid that is moving from the esophagus to the stomach. This is a very important function because this is one of the things that can contribute to acid reflux. From an anatomical perspective, the esophagus passes right through the diaphragm. As you’re performing the exercise, diaphragmatic breathing is very important before, during, and after to be able to calm the nervous system down and optimize esophageal mobility. If the diaphragm is restricted, then that means it could compress the esophagus as well. 

To perform this technique:

  1. To find the location, move down the sternum and under the xiphoid process. Perform this exercise lying down and while you gently press into the tissue. You might already feel some tenderness, which is quite common and normal. 
  2. Once you’ve assessed the tissue, then traction the tissue down and to your left towards the stomach. Once you’re there, perform your diaphragmatic breathing. As you inhale, you’re creating resistance against the tissue. As you exhale, move down and out while tractioning the tissue more. Perform this until you feel a release or until the tissue begins to feel more relaxed. You might also have another response in your nervous system, such as a sigh, swallow, or yawn. However, you will feel the tissue relax and feel not as tender. Those are all positive signs that you’re performing the technique properly. 
  3. Perform this in-between meals. You don’t want to do it immediately before or after a meal. You can perform this exercise right before bed or in the morning. 

Make sure you speak to a medical provider if you are dealing with a chronic condition to make sure this is an appropriate technique for you. Always be gentle and intentional, and never aggressive. 

Please make sure to check out all of our other vagus nerve hacks that can help you optimize your health and longevity. Make sure to give this a share and subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Movement Paradigm for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement.

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Vagus nerve hack | Diaphragmatic and Lymphatic Release

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

Did you know that the lymphatic system is one of the most powerful yet neglected systems in the body and it’s critical for our immune health?

As we know, nearly 90% of all chronic diseases and chronic health conditions are associated with excessive or persistent inflammation. How do we get rid of inflammation and detoxify our bodies? We do this primarily through the lymphatic system and our detoxification organs.

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Our liver is one of the most important detoxification organs, but we also want to factor in our lungs, kidneys, skin, and even our tongue.

How does this relate to the vagus nerve?

Although the vagus nerve does not innervate the lymphoid organs directly, it does play a huge role in the neuroimmune axis. There’s information coming into the brain via the vagus nerve and from the brain via the vagus nerve. Our diaphragm is one of our main respiratory pumps for the lymphoid system. If you are having any gut issues and if you suspect that your lymphatic system is congested, which it is for many people, this is a great technique to release the diaphragm to optimize your respiratory pump. The vagus nerve passes right through the diaphragm, so when you are stimulating the diaphragm, you are also stimulating the vagus nerve. 

How do you perform the technique? 

You can do this lying down or standing up. Use a scooping technique right underneath the ribcage on the left side. The diaphragm is attaching to the inside of the ribs. Push down towards the opposite hip with your hands gently to release the spleen, stomach, and pancreas. Perform this about 10 times.

Then, switch to the other side where we will release the liver and gallbladder. Perform 10 times.

Lastly, come into the center of the abdomen between the sternum and belly button. You will incorporate this with your breath. Inhale and relax the hands, exhale push in with your hands with a pumping motion. This will help pump the lymphatic system. This should not be aggressive at all, just intentional. Perform this for another 10 reps.

Make sure you check out all of my other vagus nerve hacks, but if this was helpful, make sure to give it a share. Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel. The Movement Paradigm for weekly tips on mindset, nutrition, and movement.

If you are interested in making a consult for yourself, please make sure to reach out. You can check us out at staging.movementparadigm.flywheelsites.com, we would love the opportunity to help you.

Need help? Reach out for a 15-minute FREE discovery session to see how we can help you on your journey.

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Vagus Nerve Hack | Pyloric valve release | visceral release

Vagus Nerve Hack | Ileocecal Valve Release | Visceral Release

Vagus Nerve Hack | Pyloric valve release | visceral release

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

If you’re experiencing any gut issues or stress, then this vagus nerve hack, the pyloric valve release, may be very powerful for you.

The pyloric valve connects the stomach to the small intestine. If you have increased stress, blood flows away from your digestive tract. Additionally, low fiber intake, decreased pancreatic enzyme efficiency, or low stomach acid can contribute to pyloric valve dysfunction.

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Essentially, when food is not broken down well, then the bacteria are passed downstream to the small intestine. That can cause a whole host of issues from dysbiosis and SIBO — small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

The interesting thing about the pyloric valve is that it is innervated with parasympathetic fibers as well as sympathetic fibers. The sympathetic fibers act on noradrenaline, which will increase the contraction of that sphincter. The parasympathetic fibers contribute to the relaxation of that sphincter. And that’s where the vagus nerve comes into play.

How do you perform this release? 

First, you want to locate the pyloric valve by lying on your back. You start from your umbilicus, or belly button, and come up about two inches. Everyone’s torso is going to be a little bit different, so the location of the pyloric valve will be different for every person.

Once you come up about two inches, then you should be able to feel the sphincter. It will feel like a little circle. You’ll be able to work your way into the tissue.

Once you’ve located it, you can begin to do a very gentle soft release here using a small circular motion. Then, when you do the actual pyloric valve release, move your hands over to the left, towards the stomach. Use both hands to gently pull the tissue in towards the pyloric valve. Once you gently pull the tissue over, you will hold that for one to two minutes to allow everything to relax. 

Whenever you’re doing these types of releases, think intentional, not aggressive. You want to let the tissue relax and soften. You may feel tenderness at first which is normal. It should release, however, as you continue. You do not want to perform this right after you eat.

Try doing this before bed to help down-regulate the nervous system. It’s a great way to calm the nervous system. You could also do this before you eat to bring yourself to a parasympathetic state to optimize your digestion. Enjoy! 

If you are interested in making a consult for yourself, please make sure to reach out. You can check us out at staging.movementparadigm.flywheelsites.com, we would love the opportunity to help you.

Need help? Reach out for a 15-minute FREE discovery session to see how we can help you on your journey.

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Vagus Nerve Hack | Ileocecal Valve Release | Visceral Release

Vagus Nerve Hack | Ileocecal Valve Release | Visceral Release

Posted on by Arianne Missimer

If you are experiencing any kind of gut issues like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, SIBO, leaky gut, or even upper GI issues like GERD then you should give this vagus nerve hack a try, the ileocecal valve release.

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What is the ileocecal valve?

The ileocecal valve connects the small intestine to the large intestine and prevents any backflow of nutrients and undigested food into the small intestine. The large intestine is where we have most of our beneficial bacteria. So, we don’t want to have a backflow of toxic material moving into the small intestine where it is not supposed to be. This can cause a whole host of issues such as SIBO or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. The small intestine is where we’re supposed to be absorbing the nutrients from our food. Issues around this ileocecal valve can typically cause a lot of tenderness around the area.

How does the vagus nerve fit into this?

The vagus nerve modulates digestion through the migrating motor complex. This migrating motor complex is located in our small intestine and helps to move things through towards the large intestine. It can also affect the ileocecal valve. In essence, the vagus nerve influences our small intestine and ileocecal valve. 

How do you perform the release? 

While lying down, find your hip bone. Then, orient yourself to your belly button. From those hip bones, move 1/3 of the way up towards your belly button and that is called McBurney’s point. When you get to that area, sink your fingers nice and easily into the tissue. First, assess to see if it is tender? Does it feel restrictive? Once you’ve assessed the tissue on your bare skin, gently compress the tissue inward and then traction the tissue up towards the belly button. Try to hold gently anywhere from two to four minutes. You may feel a decrease in tenderness and/or some motility. Sounds are common and normal. This is a great technique to do right before bed. Try to perform on a daily basis for eight weeks. 

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