Myofascial release has gained a strong following because research is showing it works, therapists can feel that it works, and clients are saying it works. The body does not work as separate parts, and myofascial release recognizes that our fascia is one of the main things that connect all the parts into a whole. This therapy relaxes tight muscles effectively and allows the whole body to learn what balance feels like.
Mary, congratulations on your success as a massage therapist here in Ashland. I understand that is partly due to your use of myofascial release techniques. Thanks, Shields. Fascia is very elastic and very strong.
Individual fascia fibers are extremely movable and work in concert with each other. If you enjoy seeing how things work inside the body and would like to see living fascia at work, I strongly recommend you watch this youTube video.
Fascia surrounds and interweaves with everything. It covers whole muscle groups, like the bicep muscle, and it also surrounds every muscle fiber bundle and every individual muscle fiber. Fascia allows smooth movement not only of muscles but also tendons and ligaments, which slide within a tunnel of fascia. Besides muscles, fascia surrounds and interweaves through bones and organs.
If all the bones, organs, and muscles were removed, there would be the fascia, completely in the shape of your body. This is why a restriction in the fascia in one part of the body might set up a tension in the fascia system that goes to a completely different part of the body. Both the muscle and the fascia are filled with nerves, blood vessels, and sensory cells that feel pain and pressure, and create either tension or relaxation responses in the body.
