Diagnosing stress

Diagnosing chronic stress from an irritated 10th

cranial nerve
By Stanley Rosenberg
There are many health problems – physical, emotional and mental - which can be caused by an irritation
of one of the 10th cranial nerve.

This nerve can be brought into a state of dysfunction by mechanical irritation. The nerves pass through
the membrane covering the jugular foramen, a small opening in joint between the temporal and occipital
bones. Misalignment of the bones or tension in the membrane can irritate the nerve sheath causing
dysfunction.

Restoring optimal function of a cranial nerve is possible, but requires a properly trained, skilled therapist.

The function of the 10th cranial nerve (the vagal nerve)

This nerve has several different physiological functions. Generally, the vagal nerve is responsible for
bringing about changes to the inner organs, which we associate with the relaxation response. If there is
dysfunction of this nerve, the physiology of the client is locked into a stress response.

In addition to this function of relaxation, the 10th cranial nerve is also a motor nerve for several muscles at
the back of the mouth and in the throat. One of these muscles, the levator palatine velli is visible in most
people and can be used as a guide to determine if there is proper function of the 10th cranial nerve.

Chronic Stress is a widespread problem

I estimate that 1 out of 4 elementary school children are suffering from chronic stress.

Most likely, the cause of the problem in children is misalignment of the bones of the skull and neck from
the birth process.

The number of people with chronic stress increases as people grow older. By the time people are 60, 1
out of 3 people are suffering from chronic stress from physical, mechanical causes.

This increase from childhood is due to the various traumas that we receive as well as the effect of
worsening posture with aging. For example, many whiplash injuries result in post-traumatic stress.

Stress is one of the multiple cluster of factors causing heart disese, cancer, diabetes, asthma, allergy,
weakened immune defense system, etc. I am sure that in the group of people with seriouis illness, or
most frequently seeking help from medical practitioners, the percentage suffering from chronic stress is
even higher than a cross-section of the population.

Chronic stress is a cause of many physical, emotional and mental problems

Here is a list of stress related symptoms. You can see that the list includes physical, emotional and
mental symptoms.

 Sore neck and shoulder muscles

 Allergy
 Anger
 Arthritis
 Asthma
 Pains in the chest
 Tightly clenched teeth
 Cold hands and feet
 Influenza
 Irritation of the large intestine
 Constipation
 Extended periods of depression
 Eye or facial tensions
 Hyperventilation
 Increase in drinking or smoking habits
 Poor Digestion
 Tendency to start to cry
 Depression
 Diarrhoea
 Difficulty to agree
 Difficulty to make a decision
 Dizziness
 Excessive daydreaming and fantasising
 Excessive use of medicine with or without prescription
 Excessive or unreasonable distrust of friends/colleagues
 Uncalled for sweating
 Difficulty concentrating
 Difficulty remembering
 Many worries
 Feelings of fear
 Feeling "down"
 Feeling of hopelessness
 Feeling of a lack of energy or heaviness
 Lack of interest in everything
 Feeling of being tense after exertion
 General anxiety
 Frequent accidents or injuries Frustration
 Grinding teeth at night
 Headache (tension and migraine)
 Irregular heart beat
 Heartburn
 Haemorrhoids
 High blood pressure
 Difficulty sleeping
 Irritability
 Loss of appetite
 Loss of interest for sex
 Back pain
 Minor infections
  Clump in the throat
 Menstruation pains
 Forgetfulness
 Nervous
 Nightmares
 Excessive eating
 Ulcer
 Restless
 Shortness of Breath
 Skin problems
 Stomach problems
 Tense / hard muscles
 Often these problems are considered as separate issues.
Constipation is usually considered as a problem of the large intestine. But constipation might just as well
be a problem with the irritation of the nerve controlling the function of the large intestine.

Being unable to sleep at night because of worry is usually considered as a psychological issue.

Inability to concentrate might be thought of as a lack of intellectual ability or as a sign of aging.

In fact, these seemingly unrelated health issues might all be coming from one and the same source:
stress.

Here is a precise, quick way to determine if a client has chronic stress arising from muscular-skeletal
problems, caused by irritation of the 10th cranial nerve.

