Strictly speaking you can touch it. There is it is procedure in ER in cases of severe Tachycardia. It is actually a preferred procedure by doctors to reduce the heart rate of a haemodynamically stable patient in SVT than the drugs. So to be precise you can TOUCH carotid artery you just cannot massage it. When I talk at this clip I’m talking about not massaging carotid artery. This song is added just to entertain people. It is funny and makes most people feel good. Regular person, including massage therapists shouldn’t massage carotid artery. The vagus nerve is very long cranial nerve that originates from the brain stem and continues all the way to the internal organs also passing through the carotid artery. The vagus nerve conducts impulses/signals to and from the brain. These signals are responsible for a number of responses in the body, including for contact with the heart, reflex responses and more. One of the vagus nerve functions is its involvement in regulation of the heart beat. By massaging carotid arteries we stimulate vagus nerve directly. Excessive vagus nerve stimulation can cause someone to fall into a faint or even coma because his or her heart rate and blood pressure could drop so much. Additionally often blood clots develop at carotid arteries and massage can rapture/release it immediately, causing a stroke.
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