Fascia

Okay, I’ve mentioned the word “fascia” several times and one of the questions I’m asked a lot is, “What is fascia?” A couple of examples should suffice. Have you ever seen a butcher making sausage links? You know that ‘skin’ that he holds over the nozzle where the meat is being pushed out of the grinder? That skin is kind of like what fascia is in your body. Here’s another one. You know how when you eat chicken and sometimes the piece has that really thin, almost transparent, whitish sheath covering the meat? That actually IS fascia. Every muscle fiber, every muscle, every muscle group, every area of your body has a fascial sheath. It performs many functions not the least of which is defining the shape and length of your muscles. This is important to understand. Here’s why.

When you injure a muscle it contracts so that you can’t/won’t move it so it can heal. It is mother natures’ ‘cast’. When your muscle heals it is shorter, (more contracted), than it was prior to the injury. Your fascial sheath is shorter as well. Then at long last the pain and inflammation are gone and you’re ready to resume playing, say, golf. You’re teeing up on a Sunday morning with your buddies. You’re over the ball and thinking, ‘Life is good.’ Backswing, ‘Life is grand.’ Swoosh, contact, follow through and “YEEOWWW!!!” Your back, elbow, shoulder, knee or hip, (you pick the spot), stabs you in the same place as when you originally hurt it. ‘Life STINKS!’ “What happened? I thought it was healed!” It IS healed…short. One of the key components of what we do is to lengthen the fascia so that the muscle can take its original shape and not pull at its attachments every time you move through ‘that’ range of motion.

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Series 1 Continued:

Why It Hurts... and Then Stops Hurting
Why it Hurts... There
How Long Will This Last?
Insurance
Bruises
Pressure and Duration of Treatment
Where to Start?
Ice or Heat?