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

  • The Impact of Sitting All Day – Part 6

    Studies have shown that an alert body and active lifestyle boosts not just productivity, but also happiness and satisfaction levels. There is now an explosion of research studies that demonstrate the harmful effects of sitting all day, which I have covered in past blog posts.

    In my last blog post, "Taking a Break", I explored the reasons for taking a break and looked at the latest research on the length of break you need to take and the frequency. So now I want to focus on strategies to get you moving… Use an Exercise Ball for a Chair Unlike sitting in a chair, sitting on a exercise ball engages your core muscles and helps improve your balance & flexibility. Occasionally bouncing can also help your body interact with gravity to a greater degree than sitting on a stationary chair. Use the Stairs Walk up and down stairs, rather than take the lifts.  Even if you only walk up or down one flight of stairs and then take the lift the rest of the way it will have a positive impact on your health. Walk & Talk Meeting If you have an informal meeting with a colleague why not suggest a walk & talk meeting, weather permitting you could always go outside and get some fresh air too! Pedometer Using a pedometer will help you asses how many steps you take throughout the day. Taking a roundabout way to your desk, taking the stairs or walking to the next tube station as part of your commute will help you increase the number of steps you take daily. Exercise while you Sit at your desk An Amercian start up company, FitnessCubed, has come up with Cubii, an under-desk elliptical trainer that allows you to do basic exercise while you sit at a standard office desk. (It requires no changes to your existing desk set up.) They have also produced a mobile app that allows you to track your workout and you can also share your work out results – so you could even hold an inter-office competition.
  • 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.
  • Arm and Hand Stretches

    These stretches can either be done as a complete series or individually and most of them can be done at your desk.  Some will ease tension in specific parts of the body whilst others are generally relaxing.  Please remember stretching should always be relaxing and never painful! To get maximum benefit from these stretches you should do them daily and hold each stretch for 15 seconds and repeat twice unless otherwise stated. Arm and Hand Stretches

    • Stand with your feet together, keeping you feet together and your knees soft.  Raise your arms alternatively swinging them over your head as if you were performing backstroke.
    • Raise your left arm above your head and push up as high as you can.  Feel the stretch down the left side of the body.  Hold for 30 seconds.  Repeat on the right.
    • Raise your right arm to the side, keeping at shoulder height.  Point your fingers towards the ceiling and push your palm away from your body.  Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on left side.
    • With your right hand by your side, point your fingers behind you with your palm facing up.  Push your right shoulder and wrist towards the floor, then make a fist.  Hold.  Repeat on the other side.
    • Keep your arms by your side and clench your fists as tight as you can, then spread your thumb and fingers as far apart as possible.
    • Let your arms hang loosely by your side and shake them for about 15 seconds.