Fascia




 

 Getting Deep into Your Fascia

You might have heard your massage therapist talking about working on your fascia and connective tissues – ever wondered what they were talking about?

Fascia is another name for the fibrous connective tissues all over your body. There are three main types of fascia; superficial fascia, which is mainly found in the skin. Deep fascia surrounds your muscles, bones, nerves, and blood vessels, and visceral fascia is mainly associated with the internal organs.

We’re dealing with your deep fascia – the connective tissue surrounding your muscles and muscle groups for massage purposes.

What Does Muscle Fascia Do?

It’s the connective tissue responsible for holding muscles together and keeping them where they should be. It also helps to separate individual muscles within their groups so that they can work independently, and it provides a lubricated surface that allows the muscles to move smoothly against each other.

Suppose you’re inactive for a long time because of a sedentary lifestyle or illness. In that case, your muscle fascia can start to stick together, stopping your muscles from moving freely and giving you a tight, stiff feeling. In some cases, this can also limit your mobility.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial Release is a specialized type of massage therapy that can help to free up stiff fascia and reduce tension or restriction.

In this type of massage, therapists feel and stretch slowly down into the tissues, all the time feeling for a glue-like texture which means there’s a ‘sticky’ fascia. It’s not the same technique as a regular muscle-based massage, so it might feel a little unusual. It’s an exact massage technique involving gentle yet direct pressure for five to eight minutes. If the fascial release massage is carried out too long, the fascia can start to resist the pressure, so the therapist will be conscientious about any signs of resistance.

The massage should allow your fascia to return to its regular resting length, which will feel much better, ease any pain or stiffness and boost muscle health.

Who Benefits from Fascial Massage?

If you have issues with your posture, this type of therapy could be helpful. If the fascial tissue holds your body in the wrong position, your muscles will struggle to keep you in the correct alignment. Your connective tissue then starts to work harder, and this can lead to other problems. A combination of bad posture and gravity leads to extra stresses on your body that can be relieved with fascial therapy.

If you have scar tissue from previous injuries, some fascial massage might relieve some of the discomforts. In scar tissue, the tissue is laid down in a random pattern, which can cause it to pull on the surrounding tissue. Fascial therapy can help relieve pain and stiffness caused by scar tissue dysfunction.

Athletes dealing with muscle strain, lack of flexibility, or pain could also make use of this type of therapy. Fascial therapy can help increase athletes’ range of motion and decrease pain, making training much more manageable.

Did you learn something new today? 

As a Massage Therapist, I love doing Myofascial Release. Feeling the Muscles slowly melt is one of my favorite things. 

I hope you enjoyed learning about fascia today. I’ll be back next week with another post. Talking about headaches. See you then!

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