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Fascia- What Is It?
- Victoria Zorich
- Feb 24, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 20, 2020
Author of Fascia–What It Is And Why It Matters, David Lesonak, describes fascia as a web of Connective Tissue formed in bands that "surrounds and penetrates every muscle, covers all the organs, and envelops each nerve". It lies immediately under the epidermis (skin), around muscles, bones, blood vessels, and cells. Lesonak portrays fascia as “a silvery-white material, flexible and sturdy in equal measure". It can also be thought of as yarn in a sweater since every part of the entire body is connected to one another by fascia. It is a single structure that exists without interruption WHICH is why it is described as connective tissue. It attaches our head, to our fingertips, to our toes.
The Fascial System is a communicative and fluid system. Fascia is a balance between elasticity and tension and has the ability to stretch and change without restrictions This fluidity allows for the muscles to shift freely and seamlessly, with unbounded operation, while holding everything in place. These connective fibers are supposed to slide easily over one another during movement, although that is not always the case. Ariele Foster, founder of Yoga Anatomy Academy explains why restrictions may occur.
“Whether due to injury or repetitive actions, areas of tissue can become thickened and inflamed and tug on Fascial network further up the chain,” Foster says. Performing any form of repetitive movement results in causing “the Fascial sheaths that encase the muscles to no longer have as much give and can become wound up like a wrung-out dishrag, contributing to restrictions, strain, and eventually pain.”
When someone experiences trauma of any kind, physical or emotional, inflammation, or scarring, the fascia loses that elasticity. Its ability to 'bounce back' is restricted and it then becomes the source of the body's tension. And someone's trauma can come from anything, surgery, a car accident or, as Fosters said, repetitive actions LIKE poor posture when using the computer. The changes trauma causes in the Fascial System influences comfort and function of our body.
Erin Bourne holds a Bachelor of Exercise Science, as well as extensive training in Yoga and Myofascial Release. She describes fascia as a dynamic and highly sensitive tissue that is always listening and responding to what is happening throughout the whole body.
"If we stop moving one part, or all, of the body then the fascia starts to dehydrate, solidify and constrict. This spot becomes like a dam for the energy, the information and the signals. We lose awareness in that part of the body and healthy function."
If the fascia is restricted then muscle contraction is restricted. Restriction is where pain and injury can happen, but the restriction could come from either muscle or fascia, and possibly in another part of the body. These fascial restrictions affect flexibility, stability and are a determining factor in our ability to withstand stress and perform daily activities. Solidified fascia exerts excessive pressure which will cause symptoms producing pain, headaches or restriction of motion.
RELEASING FASCIA
Massage as well as stretching, yoga, and good ole continuous movement all helps to release fascia. Like water, fascia is always moving, changing, and forever in motion whether or not we are. Alexa Nehter a long time yoga teacher describes fascia as “our biggest sensory organ, our organ of awareness, our internal ocean.”
Fascia has an extreme impact on the nervous system which can be problematic in all walks of life, not just with trauma. According to Foster, massaging with “gentle pressure on your fascia may help communicate to your nervous system that there is no longer any need for increased tension in that area.” Unraveling tension from deep in the body causes a chain reaction releasing tension in other areas. This improves "the slide and glide of the tissues whilst hydrating them through the act of compression and release.”
Tom Myers, author of Anatomy Trains, has been lecturing on fascia and been involved in bodywork for over 43 years. For him, once the habitual patterns of fascia are changed, then the chronic tension stuck (literally) in the tissues can be tackled. He explains the impact the long, slow stretches have in reaching deeper and denser tissues of the body, such like fascia. He says:
"One of the wonderful things about yoga is that because of the sustained stretch held in many yoga poses, you actually do change the connective tissue."
Myers goes on to explain that long held poses of yoga give the muscles time to relax and release. This is due to a muscles own stretch reflex, which attempts to contract the muscle back to its shortened length. BUT "maintaining the stretch allows the body to relax into the shape and as the muscles relax, we begin to work into the deeper layers, like fascia."
There are no set times in which all muscles unwind. For some things happen quickly and with ease, while others must continue to hold a stretch or yoga pose.
"The muscles have to relax first and then the fascia starts to stretch and release. And that can facilitate the kind of re-patterning that leads to lasting release of chronic holdings and, in many cases, a profound change of mind and body."
In any aspect of your life, not just stretching, yoga or massage, it is important to remain fluid. If the body is pushed past its limits it will push back leaving you with trauma that may not be felt at first BUT will inevitably cause problems. So listen to your internal ocean, move through poses, and stay fluid. Treat your body with care and it will reciprocate!
To better grasp what Fascia is and how to manipulate and stretch it, click the link below!
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