All it takes to test a client for chronic stress from physical causes is a small flashlight and 15 seconds.

Benefits of testing
If this test shows that they are suffering from chronic stress, it can indicate the importance of finding the
source of the stress and treating that, rather than looking for ways to treat the individual symptoms.

In therapy responses of a chronically stressed client will most likely deviate from what you expect in terms
of achieving successful outcomes. Their ability to make progress with you might be limited in ways that
they themselves cannot control. There is a strong possibility that you will be unable to elicit the response
that you want verbally, until the dysfunction has been addressed physically.

You will probably find that most of your “difficult” clients are suffering from chronic stress.

How to test
Ask your client to open their mouth as widely as is comfortable, so that you can see the back of their soft
palate. (The soft palate is the back of the roof of the mouth.) It is helpful to use a small flashlight to allow
you to see the back of their throat. Ask them to say, ”Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.”
(If your client has a hard time opening their mouth wide enough for you to see, you might ask them to
start to open their jaw by pushing it forward first and then opening it afterwards.)

If there is normal function of the 10th cranial nerve, then that part of the soft palate, which is furthest to
the back next to the uvula, will lift up on both sides when the person says ”Ahhhhhhhhhhhh”.
If there is an impulse on only one side, that side will lift up higher and distinctly. It may draw the other side
partly up, but there is a noticeable difference between the side with the impulse and the side being
dragged along.

A lack of clear impulse on one side indicates dysfunction of the 10th cranial nerve on that side which does
not come up. The cause is most likely irritation of the nerve where it exits the base of the skull through an
opening, which is called the jugular foramen.

Correction
To correct irritation of the 10th cranial nerve usually takes a skilled cranial osteopath, a cranio-sacral
therapist, physical therapist, or a chiropractor trained in Sacro-Occipital Technique. It is important to
evaluate the skill level of the practitioner you use in terms their ability to restore proper function of the
10th cranial nerve, which you can see the next time you look at your client’s soft palate.

Many practitioners of the various therapies might consider themselves as skilled, but may not be able to
do the job that you require. The better the practitioner, the less time it will take to bring about the desired
changes.

Treating Scar tissue - releasing the

adhesions.
There are no dates pending.

Surgical operations create scar tissue in the form of adhesions. My Rolfing teacher, Peter Melchior, told
our class in structural integration 31years ago that "we can see the scar from the operation on the surface
of the body but "we cannot see what is below the surface. Imagine that scars are like the roots of a tree
growing into the earth. The adhesions spread from the incision at the surface.  Every tree is different. You
cannot predict how the scar will grow into the body from the incision on the surface.

The function of the scar tissue is to reinforce our structure to be better to hold everything in place after the
surgical onslaught. The body does not know - perhaps future events will be traumatise the body at the
same exact place with a similar attack. The connective tissue is getting ready to defend the body and it
will hold onto these unnecessary, restricting defenses for the rest of the person's life unless a trained
therapist intervenes to do something about it.

As part of a healing process in the formation of scar tissue the individual myofascial units of the body can
"glue" together" as as well as "grow fibrous connections to each other". As a result, the structures do not
slide as freely as they should.

Adhesions occur when adjacent myofascial structures "glue together." The molecular structure of the of
the ground substance of healthy connective tissue changes from a more fluid form called sol into to a less
fluid, more viscose form called gel.

In addition scar tissue produces extra connective tissue fibers that bind one myofascial layer to another.
In order to bridge any open wound, in the process of healing, some of the normal connective tissue cells
called fibroblasts evolve into myofibroblasts. These start as  fibroblasts but also have acton molecules -
the same kinds of fibers found in muscle cells. When these acton fibers contract, like a mini-muslce, they
pull the edges of the wound together.

The production of extra fibers, the myofibroblasts and the gluing from the ground substance gets the
myofascial structures to bind together. The cost of this reinforcement is that myofascial units no longer
slide as freely in relationship to each other. This is evident in a lack of movement between the skin and
the superficial fascia, between the superficial fascia and the rectus abdominis, the rectus and the external
obliques, the external obliques and the internal obliques, the internal obliques and the peritoneum and
peretoneum and and the visceraal organs. All of this results in a diminished range of movement and of
the entire body and a reduced flow of blood.

