Put your hand up if you have ever woken up in the morning with a stiff back or a kink in the neck and thought, "gee whiz, I have some fascial restrictions to work through". Likely not.
We tend to blame our body woes on the musculoskeletal system, but in fact that is just one of many systems that make this ol' body function. Today we will chat a little about the fascial system.
Fascia is connective tissue that expands the body. It surrounds muscles, tendons, nerves, blood vessels, and bone and has two primary functions:
1. It decreases friction between layers of tissue as they move relative to one another
2. It transmits tension and force from one muscle group to another to create functional movement.
Basically it is responsible for effective and efficient muscle force generation and the freedom of mobility. Needless to say, it is pretty important stuff!
The chains of fascia throughout the body. These functional chains link muscle groups together to transmit force and generate movement. Picture sourced from www.anatomytrains.com
The picture above is an incredible depiction of how essential it is to assess the whole body when dysfunction is present and how the core really is the control centre for every direction of movement. This is why releasing tethered fascia in the abdomen is so important for the whole body.
In the video below, I have outlined one way that you can start to get an appreciation for what fascia feels like - both normal and abnormal. It is amazing what we can feel/find when we spend a little time connect to ourselves. As mentioned, this is just one of several techniques, so if you struggle with it, please let me know and I would be happy to demonstrate alternatives.