Myofascial Release

What is Fascia?

"Fascia is a tough connective tissue that spreads throughout the body in a three-dimensional web from head to foot without interruption.” Trauma, posture, and inflammation can cause fascial restrictions, resulting in excessive pressure on nerves, muscles, blood vessels, organs, and bones. However, standard tests such as X-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans do not show these restrictions, leading to the belief that a significant percentage of people with persistent pain or limited mobility may have imbalances in their fascia.

What Does a Treatment Feel Like?

During myofascial release therapy, a therapist applies gentle and sustained pressure to the fascia, creating a sensation of "good pain" or intense stretching. Releasing the pressure on the fascia surrounding muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and bones creates a more mobile environment for pain-sensitive structures, resulting in consistent relief from pain and improvement in functional mobility.

Mind Body Treatment

Fascia is sensory-innervating, meaning that both the somatic and autonomic nervous systems are involved. This means that our thoughts, emotions, and feelings can change the fascia. For instance, when under stress, anxiety, or fear, the fascia will tighten up. It cannot differentiate between real or imagined threats, which is why watching a scary movie can create a physiological response. With fascia restrictions, the nervous system can send false messages to the brain that muscles or nerves are damaged, even when they are not. The fascia can be thought of as a suit that covers the entire body and acts as a sensory organ, holding a memory. You may have seen fascia before, it looks like the white film on a raw chicken breast or the thin skin on a pork tenderloin.

Remember, your mind-body is intelligent, and pain is a message asking you to make a positive change. There is truth in the saying “we hold our issues in our tissues.” Everything is truly interconnected.

References:

Anatomy trains: myofascial meridians for manual therapists and movement professionals. Tomas W Myeres, 2021, Elsevier Health Sciences.

Fascial Release for Structural Balance, Revised Edition: Putting the Therpy if Anatomy Trains into Practice. Thomas Myeres & James Earls, 2017, North Atlantic Books.