With the proper approach, the changes in scar tissue can be largely reversed and the tissue can become
more supple, more plastic and more elastic.

I have experience learning by treating myself over a few decades. I have had three operations for inguinal
hernia including one where they put in net. As much progress as I have made, it will continue this
occasionally as a life long project. I have never put my hands into my scar tissue without getting major
improvement in my own structure, breathing and digestion. Nerves get compromised in scar tissue. 
I would love to go to another Rolfer who would differentiate my muscles so that they could slide more
freely in relationship to each other eventually looking like they are drawn in my anatomy books. 

Getting structures to slide - find the depth of the layer with your finger tips. You will adhere to the lay of
tissue like valcroze without work. You stick to the layer when the client breaths out. You do not need
pressure. Move the tissue (usually 1/8 inch is enough) in the direction of greatest resistance to the sliding.
Hold and wait for a release (a sigh or a swallow) in the nervous system. Do not go deep into the body, but
rather slide the layer to which you have connected parallel to

Polyvagal theory
Courses will be held in 2018 in Los Angeles and Asheville, North Carolina

My book, "The Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve," was published in December by Random House.
Random House is the largest publisher in the world.

Polyvagal Theory was formulated by Stephen Porges (USA) in 1994. It is the key to a simple model for
understanding the relationship between body, mind and emotion.

The theory has quickly become popular among body therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and
researchers - among them: Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experience (SE) and popular author of
books on trauma treatment.

Stanley Rosenberg met Stephen Porges 12 years ago and they have taught at 4 courses together in
Germany, USA and Denmark.
Stanley Rosenberg will teach from his 45 years of experience as a body therapist and practical
understanding of Polyvagal Theory. He will present how the nervous system - in connection with our
thoughts, sensations and feelings - creates our psychological conditions. These conditions also influence
our actions, health and muscular tone in the body.

Stanley is a master in developing simple, effective techniques and exercises that improve the condition of
the autonomic nervous system and thereby help people to be more social, open minded and caring; and
to think clearly and be more creative and productive. You will be taught in bathing techniques and
exercises.

You will also learn to diagnose - to read the specific physiological signs that show the level of function /
dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system. This makes it possible to evaluate the condition before and
after a treatment to ensure that it has had the desired effect as well as the expectation of future
improvement.

This workshop will give you and your clients the opportunity to enjoy an optimal state of social interaction
more often - to be more open minded, creative and at the top mentally and physically. You will get more
out of your relationships with others - friends, colleagues and your closest.

Is there really "jet lag"?

That seems like a silly question, especially coming from someone like myself who has gathered many
bonus miles on long distance flights through the years.

I used to think that there was jet lag. I read a book and several articles from newspapers and from the
web. Over the years, I tried many different methods to lessen the effect of jet lag: I took homeopathic pills,
I walked in the sunshine and ate special diets before, during and after the flight.

However, on my last trip from Denmark to Hawaii, I concluded that there is certainly a disorientation that
can come with long flights. However, these effects that I used to call “jet lag” can be handled in less than
a minute with a very simple form of self massage on the head. The technique is from the French teacher,
Alain Gehin.

The travel to Hawaii took 26 hours and included 2 stopovers to change flights. Hawaii lies in a time zone
12 hours away from Denmark. I was only going to be away for 3 weeks. I used to take it for granted that it
took one day for every change of time zone until one was back in tikme alignment.

By that old rule of thumb, it would take me 12 days to be caught up. Then, I would have had a week to
enjoy my newly aligned time sense before hopping on the plane to return to Europe and another 12 days
of slow adjustment. That is a heavy price to pay for the most wonderful of Hawaiian adventures.

I could not find a more challenging destination to test our discovery of how to counter the negative
symptoms previously attributed to jet lag. Also, I was travelling with two others, my son Erik and a friend
Thor. We all had the same experience. In a matter of 20 seconds, we could all “reset our clocks”. It
worked for the trip out and also for the trip back.

