What is Polyvagal Acupuncture (PVA)

 By Dr. Jennifer Moffitt, DTCM, DACCAOM, L.AC. CPRCS

Polyvagal Acupuncture™ (PVA) is an integrative technique I developed out of necessity—born during a time of crisis, refined through clinical application, and grounded in both traditional Chinese medicine and modern neuroscience.

In early 2020, I received the first in what became a series of neurological diagnoses—each potentially disabling if not life-threatening—with a prognosis that was devastating for my family.  There were no effective treatment options available in the U.S, and due to the lockdown, access to diagnostic imaging and elective care was severely restricted; for 20 months, I could not even have elective imaging to evaluate the nerve damage.  As a self-employed provider without the traditional employer-sponsored social safety net, I had no choice but to treat myself. This work became the basis of my doctoral capstone, but it took five more years of postgraduate training in neuroscience, neuroplasticity and reflex integration to fully develop Polyvagal Acupuncture™.

What began as a survival strategy has evolved into a repeatable, effective system for regulating the autonomic nervous system, reducing neurogenic inflammation, and promoting neuroplasticity. Treating essential workers and injured healthcare professionals during the height of the pandemic, I noticed clear neuromuscular fascial patterning—tension, spasticity, dissociation—that echoed my own. The same techniques that restored function and reduced pain for me produced dramatic, visible changes in my patients.

The Scientific Foundation: Fascia, Cranial Nerves, and Neuroplasticity

Polyvagal Acupuncture™ integrates modern neuroscience, primitive reflex integration, and traditional meridian theory to address the systemic impacts of trauma on the body and brain. At its core, PVA targets myofascial pathways influenced by the cranial nerves—particularly those linked to vagal tone—to interrupt chronic sympathetic dominance (fight, flight, or freeze states) and promote parasympathetic restoration.

In this neutral state, the brain’s innate capacity for neuroplasticity is activated: new neural pathways can form, motor function can return, and inflammation often recedes. Fascia—long understood in both Eastern and osteopathic traditions as a connective matrix of health—is reframed here as a functional interface between somatic experience and neuroregulation.

The implications are significant. Where conventional approaches often struggle to resolve complex trauma syndromes or post-viral dysautonomia, PVA provides an immediate and observable change in tone, function, and regulation—often in real time, without pharmacologic support.

Clinical Results and Present-Day Application

In clinical practice, patients with persistent neurogenic dysfunction—frozen joints, severe tremors, motor loss or complex chronic pain—often see meaningful change with the first sessions:  acute pain scores drop from 10/10 to 3, and mobility and motor clarity return to areas long believed permanently damaged. We also see significant shifts in patients with early developmental trauma, PTSD (including undiagnosed post-COVID cases), and children with sensory processing challenges. Long term trauma patients in deep states of compensation are able to return to their bodies, and experience safety. By focusing on primitive reflexes, vagal tone, and the fascial interface, the nervous system begins to repair—regardless of how long ago the injury occurred.

Importantly, this work is not modality dependent. PVA techniques can be applied by providers across disciplines—including acupuncturists, physical therapists, and manual therapists —and are accessible to patients for self-care between sessions. Mindful movement, breath, and touch are not afterthoughts but core autonomic tools that support the brain’s capacity to change.

From Concept to Community

This technique was not developed in isolation. I am deeply grateful to the injured medical providers, veterans, educators, grocery clerks, and essential workers in San Diego who became collaborators in this work during some of the most chaotic years of our professional lives. None of us signed up for the warzone that COVID-era treatment became—but many of us found healing through the process of surviving it.

Polyvagal Acupuncture™ is now entering a new phase. As we collect data, publish case histories, and prepare for formal training pathways, we are building bridges between somatic therapies, traditional medicine, and neuroscience. For the first time, providers can reliably observe nervous system changes in real time—not months down the road.

Looking Forward

The inflammatory cascade of chronic sympathetic dominance is implicated in conditions ranging from stroke sequelae and traumatic brain injury to autoimmune disorders, dementia, and neurodevelopmental delays. With the right tools, timing is no longer a barrier to leveraging neuroplasticity. Presence—and access to the parasympathetic nervous system—are key. For practitioners seeking to work at the intersection of science and somatic healing, Polyvagal Acupuncture™ offers a reproducible, neurobiologically grounded path forward.

References

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