Vagus nerve stimulation for chronic pain management: Mechanisms and clinical advances

Background: Chronic pain poses a significant challenge to the general population, especially in older adults. As a result, there is a growing emphasis on developing novel treatment options and expanding the use of emerging technologies. Objective: This comprehensive review aims to guide practitioners in chronic pain management by extending the current application of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). The review examined peer-reviewed studies, including multicenter cohort studies and clinical trials, published within the past 25 years. VNS has shown the most promising results in pain reduction for headache and migraine, with less relief in inflammatory and neuropathic pain as compared to current first-line treatment options. Conclusion: Overall, this review seeks to compile and critically analyze the effect and efficacy of VNS on different forms of chronic pain using the most current studies and research applicable.
- Yuan H, Silberstein SD. Vagus nerve and vagus nerve stimulation, a comprehensive review: Part, I. Headache. 2016;56:71-78. doi: 10.1111/head.12647
- Ma L, Wang HB, Hashimoto K. The vagus nerve: An old but new player in brain-body communication. Brain Behav Immun. 2025;124:28-39. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.023
- Bieber D, Gupta K, Abdallah R, et al. Development of an educational curriculum for implanting and managing vagus nerve stimulators for epilepsy. Neuromodulation. 2025;28:551-557.doi: 10.1016/j.neurom.2024.12.008
- Shao P, Li H, Jiang J, Guan Y, Chen X, Wang Y. Role of vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of chronic pain. Neuroimmunomodulation. 2023;30(1):167-183. doi: 10.1159/000531626
- Tracey KJ. Physiology and immunology of the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway. J Clin Invest. 2007;117(2):289-296. doi: 10.1172/JCI30555
- Vida G, Peña G, Deitch EA, Ulloa L. α7-cholinergic receptor mediates vagal induction of splenic norepinephrine. J Immunol. 2011;186(7):4340-4346. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1003722
- Lendvai IS, Maier A, Scheele D, Hurlemann R, Kinfe TM. Spotlight on cervical vagus nerve stimulation for treating primary headache disorders: A review. J Pain Res. 2018;11:1613-1625. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S129202
- van Maanen MA, Stoof SP, Larosa GJ, Vervoordeldonk MJ, Tak PP. Role of the cholinergic nervous system in rheumatoid arthritis: Aggravation of arthritis in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α7 subunit gene knockout mice. Ann Rheum Dis. 2010;69(9):1717-1723. doi: 10.1136/ard.2009.118554
- Lerman I, Hauger R, Sorkin L, et al. Noninvasive transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation decreases whole blood culture-derived cytokines and chemokines: A randomized, blinded, healthy control pilot trial. Neuromodulation. 2016;19(3):283-290. doi: 10.1111/ner.12398
- Chaudhry SR, Lendvai IS, Muhammad S, et al. Inter-ictal assay of peripheral circulating inflammatory mediators in migraine patients under adjunctive cervical non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS): A proof-of-concept study. Brain Stimul. 2019;12(3):643-651. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2019.01.008
- Meller ST, Lewis SJ, Ness TJ, Brody MJ, Gebhart GF. Vagal afferent-mediated inhibition of a nociceptive reflex by intravenous serotonin in the rat. I. Characterization. Brain Res. 1990;524(1):90-100. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(90)90496-x
- Lange G, Janal MN, Maniker A, et al. Safety and efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation in fibromyalgia: A phase I/II proof of concept trial. Pain Med. 2011;12(9):1406-1413. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01203
- Li S, Sun C, Rong P, et al. Auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances central serotonergic function and inhibits diabetic neuropathy development in Zucker fatty rats. Mol Pain. 2018;14:1744806918787368. doi: 10.1177/1744806918787368
- Oshinsky ML, Murphy AL, Hekierski H Jr., Cooper M, Simon BJ. Noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation as treatment for trigeminal allodynia. Pain. 2014;155(5):1037-1042. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2014.02.009
