There are many joys to being a physical therapist. Helping people decrease functional limitations in their life brings great rewards. Here at Eagle Rock Physical Therapy, we find great rewards in helping people overcome ailments that people usually don’t think a physical therapist can help. These symptoms would include abdominal pain, heartburn, nausea, anxiety, and depression.
Usually, we see people come in with regular ailments that a physical therapist would most commonly see – symptoms such as headache, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain. During the initial interview we find out that they have suffered with these ailments for years, going to many different providers and specialties with little help. We ask if they also have symptoms like heartburn, bloating, difficulty with digestion, constipation, anxiety, and depression. Many times, they have these symptoms as well.
Further evaluation finds that they have pain at the inferior ribs, at the base of the neck (over the jugular foreman), and pain over specific spots on the abdomen. Also pain over the middle of the back. In addition, these people present with a forward head and rounded shoulder posture.
We have come to understand that these are NOT stand-alone symptoms. The heartburn does not operate independently of the anxiety, and the headache does not operate independently of the lower rib pains. The bloating and difficult digestion does not operate independently of the neck pain or back pain. These symptoms are all intricately connected via nerves, vessels, and muscles. All must be treated to help solve all the symptoms and get people back to living a full life.
A common nerve that can influence many of these symptoms is the vagus nerve, which is growing in popularity. This nerve exits the base of the skull through a hole called the jugular foreman. The nerve then proceeds to curl towards the front of the neck where is soon braids around the esophagus and makes it way to the heart and then the abdomen – crossing the diaphragm with the esophagus and then splitting to every abdominal organ (liver, stomach, pancreas, spleen, gall bladder, small intestine, large intestine, kidneys). This nerve is truly a vagabond – wandering throughout the abdomen having a great effect on the entire abdominal viscera, and indeed, our whole body.
This nerve is also an important nerve to help us have “autonomic flexibility.” It gives us the power to move freely from the “rest and digestion” autonomic state to the “fight or fight” state of the autonomic state and back again. Many times, we get stuck in the “flight or fight” and end up with uncontrolled anxiety, and then depression.
It is very important that we have a healthy, supple, hydrated vagus nerve so that we can have great digestion, autonomic flexibility, and no body aches. We have very specific techniques that we have learned by going to continuing education classes that have helped us know how to help the vagus nerve get back to full function and decrease symptomatic limitations of life.
There are many aspects to visceral, neural, and vascular manipulation. This is just one part of many treatment possibilities that we have here at Eagle Rock Physical Therapy to help people decrease pain, increase function, and get back to full living.
