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Why is fascia important to address?

Fascia or connective tissue gets laid down in the line of stress (Davis’s Law.) Some areas that don’t move often enough can develop a thicker scar tissue like stiffness. When lines of tissue are repeatedly used, our bodies lay down extra tissue to cleverly make the stressed area stronger. The same is true for bone remodeling via a process of mechano-transduction whereby bone is remodeled in response to mechanical stress. (Yes we can change our bone shape! Slowly)

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When fascia is dehydrated and stuck, it gets gluey which is a big problem for the body. Glued up fascia binds multiple layers of tissue, forcing co-contraction. This makes movement restricted and less efficient, often leading to compensation patterns, pain, injuries and general lack of wellbeing. Compare the energy requirements to contract a single muscle, versus several muscles bound together by thickened fascia. It’s energy expensive to be stuck, as your body needs to push through more resistance. When fascial areas become restricted movement becomes clumsy and lacks rhythm and control.

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When fascial areas become restricted (think of a trigger point in a muscle) we lose important sensory feedback, and thus become less adept at navigating our environment. The sensitivity of an individual muscle or line of tissue becomes dimmed when it is improperly bound to several others resulting in clumsy movement that lacks rhythm.

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Fascial restrictions can result from playing a specific sport that loads repetitive lines of tissue, being injured and immobile, or simply moving through life with a preferred hand/leg. These subtle compensations we have in the body take time to undo, as subconsciously our body will move with the path of least resistance. With improved awareness and fascial freeing, we can start to unglue and undo dominant patterns.

 

Optimising Fascia in your Training

We can use a variety of tools and techniques to address both local, and global fascial restrictions in our bodies. The brilliance of addressing the fascial system, is that positive change in one area, will influence the whole web like system. Given the vastness of our fascial system, and how interconnected it is to our physical and emotional function, the smallest change can create widespread improvements to how someone moves and feels.

 

• Manual Therapy: We can use hands on structural integration techniques with movement, to create a more lasting change.

• Fascial Release Techniques: We teach our clients how to apply fascial release using trigger point balls, foam rollers.

• Vibration Training: We can use Vibration to rapidly hydrate fascia, increase massage efficiency, & release tension.

• Movement: We use movements to load lines of tissue together for greater fascial change.

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Local fascial change has limited success, without further integration of the freshly enriched part back into the system.

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