How Fascia, the Vagus Nerve, and Inflammation Are Changing the Way We Think About Healing

Y'all. I'm super inspired after listening to this podcast this morning. It's called, The Thinking Practitioner, hosted by Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe and it was one of those interviews where I was sad when it ended because I wanted to hear more. Til sat down with physiotherapist and fascia researcher Dr. Fabiana Silva, who’s not only President of the

Fascia Research Society, but also one of the leading voices connecting the dots between fascia, the vagus nerve, and systemic inflammation.

If you geek out on how the body heals, then this episode was pure gold.

Top part of the Vagus nerve in head, neck and upper torso

The Fascia–Vagus Connection

Fabiana described fascia as “the glue that holds everything together.” But here’s the cool part: that “glue” doesn’t just keep our structure intact—it’s alive with information. Fascia communicates constantly with the nervous system, including the vagus nerve, which plays a starring role in regulating inflammation, stress, mood, and even digestion.

When fascia gets tight, restricted, or inflamed, it can interfere with vagal signaling. That means your body’s ability to recover, relax, and repair gets disrupted. Think of it like a direct line of communication between your brain and your body’s healing systems.

Dr. Silva explained how manual therapy (hands-on work like massage and myofascial release) can help restore that connection. The vagus nerve travels through layers of fascia from the neck down through the chest and abdomen and to our organs. When that fascia moves freely, the vagus nerve can do its job: promoting balance, reducing inflammation, and calming the nervous system. Conversely, when there is fibrosis or dysfunction within our fascial system, the efferent responses signaling our autonomic nervous system like our digestive acids or gut movements will create dysregulation because the there is an imbalance in the efferent response of the vagus nerve stimulating those areas.

Stimulating the Vagus Nerve (Without Surgery)

Something cool that Dr. Silva and her research teams are exploring is transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) which sends gentle electrical pulses through the skin (often near the ear or neck) that help reset vagal tone. Implanted vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and tVNS treatment devices are approved by the FDA for depression, stroke rehabilitation, some types of migraines, and seizures. With Dr. Silva's research in tVNS, they do transcutaneous stimulation at points in the ear or the neck where the vagus nerve is more superficial and therefore easier to access. The same regions targeted in these studies are places manual therapists have been working for decades. When we do suboccipital releases, craniosacral holds, or even gentle neck work, we’re influencing the vagal system, just through touch instead of electricity.

It’s a beautiful validation of what so many hands-on healers already know from our work: when we calm the fascia, we calm the whole person.

The Science of Safety and Regulation

Dr. Silva also emphasized something deeply human. Chronic pain, trauma, and anxiety often leave people feeling unsafe in their own bodies. The vagus nerve helps regulate our sense of safety. The neuroscientist, Dr. Stephen Porges coined this “neuroception.”

When clients feel safe during bodywork, their nervous system shifts from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest. That’s when healing happens. That’s when fascia softens, breathing deepens, and inflammation decreases naturally and anti-inflammatants are released. As bodyworkers, we’re not just working on muscles. We’re helping the nervous system remember what safety feels like.

Why Research Still Matters (Even When It’s Messy)

Of course, not everything we do in the treatment room fits neatly into a lab study. As Dr. Silva pointed out, manual therapy is full of variables: individual rapport, client trust, the therapist's unique touch, treatent room environment, stress levels, and history of the client-therapist relationship will all influence outcomes. She reminds us that the client-therapist relationship isn't cause and effect, it is more of a continuous interaction that is co-created and shaped by culture, belief systems, and health history. Those can’t always be controlled in a randomized lab trial, yet they shape results and analysis of research studies. That’s why she’s pushing for more pragmatic studies, research that reflects real-world conditions where practitioners adapt treatments to the individual instead of following rigid protocols. The Fascia Research Society is even working to launch its own high-quality journal to support ethical, peer-reviewed studies. This is huge progress for those of us who want science to catch up with what massage (manual) therapists see in practice: that fascia, the vagus nerve, and emotions are all deeply intertwined.

The Takeaway: The Body Knows How to Heal

For me, this episode reinforced what I see when working with clients and that is when we ease tension in the fascia, we're not just helping someone move better. We’re helping them feel better. We’re improving vagal tone, balancing between the pro-inflammatory cytokines and the anti-inflammatory cytokines, as well as restoring the body’s natural ability to regulate itself. As Dr. Silva put it, “Fascia isn’t just tissue, it’s communication.”And when communication improves, everything works better. Click here to watch the entire podcast interview on YouTube.

Want to explore this further? The next Fascia Research Congress will be in 2026 in New Orleans, featuring experts sharing the latest discoveries on how fascia influences mood, inflammation, and systemic health.

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*Resources discussed in this episode: 

The 7th International Fascia Research Congress, August 10–14, 2025: https://www.frscongress.org

Fascia Research Society: https://fasciaresearchsociety.org

Polyvagal Theory https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagaltheory