For people with psoriatic arthritis who are feeling better, using a small device on the skin to stimulate a nerve in the neck for five days may help lower inflammation markers and improve how they feel, even if other common measures of arthritis don’t change.

In people with psoriatic arthritis, a mild electric stimulation on the neck seemed to make one harmful immune protein go up, even though other signs of inflammation got better — which is weird and suggests the body’s immune system is responding in a complicated way.

A non-invasive device that stimulates a nerve in the neck for five days was linked to a noticeable drop in heart rate in people with two types of inflammatory arthritis, which might mean the body’s natural calming system was activated.

A non-invasive device that stimulates a nerve in the neck made heart rate control improve in people with one type of arthritis but worsen in people with another type, after just five days of use.

Stimulating the vagus nerve might lower a marker of inflammation called CRP in people who are acutely sick, but the evidence is shaky because the studies were small and mixed, so we can't say it works for long-term inflammation.