Today's post follows up on last week's conversation about the peripheral nervous system. Understanding how our connective tissue network affects our movement and influences pain levels has been at the foreground of many of our in-class conversations. So let's talk about fascia!
In sciency texts fascia is usually described as a body envelope - a jump suit if you wish - permeating through and every nook of the body. It surrounds nerve fibers, surrounds and bundles muscle fibers, and lines organs and vessels.
It links the pieces together into segments, and
segments into systems. Essentially, it is the organizing medium that connects all of our parts into a vibrant whole.
Of course most of us know what happens when this jumpsuits starts to shrink- wrap our body a little too tight...
How fascia organizes
muscle:
The organizational relationship between muscle and fascia is very similar to that of an orange: a broad sheet of fascia encases the whole fruit, deeper layers of fascia separate the orange into segments, and finally, a thin coating of fascia surrounds each tiny bud of the fruit.
Imagine all of these layers communicating and affecting each
other; and furthermore, picture the thinner and thicker tubing of your nerves passing directly through this connective tissue network.
Fascia stretches like the knitted fabric of your fave, worn-in sweater.
What happens if you snag the sweater on a nail?
Short of a tear, the whole thing is pulled out of shape.
Imagine the solid structures of your body as building blocks:
If one of those blocks is cockeyed, the fabric that interlaces them not only has to toughen up to keep the whole structure standing upright; it will also pull on the other building blocks.
When a body block
is askew for a period of time fascia around it becomes tough and leathery, not unlike that of a scar tissue.
Now tough and inelastic, it fixes that body block in place - so the muscles around it become short and tight and stop being able to fully respond to your desire to relax them.
Eventually the layers of muscle around the joint get glued together, restricting the range of motion in that
joint.
When movement in an area of the body is restricted by a thickened connective tissue, the flow of cleansing fluids and nutrients to that area is restricted, and the nervous system network in the area is compressed.
And so the stage is set for developing compensatory movement patterns, and potentially,
persistent pain. Successful recovery protocols must include ways to mobilize the connective tissue network without irritating the nervous system.
How do we do that?
More next week!