In fact, my conclusion was that it has nothing to do with “resetting the clocks” at all. I now believe that
there is another explanation for the phenomenon that we have called jet lag.
The low vibration, droning of the engines over an extended period of time stresses the body and slows
down the cranio-sacral rhythm which is an indicator for the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid.

Cerebrospinal fluid circulates in the narrow space around the central nervous system made up of the
brain and spinal cord. It has many functions. Two of these functions are bringing sugar (glucose) to the
nerve cells and removing the waste from metabolism of these cells.

The nerve cells of the central nervous system need sugar and oxygen to function properly. Oxygen is
supplied by the arteries. As mentioned above, the sugar is delivered by the cerebrospinal fluid.

In anatomy books, there are usually drawings showing the circulation of the cerebrospinal fluid. For lack
of a description of the driving force of this fluid, I had supposed that it just sort of ebbed and flowed.

However, in cranio-sacral therapy, we have the belief that this fluid is actually pumped. This pumping of
fluid is rhythmic and can be felt by the hands of an experienced, trained therapist. The rate of the
pumping as well as the size of the pumping movement are variable.

If a person has a high “rhythm” and a strong “pulse”, they would have a very good circulation of
cerebrospinal fluid which in turn would also give them the maximum sugar delivery to and waste removal
from the individual cells. A low rhythm and a weaker pulse would lower the circulation of the cerebrospinal
fluid.

When Erik Thor and I got on the plane, our rhythms were high and our pulses were strong. When we
landed at the colourful Honolulu International Airport, we felt tired. From my past experiences of long
travels across time zones, I worried that I might not get a good night’s sleep, in spite of feeling somewhat
exhausted.

Thinking back on it now, the feeling I had in my body and the sluggishness of my mind were like times
when I was hungry and had low blood sugar.

Erik or Thor had the idea to check our rhythms. Our cranio-sacral rhythms were down and our pulses
were weak. Standing at the belt waiting for the luggage, we set each other’s rhythms up with a simple
technique that took only a fraction of a minute. I felt like myself again.

We got to the hotel a half hour later. It was 11 at night local time, 11 in the morning in Denmark. I was
feeling fresh. After brushing my teeth, I lay down expecting to spend a restless night according to my
Danish clock. I feel asleep almost immediately and first woke up at 7:30 in the morning, feeling fresh, alert
and productive.

I was in sync with the Hawaiian time zone. For the rest of the trip, I went to sleep at my usual time in the
evening and awoke at my usual time in the morning. I only had one period of feeling tired during the day,
and that lasted only about 15 minutes.

We had a similar experience on the way back. Discovering that our pulses were weak and rhythm slow on
arrival in the mid morning, we set them up. In spite of a short night for sleeping due to the west-to-east
direction of the flight, and sleeping in a narrow seat, after the treatment, I was fresh both physically and
mentally. I put in a good day’s work with various administrative projects, and went to sleep and woke at
the usual times. I felt no jet lag and had no need to do anything to readjust to my usual time zone.
In Hawaii, we had another interesting experience relating to air travel and jet lag. We took a local flight on
a small, 6-seater from Maui to the island of Hawaii. The flight lasted about 45 minutes. There was a fair
amount of engine noise and vibration. When we got off the plane, we all felt disoriented from symptoms of
jet lag, until we set our rhythms up using the technique which Alain Gehin describes as Temporal Press.
We were again fresh and ready for our adventures on the “Big Island”.

My next flight was from Copenhagen to Oslo and back home again five days later. It is a short flight of
less than an hour with no change of time zone. Getting off the plane, again I noticed that I was tired, my
rhythm was low and my pulse was weak. I set it up. I felt good again.

As a final observation, last night I again flew from Oslo to Copenhagen. I forgot to check my rhythm when
I landed. I had a hard time falling asleep. I woke up at least three times and had a hard time falling sleep
again. I finally got out of bed an hour earlier than I usually do. I felt tired.

Then I remembered to check my cranio-sacral rhythm. It was low. I set it up. Immediately, I felt as if I had
had a good night’s sleep, relaxed and ready for the challenges of the day. I got on the train at 7 in the
morning, took out my computer and wrote this article.