'Fascia' and it's significance within our bodies....

A couple of years ago I suffered a pretty minor, but irritating and uncomfortable, shoulder injury damaging my bicep tendons, which attach at the shoulder. It was caused from over use/exertion doing (or attempting to do) too many high intensity press up and tricep dips. By the way.....I now consider tricep dips a terrible exercise as the position adopted to perform the exercise puts the shoulder joint and connective tissues under a great deal of pressure and actually in a very weak position that has no context in real life movement patterns, yet they remain very popular within the fitness industry. It is also attempting to train a specific muscle in isolation. But anyway, that's not the point of this post.......but maybe it should be a future one...??..sorry, I digress.....back to the point......

So this shoulder injury I suffered really made me re-think my whole approach to my training and my body. I started investigating the problem a bit for myself and during the course of that investigation, I stumbled across the topic of  'Fascia', often refereed to as 'Myo (muscle) Fascia', but it is much more than just that. Now it was actually a course of physio therapy and a specific rehabilitative weights programme that got my shoulder back to strength in the end, thanks to Lauren at Peak Performance :) But my interest in this connective tissue called 'Fascia' had kind of been sparked and I have continued to research the topic, just really as a matter of personal interest since then.

So...............What is Fascia?

 “Fascia is your body’s soft-tissue scaffolding. It provides the matrix that your muscle cells can grow upon and it also envelopes, penetrates and surrounds all of your joints.” 

The above quote sums it up very nicely for me, but I will break that down and explain it in a bit more detail, based on my own understanding.

Fascia is basically an elastic and continuous three dimensional web/network of soft connective tissue that surrounds all our muscles, joints, bones and internal organs within our bodies. An interconnected matrix of fluid elasticity. It is what holds us together as one unit, as a fully integrated system, connecting all our muscles, tendons and joints, including our bones and skeletal frame (but more on that shortly).

The Facial Web (magnified 25x)

In my previous post, I described the problems with sitting which can and will cause a shortening in our hip flexor muscles (among other things), with the consequences I previously described. Well, now consider this....it is not actually a limitations in the muscle itself which is restricting movement and full extension of the hip flexors (for example), but the surrounding and connecting Fascia that has become bound tight and knotted, loosing some of it's natural elasticity. It is this Fascia, which is directly attached and in entwined within our muscles (and everything else internally) that is actually restricting the movement by causing a shortening of the attached muscles. The muscles are simply not being allowed to fully extend and are restricted by the surrounding tight Fascia.

The idea behind the system I am adopting to 'fix my body' is actually to release this tight/knotted connective tissue or Fascia, starting around the hips, which in turn releases the attached muscles allowing them to properly return to their full length when under extension, allowing my body to naturally return to it's default setting of natural posture and efficiency. This technique is called Myofasical release, or in my case, Self Myo Facial Release, (basically, it is just giving yourself a good massage, but in very specific places) and that will be the topic of my next blog as I go to work on my body, systematically using this technique in combination with some basic corrective exercises. But for now....more on the The Fascia itself........

In the classically taught picture of the human body, we are taught that bones provide the supporting structure and stability to our bodies, but this is only partly true. Muscles keep bones in place and provide movement (at least the second part is true). Ligaments attach bone to bone, tendons attach bone to muscle. Full stop, end of sentence!! I even remember that from GCSE PE at school (must have been on a day that I wasn't bunking off), but there was never any mention of Fascia or connective tissue beyond ligaments and tendons, even in the classes that I didn't attend! It is very much a dissected (literally dissected, early anatomical dissections just cut away the Fascia to get to the individual muscles), isolated and I'm sorry to say, very outdated view of our bodies that seems fundamentally flawed to me when it does not consider, not even slightly, the role of the Fascial Network in muscle development and movement.

There is actually a train of thought and debate among academics and body workers that tendons and ligaments should be and are also classified as 'Fasica', as it is an integral part of this soft tissue network surrounding our internal structures. Bones even as well, but that is all getting a bit deep and way beyond my current levels of reading and understanding for now! And I am clearly no academic!!

But from the reading I have done so far, it is my increasing understanding and believe that the bones are actually NOT the main supporting structure of our bodies. It is really The Fascia that binds us together, holding us upright, retaining and distributing fluids throughout the body, providing lubrication and elasticity/flexibility for the muscles and aiding our posture, flexibility and movement. The bones are really acting as spacers, determining the proportions and correct spacing of the structure. It is The Fascia that is actually the complete connective and supporting structure, a structure of tensile integrity, or 'tensegrity', creating pulling forces of tension around our bones and muscles, supporting our bodies and movement patterns, supporting our bones as they 'float' within this tensile structure!

Controversial, maybe.....?? Apparently it is! According to the reading I have done so far and the fact it seems to be completely overlooked by our education system, I have checked GCSE and A level anatomy pages and the Fascia is still very much cut away, with the exception of ligaments and tendons. But I can't really understand why it would be so overlooked and controversial to be honest!? Because to me, certainly in the context of my own body and the discoveries I am making, this 'new' (not actually that new) train of thought makes perfect and total sense to me!

The following image shows a Tensegrity Structure. 

