Myofascial Release
What is Connective Tissue/ Fascia? Connective Tissue or Fascia is your body’s soft structural support system. A web matrix that communicates and connects you from head to toe. At a cellular level it bathes and wraps each of your cells. It plays a large part in the functioning of all other systems, like the vascular, respiratory and muscular skeletal systems. Fascia is your interstitial fluid, each muscle cell, fiber, bundle and muscle group. The periosteum is where each of your bones are born in, grow from and is coated with, this is part of the fascial system. It is every tendon, ligament, scar, and adhesion in your entire body. It is adipose~ fat, skin and muscle tissue. These tissues can become disorganized: pulling knotted, twisted, adhered and misaligned. When this web matrix of connective tissue is organized and aligned the tissue is hydrated, fed with essential nutrients, and has optimum blood flow. When tissue has a high level of elasticity it’s self repair becomes more efficient and the body can heal at it’s optimum.
Do you have issues with Fascial Restrictions? The fascia will most often tighten, contract, shorten and scar during fetal development, birth, following trauma, injury, surgery, years of repetitive movement patterns, poor posture or spinal deviations. This can create issues in your tissues. You may experience pain, inflammation, trigger points with referral pain, muscle spasms, numbness, tingling adhesions, scar tissue, limits in your range of motion or neurological damage. This disorganization in the connective tissue creates a need for length, space and balance in your fascial planes. In order to keep your body erect other muscle groups will tend to compensate for the shortness and over time other areas in the body and surrounding tissues will develop their own binding, which will lead to more compensation…and more restriction.
Myofascial Release applies varied degrees of slow deep pressure with strokes that contact the fascial planes. This pressure creates heat and changes dense tissue in the gel-state to a more pliable liquified sol-state. MFR is used to treat soft tissue and structural injuries by lengthening, spreading and differentiating fascial restrictions. This form of bodywork is deep and connective so your body can function at a high level. The functionality and mobility is restored. Because the connective tissue is just that… connected; the tissues are freed up to then relate better to neighbors. The body is sensing itself as a whole connected systemic system. Movement is easier and more graceful. The feeling is literally connected tissue.
