Myofascia – part 1

What is Myofasci?

Fascia is the main connective tissue of the body. Fascia surrounds every cell, muscle, bone, nerve, blood Bessel in the body, creating a three-dimensional web. This is one continuous network from head to toe. Myofascia is the fascia that surrounds all the muscle.

Why it is important?

In its normal state fascia is fluid and pliable, allowing full, pain-free movement. However, fascia is vulnerable to trauma from

  • Accident
  • Infection
  • Injury
  • Surgery
  • Repetitive Movement
  • Habitual Poor Posture

Such trauma causes fascia to tighten, solidify and develop restrictions. Over time these myofascial restrictions can lead to

  • Poor biomechanics
  • Altered structural alignment
  • Compromised blood supply
  • Pain
  • Reduce flexibility and stability

 

Related Posts

  • How does NMT work?

    I previously explain what NMT or Neuromuscular Technique is.  In this blog post I want to focus on how NMT works. With NMT when the static pressure is applied to the muscle, a message is sent from the muscles (via the golgi tendons & the muscles spindles both of which are part of the nervous system) to the brain and then the muscle relaxes.  Within the muscles

    • Golgi tendons respond to load or force on the muscle
    • Muscle spindles respond to the length of the muscle
    The Golgi tendon operates as a protective feedback mechanism to control the tension of an active muscle by causing relaxation before the tendon tension becomes high enough to cause damage. As the muscle relaxes it may cause a change in length which causes the muscle spindles to be reset. There is a variety of ways that massage therapists utilise these mechanisms within a massage to trigger the body's self protection system to relax muscles.

  • Myofascia – part 2

    Last week I explained what myofascia is and how it can become restricted from, for example, poor posture. How to identify Myofascial Restrictions? It is important to acknowledge that it is difficult to diagnose myofascial restrictions as they do not show up on standard tests (x-rays, myelograms, CAT scans, electromyography etc). Massage therapists utilise their palpation skills to find myofascial restrictions. For example fascial drag, this is a very light press & slow technique to allow the therapist to feel the restrictions in the fascia. Who treats Myofascial Restrictions?

    1. Myofascial Release – Originated in the 1940’s. It is a specialised physical and manual therapy used for the effective treatment and rehabilitation of soft tissue and fascial tension and restrictions. John Barns a physical therapist based in the US is one of today’s leading lights in the world of myofascial release.
    2. Rolfing – Dr Ida Rolf, started working with client in the 1930’s and by the 1950’s was teaching her work under the name of Rolfing .   A physical therapy which aims to release stress patterns from the body.   It is normally to require a series of treatment often up to 10.
    3. Massage – massage therapists utilise direct and indirect technique to address Myofascial restrictions.
    With indirect Myofascial techniques you apply pressure and wait of the fascial to release, when you meet restriction you stretch the fascia. With direct Myofascial techniques you drag the fascia to create a Chinese burn sensation.   Hence why in clinic I often rely on the gentler indirect Myofascial techniques even when I know my clients prefer deep pressure.

  • Why are my muscles rigid? Introduction

    Muscle rigidity refers to stiffness or tension in your muscles. Muscle rigidity characterized by the inability of the muscles to relax normally. The condition can affect any of [...]