This talk will discuss the fascia and explain how trauma is stored in the tissues. We will explore the connection between the heart, the brain, and the vagus nerve and identify how it relates to Dercum’s disease, lipedema, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, dysautonomia, and mast cell activation syndrome.
The vagus nerve facilitates communication between the brain, cardiovascular, gut, and immune systems. There is a link between the fascia and the autonomic nervous system, as there are many sensory nerve endings in the connective tissue. These sensory nerves transmit pain signals.
Patients with lipedema and connective tissue diseases have chronic inflammation and pain and experience stress and anxiety. Stress can lead to mast cell activation, histamine release, and more inflammation. Scar tissue, injuries, repetitive motion/stress, surgery, posture, trauma, disease, inactivity, and inflammation, can cause fascial restrictions. The restricted fascia could also be an emotional issue, such as chronic stress, grief, or unresolved trauma. Dercum’s disease and lipedema patients experience gastrointestinal symptoms, depression, anxiety, and memory or concentration problems.
Activating the vagus nerve can accelerate the body’s anti-inflammatory response by calming the nervous system and lowering the body’s production of inflammatory cytokines. Vagus nerve stimulation may also help to reduce stress, decrease mast cell activation, and lower histamine release.
About our Speaker
Linda Anne Kahn, CLT-LANA, NCBTMB, CDT, is a lymphedema therapist, an integrative health coach, and the president of Lymphatic Therapy Services of San Diego. She’s an internationally certified manual lymph drainage (MLD) therapist through the Dr. Vodder School in Austria, the Dr. Foeldi School in Germany, and the Dr. Casley-Smith School in Australia.
She is a frequent guest speaker at national and international lymphedema and lipedema conferences and is a co-author of the widely-respected book, “The Lymphedema and Lipedema Nutrition Guide.” She is a co-author of the Standard of Care for Lipedema in the United States. She has been treating patients for more than 25 years and is dedicated to helping people thrive and instill confidence in themselves.
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