11/09/2025
VAGUS NERVE & VISCERAL INTERACTION
⠀
[ANATOMY LESSON - OSTEOPATHIC APPROACH]
⠀
The vagus nerve is a seemingly never-ending branching nerve that connects most of our major organs to our brain.
⠀
It’s the longest cranial nerve in our body, one for the right side and one for the left. And is largely responsible for the mindbody connection for its role as a mediator between thinking and feeling, you know our “gut feeling”.
⠀
The vagus nerve is the “queen” of the parasympathetic nervous system. The “rest and digest” or the chillout nerve. So the more we do things to activate the vagus nerve (like deep breathing), the most we combat the effects of its opposer, the sympathetic nervous system - the “fight or flight”, rushing around, have to do something, stress releasing one.
⠀
A few other functions of the vagus nerve, just to name a few:
▪️slows your heart rate and respiration.
▪️lowers blood pressure.
▪️helps with calmness and relaxation.
▪️controls involuntary muscles in the digestive system, therefore, aiding digestion.
▪️taste sensation.
▪️movement function for the muscles in the neck responsible for swallowing and speech.
▪️gut-brain communication.
▪️reduces inflammation.
The vagus nerve is 80% afferent, meaning that most of its sensory fibers goes from your organs to your central nervous system (brain).
⠀
If your organs are stuck or aren’t moving properly the way they should, for example because of fascial adhesions, they will send sensory feedback via the vagus nerve to your brain that things aren’t going so well. The result might be that you feel terrible most of the time. Osteopathy treatment can help to get rid of that.
![VAGUS NERVE & VISCERAL INTERACTION ⠀[ANATOMY LESSON - OSTEOPATHIC APPROACH]⠀The vagus nerve is a seemingly never-ending ...](https://img3.findhealthclinics.com/447/140/1438934284471407.jpg)