- Liu TT, Chen SP, Wang SJ, Yen JC. Vagus nerve stimulation inhibits cortical spreading depression via glutamate-dependent TrkB activation mechanism in the nucleus tractus solitarius. Cephalalgia. 2024;44(2):3331024241230466. doi: 10.1177/03331024241230466
- Ben-Menachem E, Hamberger A, Hedner T, et al. Effects of vagus nerve stimulation on amino acids and other metabolites in the CSF of patients with partial seizures. Epilepsy Res. 1995;20(3):221-227. doi: 10.1016/0920-1211(94)00083-9
- Shytle RD, Mori T, Townsend K, et al. Cholinergic modulation of microglial activation by alpha 7 nicotinic receptors. J Neurochem. 2004;89(2):337-343. doi: 10.1046/j.1471-4159.20004.02347.x
- Randich A, Ren K, Gebhart GF. Electrical stimulation of cervical vagal afferents. II. Central relays for behavioral antinociception and arterial blood pressure decreases. J Neurophysiol. 1990;64(4):1115-1124. doi: 10.1152/jn.1990.64.4.1115
- Nishikawa Y, Koyama N, Yoshida Y, Yokota T. Activation of ascending antinociceptive system by vagal afferent input as revealed in the nucleus ventralis posteromedialis. Brain Res. 1999;833(1):108-111. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(99)01521-8
- Förster CY. Transcutaneous non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation: Changing the paradigm for stroke and atrial fibrillation therapies? Biomolecules. 2024;14(12):1511. doi: 10.3390/biom14121511
- Kutlu N, Özden AV, Alptekin HK, Alptekin JÖ. The impact of auricular vagus nerve stimulation on pain and life quality in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. Biomed Res Int. 2020;2020:8656218. doi: 10.1155/2020/8656218
- Muthulingam JA, Olesen SS, Hansen TM, Brock C, Drewes AM, Frøkjær JB. Cervical transcutaneous vagal neuromodulation in chronic pancreatitis patients with chronic pain: A randomised sham controlled clinical trial. PLoS One. 2021;16(2):e0247653. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247653
- Farmer AD, Albusoda A, Amarasinghe G, et al. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation prevents the development of, and reverses, established oesophageal pain hypersensitivity. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2020;52(6):988-996. doi: 10.1111/apt.15869
- Shi X, Hu Y, Zhang B, Li W, Chen JD, Liu F. Ameliorating effects and mechanisms of transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation on abdominal pain and constipation. JCI Insight. 2021;6(14):e150052. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.150052
- Goadsby PJ, Grosberg BM, Mauskop A, Cady R, Simmons KA. Effect of noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation on acute migraine: An open-label pilot study. Cephalalgia. 2014;34(12):986-993. doi: 10.1177/0333102414524494
- Barbanti P, Grazzi L, Egeo G, Padovan AM, Liebler E, Bussone G. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation for acute treatment of high-frequency and chronic migraine: An open-label study. J Headache Pain. 2015;16:61. doi: 10.1186/s10194-015-0542-4
- Silberstein SD, Calhoun AH, Lipton RB, et al. Chronic migraine headache prevention with noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation: The EVENT study. Neurology. 2016;87(5):529-538.doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002918
- Najib U, Smith T, Hindiyeh N, et al. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation for prevention of migraine: The multicenter, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled PREMIUM II trial. Cephalalgia. 2022;42(7):560-569. doi: 10.1177/03331024211068813
- Silberstein SD, Mechtler LL, Kudrow DB, et al. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation for the acute treatment of cluster headache: Findings from the randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled ACT1 study. Headache. 2016;56(8):1317-1332. doi: 10.1111/head.12896
- Awaad DG, Atia AA, Elsayed E, Elserafy TS, Tawfik RM. Effect of peripheral neuromodulation on headache in post covid-19 survivors. J Pharm Negat Results. 2022;13:2694-2704. doi: 10.47750/pnr.2022.13.S07.361
- Busch V, Zeman F, Heckel A, Menne F, Ellrich J, Eichhammer P. The effect of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on pain perception--an experimental study. Brain Stimul. 2013;6(2):202-209. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2012.04.006
- Lindemann J, Rakers C, Matuskova H, Simon BJ, Kinfe T, Petzold GC. Vagus nerve stimulation reduces spreading depolarization burden and cortical infarct volume in a rat model of stroke. PLoS One. 2020;15(7):e0236444. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236444
