Myofascial Release Bristol / What is Fascia?
Fascia library
What is Fascia?
Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps and links every muscle, bone, nerve and organ in the body. This guide explains what it is made of, what it does and why it matters for pain.
Definition
Fascia definition: the body's connective web
Fascia is a sheet and web of connective tissue made mainly of collagen fibres, elastic fibres and a gel like ground substance rich in water and hyaluronan. It surrounds structures from the smallest muscle fibre to whole limbs, and it is continuous: there is no point where one piece of Fascia ends and another begins.
Anatomists divide it into layers for study. Superficial Fascia sits just under the skin. Deep Fascia wraps muscles and groups of muscles. Visceral Fascia holds the organs in place.
Layers
The layers of Fascia and what each one does
Each layer has a different job, and each can tighten in its own way.
Superficial Fascia
A loose, fatty layer under the skin that lets the skin glide over the body and carries blood vessels and nerves.
Deep Fascia
Dense sheets that wrap muscles, such as the fascia lata of the thigh and the thoracolumbar Fascia of the lower back.
Epimysium, perimysium and endomysium
The Fascia around each whole muscle, each bundle of fibres and each single fibre.
Visceral Fascia
The tissue that suspends and separates the organs of the chest and abdomen.
Function
What Fascia does in a healthy body
Healthy Fascia transmits force between muscles, holds joints in position, lets muscles slide past each other and senses movement. Researchers have found that Fascia contains a large number of sensory nerve endings, which makes it one of the body's main sources of information about position and strain.
Fascia also adapts to how it is used. Regular, varied movement keeps it supple and well hydrated. Long periods in one position, injury, surgery and stress can make it thicker, drier and less able to glide.
Treatment
How myofascial release treats Fascia
Myofascial release applies slow, sustained pressure and stretch to the restricted tissue, usually without oil so the hands can grip it. Each hold lasts one to five minutes. The tissue gradually softens and lengthens under the pressure, and the area moves more freely when it is tested again.
In Bristol, James follows the lines of Fascia that test tight, rather than treating only the place that hurts.
Questions
What is Fascia?: questions answered
Is Fascia the same as a tendon or ligament?
Tendons and ligaments are specialised, dense forms of connective tissue. Fascia is the wider web that wraps and links them with the muscles and bones.
Can Fascia show up on a scan?
Standard X rays do not show Fascia. Ultrasound can show some layers, but scans rarely report on Fascial tightness.
Does Fascia tighten with age?
Fascia tends to lose water and elasticity with age and inactivity. Regular movement and treatment help keep it supple.
Can I release my own Fascia?
Gentle self release with a ball or roller, stretching and walking all help. Hands on treatment reaches deeper and follows the whole line.
Book a two hour session at Cavendish House, Clifton.Leave your name and number and James will WhatsApp you to discuss.
WhatsApp JamesRead next