My athlete to their teammate: “It’s just magic, she sticks her finger in my ear and my knee feels better.” 😂

Me: “well it’s not magic it’s the nervous system, which can feel magical.”

The outside of the ears have connections to various branches of 3 powerful cranial nerves- 5, 7, and 10 (trigeminal, facial, and vagus), as well as nerves from the cervical plexus.

Why is this so powerful? The cranial nerves are 3 of the 5 nerves of social engagement and have a significant influence on the balance of our ANS, specifically the powerful regulator of the parasympathetic nervous system. This means they can increase feelings of calm and safety that are helpful in rest and recovery.

The cranial nerves also counteract the downward pull of the peripheral nerves, so they play a big role in maintaining our normal neural tension and mobility.

The cervical plexus, are nerves that communicate with the cranial nerves and tension between the cranial and spinal dura, as well as contains the phrenic nerve our nerve that drives movement of the diaphragm and is a powerful sensory nerve of our gut like the vagus!

All of this is why the simple act of massaging and mobilizing your ears can be so helpful to calming and relaxing your nervous system, aiding in rest, digestion, and recovery as well as decreasing adverse neural tension and improving mobility in the limbs.

This short clip is from a full length Regen(eration) session focused on neural resets I filmed for one of my tracks and field athletes and added to the Regen Membership!

Give it a try and let me know how you feel! Check in with your body first using a range of motion check like a forward fold or lifting your shoulder up into flexion or measure your resting HR before and after to see the objective changes!