Osteopaths can stimulate the vagus tone by:
o Mobilizing the upper cervicals (cranial base release, 4th ventricle compression…).
o Regularity in feeding, sleeping.
o Avoidance loud noises, intense light as in television, …
o Bonding.
o Stress avoidance.
o Rocking (rhythmic oscillatory tilt results in a positive increase in cardiac vagal tone).
o Rocking and swinging in which the position of the head is changed relative to the position of the heart will stimulate the baroreceptors and engage this feedback loop.
o Rhythmical rotations around the craniocaudal axis.
o Vagus afferent stimulation even has direct influence on both the lower motor neurons in the brainstem and the upper motor neurons in the cortex that regulate the social engagement system.