VAGUS NERVE STIMULATION IN AK TESTING

By: David Leaf, D.C.

There has been a tremendous increase in books and published papers on the significance of the vagus nerve For example, earlier this year, a paper examined the effects of oriental practices like chanting or humming

The article went on to show that one of the positive benefits of these actions was to stimulate the vagus nerve

At the ICAK meetings for a few years, Dr George Gonzalez demonstrated testing for the cranial nerves While testing an intact normal muscle, stimulation was done to the cranial nerves or their function was challenged to see if it caused inhibition of the tested muscle

His test for the vagus nerve was to stimulate the pharynx with the tongue and have the person make noise during the stimulation Recent research shows that humming stimulates the vagus nerve This is the method used in chanting, humming, or singing that stimulates the vagus nerve

Suppose you are confronted with a patient with visceral problems, especially one with multiple organ malfunctions. First, test the related muscles for inhibition. Then ask the patient to hum, stimulating the vagus nerve, and test for facilitation of the inhibited muscles.

If the muscle is facilitated, test for the need for choline to produce acetylcholine Then test for involvement of the other nerves that exit the skull by the occipital bone

If other cranial nerve involvements of those that exit at the occipital bone are found, test for the need to do the jugular decompression technique. When Goodheart first talked about this problem, he found observable changes in the pharynx

Over contraction of the suboccipital muscles can adversely affect these cranial nerves Therefore, further investigation should be made as to why these muscles are over-contracted

If the vagus nerve is involved with the visceral problems first encountered, do not fail to consider testing for other nutritional and reflex techniques to normalize the function of the original muscle inhibition patterns