Myofascial

Everyone keeps talking about the importance of Fascial health, but what does that really mean?  Fascia is an internal connective tissue sheet beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs.  Because our fascia surrounds each skeletal muscle, the muscular and fascial systems are intimately related.

Fascia is made up of Collagen, which resists tension and makes up our skin, tendons and ligaments.  It is super strong and therefore hard to address.   Your fascial health depends on your genetic makeup, the stresses you put on your body and your muscle/fascial memory.  In a healthy musculo-skeletal system, your fascia supports free movements of our bones and muscles, in all directions.  When this tissue becomes injured or dysfunctional, it causes pain and limited motion.

We often refer to areas of pain and restriction as knots or ropes in the muscles.  Instead, what happens is the tissue becomes misaligned or abnormal due to trauma/repetitive motion patterns/emotional distress, etc.  In order to release these tissues, one needs to biomechanically and chemically change the tissues, returning to the more efficient movement patterns you used to employ.

How do you know if you have a myofascial issue?

Usually you know because you find yourself in pain.  Often you will find trigger points in the affected muscles.  Trigger points are defined as areas of tenderness/dysfunction in a muscle that refer pain or sensation to another area of the body.

A second way of recognizing myofascial issues is that the skin by the affected area will not roll/glide over the subcutaneous tissue easily, like it normally does and should.  This type of restriction will cause disruption in gross movement patterns of the area, which can cause long term damage if not addressed properly.

We have areas of more dense connective tissue and muscles.  When these areas are affected, they can be recognized by their grisly, hard texture and their inability to move well.  Though muscle/fascial density is not the only indicator, it can indicate areas of dysfunction, if you find it on yourself.   As muscles build, they increase in size and density.  It is important to remember, that as muscles build, they also tear and reform, which if not adequately stretched and cared for, will cause dysfunction in that area.  A big muscle in an area, does not mean it is dysfunctional, however, when you have big muscles, there is greater potential.  Rigorous exercise will cause dense muscle to form, which is the goal you are trying to achieve.  If you squat a lot, you likely have dense IT bands or lots of back exercises will give you large muscles along/next to the spine.

Athletes are going to have these areas of dysfunction because training is so rigorous on your body and that tension will cause stiffness.  This article will give you some ideas about how to help yourself cope with the stress and stiffness/pain that training causes so those areas do not become areas of dysfunction and injury in the future.

So, what can we do?  Athletes like to roll and stretch, which is helpful, but not always the full picture.  We also need to restore normal movement patterns between the muscle and fascial layers.  Often referred to as “breaking up adhesions”.

Why do we have to pay attention to fascia and muscles?

• It’s supposed to be supple and able to move – it should stretch/release and tolerate how and when our bodies’ want/need to move
• If it’s not hydrated and functional, we get knots, we feel pain and tightness and our movements become hindered
• The fascia is our support and framework, if we don’t treat it well, it’ll cause pain and damage to the rest of our soft tissues
• Fascia gets very little blood, so healing takes a lot longer
• Once it’s tight and tender, it’s hard to release and heal
• We can improve the state of our myofascial system by rolling, stretching, massage, movement with proper warm ups and cool downs
• Gua Sha/graston is highly effective in alleviating and breaking up scar tissue/knots/adhesions within the layers
• Stretching provides an optimal environment for our body to lay down newly built muscle.