I grew up with a heart that was adversely affected. It would race in my chest for no apparent reason. I remember having X-rays as a young girl to see if my heart was enlarged. Nobody could explain why what was happening to me was going on and I remember being told that I would just have to live with it.

Today my heart beats in a regular and steady fashion. It has a strong and rhythmic pulse and I do not fear for my life as I did when I was young.

One day about three years ago I was at work and just didn't feel right. I went to see Grandpa and he took my blood pressure and my pulse rate. He said that my heart's rhythm was three quick beats followed by a pause. He also looked to see if my head had subluxated on the spine and found that it had. After he positioned my head back where it belonged he took my pulse rate again. This time the beat was regular and steady and the pause had disappeared.

Why did this happen?

The 10th cranial nerve, called the vagus nerve, runs through a hole lateral to the foramen magnum. This nerve also runs the full length of the neck and trunk and down into the abdomen. It runs outside the spinal cord and is one of the deep nerves of the neck. It also controls the pace of the heart.

If the head subluxates on the atlas the nerves that run outside the spinal cord are especially vulnerable to create Nerve Signal Interference. This is because the position of these nerves is lateral to center causing a greater stress to be put on them.

This page was first created in the summer of 1999 and last revised on April 3, 2007.