myo = muscle appears pink in the image below
fascia = a type of connective tissue appears whitish in the image below
Myofascial Release is a highly effective form of advanced manual therapy that helps reduce or eliminate pain and makes it easier to move. Many different techniques are incorporated into Myofascial Release treatments. It feels like slow, sustained, mostly gentle compression combined with a specific method of stretching that optimizes your body’s structural alignment by balancing the tone and length of the myofascial system. It is very different from massage therapy.
Inflammation produces restricted myofascial tissue
Inflammatory responses from habitual poor posture, surgery, major trauma or many smaller injuries over time cause the web-like connective tissue to reinforce itself. It does this by thickening and spreading, creating what I call fascial restrictions throughout the affected area(s), a process known as fibrosis. Fascial restrictions transform the naturally wavy and flexible fascia within these areas into something quite hard and stiff. It becomes dried out and leathery or ropey. Left to fester over time, fascial restrictions can become as hard as bone.
In laboratory testing, fascia has been shown to have a tensile strength of up to 2000 pounds/square inch. Likewise, fascial restrictions are incredibly strong. It has also been proven that the weight of a single human hair placed on a nerve impairs the nerve’s rate of conduction. It takes no stretch of the imagination to appreciate the devastating impact fascial restrictions can impose on your nervous system. But myofascial restrictions don’t only affect nerves.
Fascial restrictions are indiscriminate. Their only mission is to protect your body by reinforcing it, no matter what’s in the way. The imbalanced tightening fascial restrictions create in parts of the system quite easily pull your body out of its optimal alignment and into compensation, while reducing ease and range of movement. Joints, muscles, nerves, organs, blood vessels and cells get compressed by this fascial tightening. This can produce inflammation and symptoms right around the tight area(s), but also commonly produces seemingly unrelated symptoms in areas well away from the restricted area(s).
Seemingly unrelated symptoms in areas well away from the restricted area(s)? Yes. This is possible and indeed common because fascia is a three-dimensional tissue spreading continuously throughout the body head to toe, front to back. When an area within this web of soft tissue binds down and hardens, it produces a drag-like effect throughout the entire system, easily compressing or pulling joints out of alignment, impinging nerves, compromising normal organ function, suffocating cells, or producing other symptoms above or below the restricted area.
Symptoms are usually the tip of the iceberg
All of the standardized tests, including X-Ray, MRI, CAT scan, etc fail to show fascial restrictions. Most forms of therapy seek to treat symptoms as the beginning and end of the problem without addressing their underlying cause in the fascial system. Of course quieting symptoms has value. But think about what happens when one hole is plugged in a compromised dam. Before long, the next area of weakness springs a leak. The same thing happens in the body. Not long after one symptom is brought under control a new one seems to show up. This explains why so many people complain about how much they hate their aging bodies. They feel their bodies have betrayed them as they wait in line at one specialist’s office and then the next for medications to control their symptoms, which are usually only part of the problem. It doesn’t need to be this way. By restoring freedom to the fascial system, Myofascial Release can gently and safely help resolve even long-standing chronic conditions.
Myofascial Release is not only effective for those dealing with pain and dysfunction. I have enjoyed facilitating a profound sense of freedom and ease with people of all ages including: newborns, children, adults, the elderly, those moving into the dying process, and even animals. It’s an incredible resource for optimizing your health. Are you ready to feel better?
Contact me for more information or to schedule an appointment, and discover how Barnes method Myofascial Release can help you or someone you love.