Do you remember trimming the connective tissue off the meat while prepping your meals? This structure is the fascia and it surrounds every muscle of our body.
For many years, medical practitioners used to think that fascia is just an vague tissue that fill up the empty space between organs, muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and bones. However, for the last decade, there has been an ongoing recognition of this structure and its significant role in body pain and function.
Unlike the ligaments and tendons, fascia consists of a collection of many layers with hyaluronan (the same lubricant within the joints) between them. This distinctive design allows the fascial layers to glide on each other in order to maximise our body movements while keeping the structures in place. Besides, research (Suarez-Rodriguez et al., 2022) has shown that fascia to be the most densely innervated tissue second to the skin, which makes fascia a huge potential source of pain.
Fascial adhesions happen when the hyaluronan dry up, which can be caused by various reasons:
- Reduction in activity due to sedentary lifestyle
- Repetitive movements in the same body area
- Scarring from previous injury or surgery
Therefore, it is not uncommon that the current symptoms can be attributed to an old injury or dysfunction that has not been resolved.
At Essential Health Physiotherapy, we have experienced physiotherapists who are trained in fascial manipulation techniques. If you would like to discuss further your individual needs and concerns in relation to the fascial system, please contact us to book into seeing one of our experienced and friendly physiotherapists to embark on the journey of health and wellbeing.
Book now for your journey to recovery.
