About Myofascial Release
Why is Fascia Important?
Our entire body - every organ, every muscle, every cell - is linked by a matrix of connective tissue called fascia. When it is healthy, fascia is both strong and flexible. It allows us to respond and adapt to both physical and psychological stress and then return to a relaxed state after the stress has passed. Healthy fascia is essential to the vitality of our body, mind and spirit.
However, our fascia is not always healthy. Accidents, injuries, surgeries, poor posture and even psychological stress can cause it to solidify into a hard, dense, inflexible web that locks our body in an unhealthy pattern of physical pain or mental distress. It keeps nutrients from getting to our cells, restricts our movement, pinches nerves and blood vessels, and can even affect our mood and outlook on life!
What Does Fascia Look Like?
Fascia is a three dimensional web of fluid fibers that glide and stretch around all our cells. Our cells are literally embedded in this web, and the health of our fascia directly impacts the health of our cells. It is a fluid, dynamic, stretchy, full body "scaffolding" that ensures each cell has the space it needs to thrive. Plus, it provides shock absorption to protect our cells from injury. When fascia is restricted, it hardens and the space between these fibers contracts. It limits movement, compresses our cells, nerves and blood vessels and contributes to pain, dysfunction and cellular dehydration.
How Does Fascia Affect the Whole Body?
Because most of us were never taught about fascia in school, we don't realize how much of an impact it has on our bodies and our well-being. We may feel pain or discomfort, but assume the problem is in our muscles or nerves instead of the web of gliding scaffolding that surrounds them.
Fascial restrictions create areas of tension in the body. Those forces then pull on the entire web and create a full body pattern of tension. You can see how restriction in the knee pulls up into the pelvis, and restriction in the shoulder pulls through the chest and down into the belly. In a living person, this tension can extend throughout the entire body! It is so strong that it can pull bones out of alignment, pull them together and compress painful joints, distort or compress internal organs, blood vessels and nerves, cause headaches, limit flexibility and movement and generally cause a lot of unnecessary pain!
How Can Myofascial Release Help?
Myofascial Release is a safe and extremely effective hands-on therapy that can unlock the web and remove the restrictions
that are causing our tension and pain. The therapist uses specialized stretching, compression, and cranial techniques to release key areas of restricted fascia in the body. Because the web is completely interconnected, these releases can trigger a domino effect that release even more areas of the body - reducing tension, eliminating pain, improving posture, increasing energy, reducing stress, and even allowing deep emotional release to occur.
Myofascial Release addresses the root of the problem and treats the entire body as a whole, unified system, creating an experience of deep healing. It never forces the body to change and is never invasive. Instead, it works with the body's own rhythms and is sensitive to its needs and limits. It is safe for adults and children of all ages.
Fascial restrictions can slowly spread throughout the body, causing pain, restricting motion and creating dysfunction in many seemingly unrelated areas.
Fascial restrictions are not visible in laboratory tests. Symptoms may seem "unexplainable" or resistant to traditional therapies since the actual cause often lies in another area.
When fascia is healthy, it is strong and flexible. It supports our bodies in all our daily activities and allows us to work, play and move freely without pain, strain or restriction.
Healthy fascia gives our bodies the framework it needs to support our bones and muscles. It energizes our entire body and gives us a sense of vitality and flow.
