Understanding Fascia
Fascia is the ultimate support system. It is the connective tissue that wraps around the skeleton and soft tissues in the human body. Enveloping every bone, muscle, blood vessel, and organ, the fascia creates a continuous web of protection, support, and structure.
With no beginning and ending, it is like a three-dimensional spider web that holds the bones, muscles and organs in their respective places, thereby giving the body its shape and form.
It is the fascia that gives a person their individual characteristics of posture.
The fascia can become chronically shortened, creating an imbalance in the fascial web, which induces a misalignment in the structure. This can lead to chronic muscle tension and pain. This shortening develops over time in response to physical injuries and environmental factors that include repetitive work, recreational activities, and day-to-day challenges.
Fascia is a hidden treasure for creating lasting change in the body's structure. Fascia is malleable! It can be stubborn, yet when it receives appropriate contact and sufficient energy, it changes immediately. When fascia changes, our structure changes, and when our structure changes, our physiology changes!
It helps to think of the fascia as being the container and the muscles as being the content within the container. When the fascia is lengthened, the muscles and organs have more space in which to relax.
Restoring length and flexibility to the fascial web is essential to the healing process of chronic pain and dysfunction because it releases the tension that affects the structure, muscles, and organs. This, in turn, increases and improves the overall flow of energy throughout the body.