Breathing for Pain Relief

People living with pain, whether it is chronic or acute, are generally hypersensitive to things their body experiences. Whenever we become fearful, or go into sympathetic flight or fight response, we then experience increased levels of response to any stimulus. In other words, we become hypersensitive. One way we can decrease that hypersensitivity is through influencing the Vagus Nerve. 

"Vagus" is the Latin word for wandering. The Vagus Nerve is the tenth cranial nerve and the longest nerve that winds throughout the body. It runs bilaterally from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem and merges together at the esophageal hiatus. The nerve connects with the neck, chest, heart, lungs, abdomen and ends at the large intestine. 

It's the main component of the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system; 75% of the parasympathetic system's nerve fibers exist with the Vagus Nerve. It controls involuntary sensory and motor functions like digestion, heart rate, mood, blood pressure, respiration, immune system responses, mucus production, skin and muscle sensations, speech and taste.

The Vagus Nerve also provides a large amount of input back to the brain from receptors in the lungs. If we can tap into this function, then we can also potentially use it to control pain. 

**One of these ways is through deep and slow breathing with a goal of decreasing sympathetic tone. This involves taking no more than six breaths per minute, and can be done doing the following 15 minutes 2 times per day (you may have to work up to this):

• 2 second inhale
• 2 second pause
• 4 second exhale *
• 2 second pause

* When we exhale, sympathetic activity is decreased, so it's important to increase the time on the exhale.

Additionally, if you are experiencing pain in a particular area, you may want to try adding some complexity (via localized neural stimulation) to the deep breathing exercise by compressing (to your comfort level) the area you are experiencing pain with your hand or a ball while performing this breathing exercise. This allows work to be done on body awareness and mechanics to begin down-regulation of the sympathetic tone in the painful area.

If you are in a chronic pain situation, you may find that you have greater control of your pain, if not virtually eliminate the pain. It can also be used in acute settings - for example, just prior to a public speaking presentation. 

The Vagus Nerve is a great physical representation of the brain - body connection. If we can access this amazing nerve and all it does for us, we can truly affect our overall well-being!

**Other timed breathing patterns have been shown to be helpful. These are:

• 2/4 continuous
• 3/3/3 triangle breathing 
• 4/4/4/4 box breathing