- Hays SA, Ruiz A, Bethea T, et al. Vagus nerve stimulation during rehabilitative training enhances recovery of forelimb function after ischemic stroke in aged rats. Neurobiol Aging. 2016;43:111-118. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.03.030
- Liu AF, Zhao FB, Wang J, et al. Effects of vagus nerve stimulation on cognitive functioning in rats with cerebral ischemia reperfusion. J Transl Med. 2016;14:101. doi: 10.1186/s12967-016-0858-0
- Thompson SL, O’Leary GH, Austelle CW, et al. A review of parameter settings for invasive and non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) applied in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Front Neurosci. 2021;15:709436. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.709436
- Gaul C, Diener HC, Silver N, et al. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation for PREVention and Acute treatment of chronic cluster headache (PREVA): A randomised controlled study. Cephalalgia. 2016;36(6):534-546. doi: 10.1177/0333102415607070
- Borgmann D, Rigoux L, Kuzmanovic B, et al. Technical note: Modulation of fMRI brainstem responses by transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation. Neuroimage. 2021;244:118566. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118566
- Engineer ND, Riley JR, Seale JD, et al. Reversing pathological neural activity using targeted plasticity. Nature. 2011;470(7332):101-104. doi: 10.1038/nature09656
- Evancho A, Tyler WJ, McGregor K. A review of combined neuromodulation and physical therapy interventions for enhanced neurorehabilitation. Front Hum Neurosci. 2023;17:1151218. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1151218
- Goggins E, Mitani S, Tanaka S. Clinical perspectives on vagus nerve stimulation: Present and future. Clin Sci (Lond). 2022;136(9):695-709. doi: 10.1042/CS20210507
- Li TT, Wang ZJ, Yang SB, et al. Transcutaneous electrical stimulation at auricular acupoints innervated by auricular branch of vagus nerve pairing tone for tinnitus: Study protocol for a randomized controlled clinical trial. Trials. 2015;16:101. doi: 10.1186/s13063-015-0630-4
- Amiri S, Behnezhad S, Azad E. Migraine headache and depression in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Migräne und depression bei erwachsenen: Ein systematisches review und meta-analyse. Neuropsychiatr. 2019;33(3):131-140. doi: 10.1007/s40211-018-0299-5
- Yap JYY, Keatch C, Lambert E, Woods W, Stoddart PR, Kameneva T. Critical review of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: Challenges for translation to clinical practice. Front Neurosci. 2020;14:284. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00284
- Badran BW, Dowdle LT, Mithoefer OJ, et al. Neurophysiologic effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) via electrical stimulation of the tragus: A concurrent taVNS/fMRI study and review. Brain Stimul. 2018;11(3):492-500. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2017.12.009
- Straube A, Eren O. tVNS in the management of headache and pain. Auton Neurosci. 2021;236:102875. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2021.102875
- Bellocchi C, Carandina A, Della Torre A, et al. Transcutaneous auricular branch vagal nerve stimulation as a non-invasive add-on therapeutic approach for pain in systemic sclerosis. RMD Open. 2023;9(3):e003265. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2023-003265
- Liu FJ, Wu J, Gong LJ, Yang HS, Chen H. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in anti-inflammatory therapy: Mechanistic insights and future perspectives. Front Neurosci. 2024;18:1490300. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1490300
- Badran BW, Huffman SM, Dancy M, Austelle CW, Bikson M, Kautz SA, et al. A pilot randomized controlled trial of supervised, at-home, self-administered transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) to manage long COVID symptoms. Bioelectron Med. 2022; 8(1):13 doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1716096/v1
- Bremner JD, Wittbrodt MT, Gurel NZ, et al. Transcutaneous cervical vagal nerve stimulation in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A pilot study of effects on PTSD symptoms and interleukin-6 response to stress. J Affect Disord Rep. 2021;6:100190. doi: 10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100190
