If you have ever had a treatment off me I would most likely have mentioned fascia – so what is it?
Fascia is a thin layer of connective tissue that encompasses the whole muscle network in the body It encases individual muscle fibres, bundles of muscles fibres, muscles and groups of muscles, it is an interconnected network of extremely strong collagen, elastin and ground substances (a goo like compound) that binds it all together and helps give the muscles and organs shape.
It can withstand 2000lbs per square inch, so is intensely strong and the elastin gives it a stretch and recoil (rubber band) effect. The water keeps it fluid and pliable and when the body is dehydrated the fascia take the hit and leads to inhibition of the muscles.
Like other types of connective tissue, the fascia can thicken and stiffen resulting in reduced flexibility, reduced mobility and dysfunction which in turn can lead to further chronic pain and injuries.
We have superficial fascia which is found just underneath the skin covering the whole body which acts as support, padding and insulation and also provides a pathway for the other systems such as the blood and nerves. There is also deep fascia which is denser and surrounds the individual muscles and muscle fibres giving them their shape and resilience to movement.
As you can imagine if there is an issue with the fascia it can affect the surrounding tissue as well. As mentioned above, if there are any restrictions in the fascia caused by dehydration, trauma etc then it may lose its pliability and in turn restrict the muscles from performing correctly. On a superficial level if you can imagine the fascia being stiff and not fluid then it can hold the body, restricting the movement and leading to postural issues. Using myofascial release at a superficial level and also a deep level can help realign these issues and dysfunctions.
Videos
A little video that is worth a watch is on You Tube called ‘The Fuzz Speech’ by Dr Gill Hedley (does have a warning about it containing human cadavers so not for you if squeamish at all), alternatively type ‘Fascia Magnified 25x (Subtitled)’ into your search engine for a close up of fascia.
When looking at postural deviations caused by the fascia it is good to understand that the fascia is connected from the tip of the toes to the top of the head so any restrictions can have an effect across the whole body (I can talk about myofascial lines but not for this short blog).
If we imagine injuring your wrist, the body protects itself as the brain tells it not to do certain things like flexing the wrist because it hurts, the fascia remembers this and overtime will put layers of fascia down to protect it, as additional layers go down then movement becomes more restricted and the joint would become stiffer and stiffer. To compensate for this, we may start lifting our shoulders differently as we can’t bend at the wrist, as we lift our shoulders differently our head and neck position then changes and the more we train our body to do things differently and consequently our posture will change.
As the fascia becomes ingrained in the new position, muscles, organs, bones may have to change position and become restricted. Nerves and blood vessels may be squeezed, fascial restriction around the spine can affect the nerves around the spinal cord, leading to headaches, which can then lead to other changes to try and alleviate the issues.
All of this came from an injury in the wrist that developed a chain reaction from one part of the fascial network to the other.
As well as trauma causing changes in postural deviations you could look at changes in the way people perform everyday tasks. More and more people sit hunched over a laptop, working from home or in the office for hours on end sending emails. Gradually over time the fascia remembers the positions and makes adjustments to support the body in this posture, which in turn will lead to postural defects and people having rounded shoulders even when they aren’t hunched over the laptop.
As you can see the fascia reacts quickly to the situation and will protect the body from injury or further injury where possible but if the cause isn’t addressed then short term issues become long term issues and the neutral body posture can become misaligned leading to major issues both physical and psychological down the line.
One of my favoured techniques is something called Myosfascial Release which I will cover in a later article but any questions on any of the above please do not hesitate to ask next time you see me.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow my page @Kinisiuk on Facebook, follow my on Instagram @kinisi_uk and if you want to be included on my monthly newsletter mailing list then email me on kinisiuk@gmail.com.
Paul
