By Rosanna Wood
The endless web, a truly fascinating tissue of the body!
What is it?
Fascia is the most important part of your body that you’ve possibly never heard of! It’s everywhere in your body. It is made up of a web-like structure reaching from head to toe. Surrounding and interpenetrating every muscle, bone, nerve, artery and vein. It even connects all of our internal organs including the heart, lungs, brain and spinal cord.
Every part of the body is connected to every other in some way via the fascia!
Early in development, when you are no larger than a poppy seed, the fascial web begins to form, surrounding all of your cells. As you grow and the embryo folds, the fascia develops into the complex web that we see in an adult.
We like to name things like “muscles” and “ligaments”, to make them easy to talk about. In reality all these structures are part of the interconnected fascial web. Depending on where it is, the composition changes to make for some thick areas (iliotibial band or plantar fascia), and some incredibly thin areas (between muscle fibrils) but all are part of the same continuum.
You can see how thinking about and understanding your body in this way can be an important change in how it can be treated.
Why is it important?
This is a fast developing area in research. Fascia used to be something that even doctors barely noticed. Surgeons used to happily cut large entry sites but as more was discovered about the uses of fascia (and risk of infection), technology and different techniques have been developed to minimise the damage. Now less invasive tools are used wherever possible to respect the fascia which allows faster physical recovery times.
Healthy, functioning fascia allows your muscles and organs to slide smoothly against each other, so when fascia is damaged a range of ailments can occur. Fascial adhesions or distortions can reduce blood flow, weaken nerve impulses and limit range of motion. Some common conditions you may have heard of like Plantar Fasciitis, IT Band Syndrome, and frozen shoulder are all attributed to distortions in your fascia.
Other areas of research are now also showing that the fascia impacts upon hormone dispersal and the health of the immune system.
What can I do about it?
Move! Our bodies are designed to move. We are pretty brilliant as a species at versatility if we allow ourselves to use it. If you’ve ever noticed, children are constantly on the move, changing shape, sitting, crawling, rolling, squatting… Finding our inner child and being more curious about our environment is what keeps our fascia healthy. Experimenting with what our bodies can do and challenging ourselves to go out and have fun.
Stretches and twists, squeezes and bends, it all hydrates the fascia with both water and vital nutrients. If you are unable to move much, chair based exercises like jigging to music, or tasks such as cleaning, can be adapted to your comfort levels. Gently pushing your limits for a little more movement in all directions, it’s all helpful.
Try incorporating this in daily life. Think of moving and stretching often in the day.
Don’t stress about it! Just like when you take your exams, a little stress can be helpful, but too much becomes a problem. The body needs some stresses put upon it to maintain strength and to grow, but problems arise when physical or mental stress increases. At this point, fascia gets tight and can restrict full functioning of any part of the body. As the nervous system is intricately woven through the fascia it can affect the nerve impulses along them. This can create a vicious cycle of tension, pain, tightness, feeling of stress or depression and back around again.
Decreasing stress is a difficult one. Most of us try to reduce unnecessary stress from our lives, but for times when stress can’t be avoided it is also worth finding your own de-stressing activities. Find something that leaves your mind and body more relaxed than when you started. For some it’s walking the dog through the fields, or jumping into a lake for a wild swim. Many find yoga or meditation is their thing. Any activity is great, as long as it leaves you with that peaceful feeling afterwards.
Address issues that you know about. Nearly all of us have a niggle that we know isn’t quite right, but never get around to dealing with. Bad posture, stiff shoulder, dodgy knee? Often the answer is increased activity and more accurate movement. If you aren’t sure then there is always someone to speak to at Oak Park Clinic.
If you know something isn’t right, change it!