- Badran BW, Mithoefer OJ, Summer CE, et al. Short trains of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) have parameter-specific effects on heart rate. Brain Stimul. 2018;11(4):699-708. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2018.04.004
- Owolabi MO, Leonardi M, Bassetti C, et al. Global synergistic actions to improve brain health for human development. Nat Rev Neurol. 2023;19(6):371-383. doi: 10.1038/s41582-023-00808-z
- Guiraud D, Andreu D, Bonnet S, et al. Vagus nerve stimulation: State of the art of stimulation and recording strategies to address autonomic function neuromodulation. J Neural Eng. 2016;13(4):041002. doi: 10.1088/1741-2560/13/4/041002
- Edwards CA, Kouzani A, Lee KH, Ross EK. Neurostimulation devices for the treatment of neurologic disorders. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017;92(9):1427-1444. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.05.005
- González-González MA, Conde SV, Latorre R, et al. Bioelectronic medicine: A multidisciplinary roadmap from biophysics to precision therapies. Front Integr Neurosci. 2024;18:1321872. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2024.1321872
- Mourdoukoutas AP, Truong DQ, Adair DK, Simon BJ, Bikson M. High-resolution multi-scale computational model for non-invasive cervical vagus nerve stimulation. Neuromodulation. 2018;21(3):261-268. doi: 10.1111/ner.12706
- Wernisch L, Edwards T, Berthon A, et al. Online Bayesian optimization of vagus nerve stimulation. J Neural Eng. 2024;21(2). doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad33ae
- Ahmed U, Chang YC, Zafeiropoulos S, Nassrallah Z, Miller L, Zanos S. Strategies for precision vagus neuromodulation. Bioelectron Med. 2022;8(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s42234-022-00091-1
- Ben-Menachem E, Revesz D, Simon BJ, Silberstein S. Surgically implanted and non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation: A review of efficacy, safety and tolerability. Eur J Neurol. 2015;22(9):1260-1268. doi: 10.1111/ene.12629
- Duff IT, Likar R, Perruchoud C, et al. Clinical efficacy of auricular vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of chronic and acute pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain Ther. 2024;13(6):1407-1427. doi: 10.1007/s40122-024-00657-8
- Redgrave J, Day D, Leung H, et al. Safety and tolerability of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in humans; a systematic review. Brain Stimul. 2018;11(6):1225-1238. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2018.08.010
- Kaniusas E, Kampusch S, Tittgemeyer M, et al. Current directions in the auricular vagus nerve stimulation I - a physiological perspective. Front Neurosci. 2019;13:854. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00854
- Grazzi L, Tassorelli C, de Tommaso M, et al. Practical and clinical utility of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) for the acute treatment of migraine: A post hoc analysis of the randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind PRESTO trial. J Headache Pain. 2018;19(1):98. doi: 10.1186/s10194-018-0928-1
- Farmer AD, Strzelczyk A, Finisguerra A, et al. International consensus based review and recommendations for minimum reporting standards in research on transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (Version 2020). Front Hum Neurosci. 2021;14:568051. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.568051
- Ottaviani MM, Vallone F, Micera S, Recchia FA. Closed-loop vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases: State of the art and future directions. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022;9:866957. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.866957
- Warren CM, Tona KD, Ouwerkerk L, et al. The neuromodulatory and hormonal effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation as evidenced by salivary alpha amylase, salivary cortisol, pupil diameter, and the P3 event-related potential. Brain Stimul. 2019;12(3):635-642. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2018.12.224
- Yu Y, Ling J, Yu L, Liu P, Jiang M. Closed-loop transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation: Current situation and future possibilities. Front Hum Neurosci. 2022;15:785620. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.785620
- Konakoğlu G, Özden AV, Solmaz H, Bildik C. The effect of auricular vagus nerve stimulation on electroencephalography and electromyography measurements in healthy persons. Front Physiol. 2023;14:1215757. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1215757