The connective rubber bands can be compared to the biological 'Fascial network' of our bodies and the rods to our bones. You will note that the rods are not actually touching one another, just like our bones do not really touch one another, yet they are supported within the structure and are able to move around in it, but only within the limitations/restrictions of the rubber bands movement. The rubber bands are what is actually providing the support for the structure, not the rods. If you cut away the rubber bands, gravity would win!!

The other observation you can make from a tensegrity structure as shown above and when compared to the human structure and fascial network......If you had this structure in your hands and could move it around, you would see how moving one part of the structure creates and influences movement patterns all through and around the entire object, because it is all part of the same connected structure. Just like this 'Fascial Network' in our bodies. I talked in my previous post about everything being connected and treating nothing in isolation......this is exactly why!

I have mentioned a few times now about tight and knotted Fascia and how it can restrict the movement of our muscles through their full range of motion.......but what causes this tightening and restrictions within the Fascial Network?

Actually, it's just life!.......and certain life choices as well. Here are some examples.....

• Physical stress or trauma, like a road traffic accident or injury
• Giving birth
• Surgical procedures and repaired scar tissue.
• Broken bones, torn muscles, ligaments, tendons etc....(probably torn because of other Fascial restrictions in the first place and poor inefficient movement patterns).
• Emotional stress, from home/work, depression, or bereavement etc.
• Dehydration! The Fascial Network is really a matrix of hollow fibres that are full of gel like fluid! It must be well hydrated to work efficiently and retain its flexibility.
• Repetitive, isolated and loaded static movement patterns, e.g. back squats, deadlifts, dips, push ups, chin ups, "legs days". (We don't use our legs in isolation, so why train them in isolation? Think about it.......)
• Overexertion, or over/under activity of isolated muscle groups, like when sitting down.
• General lack of movement

Some of these things we cannot control. Some things we certainly can, but only if we are aware of the potential problems/dysfunctions that we could be unintentionally creating and building upon within our bodies. Take sitting down for example, with an awareness of the dysfunction that this daily activity causes within the body, you can intentionally take some very simple steps to address the problems. For example, if you have a sedentary job or are just a lazy sofa bum, maybe both! Being aware of the damage that you might be doing to yourself can help you take some corrective actions, simple things like just standing up periodically, every 30 - 60 minutes, stand up, walk about, have a stretch, practice yoga/pilates or have a general stretching routine! All of this will really help keep the bilogogical Fascia of the body, and everything it connects with, in good condition. To a certain extent, everything else from there should take care of itself, good posture, better breathing, better movement, less injury risk.....sounds to good to be true right!? Oh....and drink plenty of water! But we all know that anyway, right?

For me personally (and quite likely for a lot of others as well), the problem is slightly more deeply rooted in my body and deep in my Fascia, so although I am already adopting better practices when sitting at my desk for example, like standing up more frequently and also just being more aware of how I am sitting, even considering a rise-able/stand up desk. I've also dropped high intensity resistance exercise/training and that's all good stuff to be mindful of, but, to make proper gains in improving my self and becoming more efficient, I must retrain my Fascia and get that elasticity/flexibility back into the fabric of my body. By getting rid of the knots causing blockages, releasing the fibres, restrictions and dysfunction in the body and open my self up! In doing this, I can then reactivate dormant muscle groups that should be helping me breathe, stand and walk/move with efficiency and without compensations. That is the plan at least anyway.

People, especially in the fitness industry, talk a lot about 'functional training' programmes but without ever really considering these three key life factors first! Breathing, standing and walking!! Yoga and Pilates are an obvious exception. Tai Chi as well of course, but these are practices, systems even, and aren't based around building a body image or ego, they are based around physical and emotional 'well being'. But it's generally about a bikini body/beach body, loosing a few pounds, or ripped abs, or big shoulders or lifting more.....whatever, it's about some sort of body image or trend or an image in a magazine. Breathing, standing and walking is just not cool enough!

I think I have emptied my brain on pretty much all I have learnt and understood to date about our amazing and wonderful biological fabric called 'fascia', if you are still reading this, I hope you found it of some interest, it has certainly sparked an interest in me and I have sooo much more to learn and discover about this.

I will leave you with this short video clip. It is a histology video of our fascia at 25x magnification. This short clip with accompanying subtitles totally blew my mind!!.....enjoy (perhaps not while eating though!)

Sources of reference:
The World Wide Web
'The Endless Web - 'Fascial Anatomy and Physical Reality' - R. Louis Schultz, Phd, Rosemary Feitis
'Anatomy Trains' - Thomas Myers
'Born to Walk' - James Earls
'The Power of Posture '- Naudi Aguilar

All of the above books are based on and expanding on the structural integration practices of Ida Rolf (Rolfing). I have not read anything directly by Ida Rolf herself yet, but understand her work to be the source of inspiration in the topics that I am researching. 

Thomas Myers studied under the guidance of Ida Rolf.

R Lois Shultz and Rosemary Feitis are both 'rolfers' and James Earls' work on walking efficiency is based entirely around the work of Thomas Myers and his 'Anatomy Trains'.

Naudi is The Man for movement! And it is his system, based on all of the above, that I am adopting to fix my body.