Dry Needling’s Awesome Regulatory Effect on Emotion via Autonomic Nervous System Homeostasis

3 Common Vagus Nerve Ear Distributions to Target & Regulate the Autonomic Nervous System Toward Homeostasis:

1. Concha
2. Cymba Concha
3. Inner Tragus

Imagine going to a Dry Needling class two years after a seriously traumatic life circumstance, having already dealt, to some degree or other, with your emotions, only to have them suddenly rage to the surface, like a spring bursting forth from its source, seemingly out of nowhere. This is often followed by a profound sense of peace and emotional healing. I have people tell me all the time they feel like their soul has healed. I know this sounds like sorcery, Elder magic, and who knows, it may be. That would be so cool! However, there is a scientific reason that I pose explains, on some level, this awesome, homeostatic, healing phenomenon. I see this on a regular, almost weekly basis during our dry needling courses.

What is going on here? Where are emotions stored? What is an emotion? Do emotions accompany consciousness? What is consciousness? Some philosophers believe that consciousness and emotion are nothing more than electrical impulses orchestrated in a certain way in our brain. I think this outlook on emotion and consciousness is lacking. There is far more going on than we even have the ability to comprehend, at least at the moment. Consciousness is such a mind-bending thing to ponder! So, how can dry needling elicit breathtaking emotional release and healing, when it is primarily thought of as a treatment for tight muscles? Thoughtful needling addresses a primary underlying cause of all medical impairments, including emotional distress. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction.

Precisely how dry needling regulates the ANS, like the specific pathways and mechanisms of action, is understood to some degree. For example, we know that electrical needling with low-frequency microcurrent, 1-5 Hz, stimulates increased release of beta-endorphins and other endogenous opioids from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Immune cells, like T and B lymphocytes, monocytes, natural killer cells, and macrophages also release beta-endorphins. Beta endorphins, aside from relieving pain, have potent anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. Beta endorphins suppress high concentrations of intracellular calcium and concentrations of systemic pro-inflammatory mediators such as interleukin 1, 6, (IL-1, IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), which are all hallmarks of chronic SANS hyperactivity. Beta endorphins regulate inflammatory, stress, pain, and immune responses throughout the body. All of these healing effects lead to, and stem from, ANS homeostasis. All of this, in turn, helps control and amplify mental and physical well-being. Beta endorphins’ overall effect on the ANS is sympathetic depression and parasympathetic elevation, leading to ANS homeostasis, the key for achieving and maintaining optimal health.

Remember, most humans present with elevated sympathetic nervous system activity. Sympathetics turn up secondary to mental and physical stress, pain, tissue damage, trigger points, etc. This hinders ANS homeostasis. ANS Homeostasis is the key to health. To induce homeostasis, therefore, we need to depress sympathetic and elevate parasympathetic activity.

Chronic sympathetic autonomic hyperactivity, something from which the vast majority of people in the United States suffer, can lead to about any medical impairment, including cancer, autoimmune disease, metabolic disorders, and all sorts of other horrid stuff. One of the most visibly obvious effects of chronic sympathetic autonomic hyperactivity is emotional distress. Once the ANS and other systems are homeostatic, or at least closer to homeostasis, humans are much better a dealing with life in general, including processing emotional distress, instead of bottling it up in some corner of your mind.

If we could somehow quantify all the scientific medical knowledge available to attain out there in the ether, I bet we know less than 5% of the whole. How many medical impairments can we actually cure? Almost none, using pharmaceuticals. A big reason for that is, the majority of medicines are focused on masking symptoms, not addressing the underlying cause. This is done on purpose, by the way. Greed is a powerful thing. Anyhow, dry needling is cheap, easy, safe, and astoundingly effective for mental health, especially when used in conjunction with psychotherapy. I see awesome psychological improvements in my patients consistently, and I am simply normalizing their tissues and joints with the specific intent of regulating the ANS toward homeostasis. All these positive mental changes I see without any psychotherapeutic intervention. Imagine how much better the mental changes would be with both types of treatment simultaneously.

Intense, negative emotional experiences severely disrupt ANS homeostasis, leading to sympathetic autonomic nervous system (SANS) hyperactivity. SANS hyperactivity dysregulates all our hormones, neurotransmitters, muscles, joints, and brain, to name a few. Following traumatic, negative emotional experiences, the SANS often elevates to a level the body cannot recover from, without specific treatment directly focused on depressing SANS hyperactivity and elevating parasympathetic autonomic nervous system (PANS) activity, bringing the ANS toward homeostasis.

The natural response of the human body to almost all stress / trauma is SANS elevation and PANS depression. The vast majority of Physical Therapy and Psychotherapy patients present with SANS hyperactivity and PANS depression. Therefore, it behooves us to stimulate the PANS while concomitantly depressing the SANS. This can be accomplished with both dry needling and psychotherapy. If conjoined thoughtfully, with intention, these treatments have powerful, synergistic effects on achieving maximal ANS homeostasis and optimal health.

Physical trauma causes mental trauma and vis versa. From a young age, we all know this on a primal level. So why are the mind and body almost never treated together? The mind cannot heal if the body is constantly annoying the brain with a bunch of pathologic afferent signals originating in pathologic tissue (muscles, joints, etc.). Remember, enough tissue pathology stimulates SANS hyperactivity, inhibiting the mind’s ability to process negative emotions and heal. Enough mental pathology, conversely, can lead to about any detrimental physical pathology. Emotional and physical well being create both negative and positive feedback loops with each other. Life is much better when the loop is positive.

The mind and body are intricately linked. I see incredibly positive mental changes in my patients on a regular basis without specific mental intervention, and I have psychotherapist friends who see amazingly positive physical changes in their patients without specific physical intervention. Anyone who has gone through difficult physical or mental stress knows how much one affects the other. To achieve maximal resolvent of physical and mental impairment, they must be intentionally and thoughtfully addressed together.

Let me know if anyone has any questions about anything or if you would like to sign up for a course.

For more on ANS homeostasis, and how to achieve it, check out these blogs:

Related: Click here to learn more about Dry Needling and Joint Manipulation for Athletic Trainers

Related: Click here to learn more about How to Limit Intial Sympathetic Autonomic Stimulation and Avoid Vasovagal Response During Dry Needling Treatment

Related: Click here to learn more about Dry Needling the Forgotten Nine

Related: Click here to learn more about Controlling Autonomic Sympathetic Hyperactivity with Dry Needling and Spinal Manipulation

Intricate Art Spine & Body Solutions and its affiliates are not responsible for any injury or damage that may result from the use of techniques taught or information being provided. This content is provided for informational purposes only and by participating you are doing so at your own risk.

References

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Autonomic Nervous System

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