- Bömmer T, Schmidt LM, Meier K, et al. Impact of stimulation duration in taVNS-exploring multiple physiological and cognitive outcomes. Brain Sci. 2024;14(9):875. doi: 10.3390/brainsci14090875
- Tischer J, Szeles JC, Kaniusas E. Personalized auricular vagus nerve stimulation: Beat-to-beat deceleration dominates in systole-gated stimulation during inspiration - a pilot study. Front Physiol. 2025;15:1495868. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1495868
- Austelle CW, O’Leary GH, Thompson S, et al. A comprehensive review of vagus nerve stimulation for depression. Neuromodulation. 2022;25(3):309-315. doi: 10.1111/ner.13528
- Holland MT, Trapp NT, McCormick LM, et al. Deep brain stimulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A long term naturalistic follow up study in a single institution. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:55. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00055
- Sackeim HA. Staging and combining brain stimulation interventions: Vagus nerve stimulation and electroconvulsive therapy. J ECT. 2021;37(2):80-83. doi: 10.1097/YCT.0000000000000745
- Hays SA. Enhancing rehabilitative therapies with vagus nerve stimulation. Neurotherapeutics. 2016;13(2):382-394. doi: 10.1007/s13311-015-0417-z
- Hays SA, Rennaker RL 2nd, Kilgard MP. How to fail with paired VNS therapy. Brain Stimul. 2023;16(5):1252-1258. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2023.08.009
- Khodaparast N, Kilgard MP, Casavant R, et al. Vagus nerve stimulation during rehabilitative training improves forelimb recovery after chronic ischemic stroke in rats. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2016;30(7):676-684. doi: 10.1177/1545968315616494
- Hays SA, Khodaparast N, Hulsey DR, et al. Vagus nerve stimulation during rehabilitative training improves functional recovery after intracerebral hemorrhage. Stroke. 2014;45(10):3097-3100. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.114.006654
- Meyers EC, Solorzano BR, James J, et al. Vagus nerve stimulation enhances stable plasticity and generalization of stroke recovery. Stroke. 2018;49(3):710-717. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.019202
- Noble LJ, Souza RR, McIntyre CK. Vagus nerve stimulation as a tool for enhancing extinction in exposure-based therapies. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2019;236(1):355-367. doi: 10.1007/s00213-018-4994-5
- Hays SA, Rennaker RL, Kilgard MP. Targeting plasticity with vagus nerve stimulation to treat neurological disease. Prog Brain Res. 2013;207:275-299. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-63327-9.00010-2
- De Ridder D, Vanneste S, Engineer ND, Kilgard MP. Safety and efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation paired with tones for the treatment of tinnitus: A case series. Neuromodulation. 2014;17(2):170-179. doi: 10.1111/ner.12127
- Tyler R, Cacace A, Stocking C, et al. Vagus nerve stimulation paired with tones for the treatment of tinnitus: A prospective randomized double-blind controlled pilot study in humans. Sci Rep. 2017;7(1):11960. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12178-w
- Abd-Elsayed A, Shiferaw B, Staats PS. Chapter 16 - Vagus nerve stimulation for the management of depression and anxiety. In: Vagus Nerve Stimulation. Elsevier; 2025. p. 205-211. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-816996-4.00004-6
- Engineer CT, Hays SA, Kilgard MP. Vagus nerve stimulation as a potential adjuvant to behavioral therapy for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. J Neurodev Disord. 2017;9:20. doi: 10.1186/s11689-017-9203-z
- Pruitt DT, Duong-Nguyen YN, Meyers EC, et al. Usage of RePlay as a take-home system to support high-repetition motor rehabilitation after neurological injury. Games Health J. 2023;12(1):73-85. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2022.0118
- Kossoff EH, Pyzik PL, Rubenstein JE, et al. Combined ketogenic diet and vagus nerve stimulation: Rational polytherapy? Epilepsia. 2007;48(1):77-81. doi: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2006.00903.x
- Sauer V, Glaser M, Ellwardt E, et al. Favorable combinations of antiseizure medication with vagus nerve stimulation to improve health-related quality of life in patients with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2024;150:109562. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2023.109562