In a nutshell, the auricular branch of the vagus is in the concha area. Vagus innervates organs, most of them. In the concha we find the reflexes to our organs in ear reflexology!
Coincidence?
I do not think so!
Reflexologists that have been working on the ears have been utilizing the positive effects of the vagus nerve for a long time now, most of them/us without even knowing we were!
More and more research is showing that vagus nerve stimulation via the external ear using electronic devices has been shown to increase the "relaxation response" of the parasympathetic nervous system thus reducing inflammation and reducing fight-or flight stress
responses driven by the sympathetic nervous system. The research suggest that this stimulation helps to rebalance the autonomic nervous system and may slow the adverse effects of aging in people over age 55. Tension, depression, anger, confusion and low energy and sleep quality were associated with greater improvements.
The reason for this has to do with the innervation of the outer ear!
The outer ear is innervated by three different nerves. Since our interest today is the vagus nerve we will focus on the concha area (yellow area) which is inervated by the auricular branch of the vagus nerve.
The concha is the large hollow area of the auricle, or floor of the auricle. It is divided by the crus of the helix (the diaphragm line in ear reflexology) into the cymba above and the cavum below.
On the right of the above picture you can see an example of non-invasive transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation device (tVNS). The stimulating current is administered using a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machine.
The vagus (wandering) nerve is called this way because it's the longest nerve in the human body and travels from the base of the brain up into the ears and down into the lower intestines. It is the tenth cranial nerve and is also referred too as pneumogastric nerve (greek for respiratory & gastrointestinal nerve).
The vagus innervates (parasympathetic) the greater part of the digestive tract and other abdominal viscera. it also has a big effect on swallowing and speech becuase in the neck area it is a skeletal nerve. Keep an eye out for such signs during history taking with your clients. You might want to include the ear!
The interesting coincidence is that in auriculotherapy and/or ear reflexology the area of the concha which is innervated by vagus, who in turn, among other functions, innervates our organs, is exactly the same area!
Look at the charts at the top again.
The auricular branch of Vagus is in the concha which in auriculotherapy is commonly associated with the following disorders
Concha - Visceral organ disorders.
Superior Concha - Disorders related to abdominal organs, such as the dysfunctions of the pancreas, gall bladder, kidney, and urinary bladder.
Inferior Concha - Disorders related to thoracic organs, such as heart problems and lung disease. It is also used for the treatment of substance abuse.
Concha Ridge - Disorders related to the stomach and liver.
Concha Wall - Dysfunctions associated with the thalamus of the brain, including general pain, sympathetic nerve problems, and vascular circulation disorders.
Source: here
So keep on working on the ears of your clients, or finish a session with the ears, or suggest to clients to work on the concha specifiacally and the ear in general to affect all the reflexes and the vagus nerve.
Especially for the conditions mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog.
Did you know?
The oldest chart of Ear reflexology could be that of Zone Therapy pioneer Dr. Joe
Shelby Riley.
In this chart on the left he states about the ears No.14
"Affects whole body"
In 1957, Dr Paul Nogier a physician resident in Lyons, France, first presented his observations of the somatotopic correspondences of the ear. He is actually considered the Father of modern auricolotherapy. Dr Nogier originated the concept of an inverted fetus map on the external ear as can be seen on the first image of this post.
In Cranio Sacral Reflexology all the 12 pairs of cranial nerves are found on the phalanges of the toes or fingers 2, 3,4 and 5.
Vagus nerve will be found on the distal phalange of your little toe or finger.
Chart source here
I hope you enjoyed this blog, and if you found interesting the tought process behind it there is a lot more to be shared during Orthopedic Reflexolgoy training. The next course is end of September 2019 in Greece, for information visit here.
There is an extra FREE 4th training day in Hippocratic Anatripsis!
