Your Incredible Fascia System
Your Incredible Fascia System
Your Fascia is an often overlooked component of your musculoskeletal system in injury rehab and scientific research. However, this is changing in recent years as more evidence shows how Fascia is more than just a “plastic wrap” layer covering your muscles.
Your incredible fascia system is a 3d matrix that not just covers you head to toe without interruption, it also weaves through your muscles and covers bones, nerves, arteries, and organs like your heart, brain, and spinal cord!
Fascia connects all parts of your body like the yarn in a sweater covers you. So if one thread breaks and comes loose, your whole sweater could unravel.
You may not know, but there are many other things Fascia does besides the critical task of holding us together.
- Fascia uses its vast interconnected network to transmit force throughout the joints to prevent injury. It also makes our movements more efficient, causing us to require less energy to perform physical tasks.
- Fascia can be torn (as in a torn ligament), but it can heal entirely when provided with the right conditions.
- Did you know that our Fascia has ten times more proprioceptors than muscle? This helps our body respond faster than our brains can register – like if we start to fall or need to make a course correction while playing a fast sport.
- Fascia holds onto emotion. The evidence is mounting. Unexplained emotional release during massage is likely due to adhesions being released that were initially caused by long-forgotten emotional traumas.
Both physical trauma (gravity and poor posture, chronic inflammation, surgery, injury) and it has been shown that emotional trauma (being bullied at school as a child, pandemic lockdowns) can cause physical changes in your Fascia, resulting in Myofascial Restrictions. These restrictions place pressure and cause pain on sensitive structures such as your nerves connected to the area, and you start to not only feel pain, but not be able to move as well as you should. Over time, this pattern spreads from the local area to other interconnected regions that are getting pulled on through your fascial network.
The adhesions can develop between the skin and the muscle or within the muscle and may cause you to feel restricted in your movements before you feel any pain. This is generally detected during your exam with your chiropractic physician and is one of the reasons we recommend regular chiropractic checkups or wellness visits. Pain develops when these adhesions are left unresolved, resulting in an increased risk of injury and chronic inflammation.
Our office can resolve adhesions and trigger points using several strategies, including dry needling, trigger point massage therapy, ultrasound, and radial shockwave therapy for chronic or severely affected areas. Schedule a free consultation to speak to us today to find out which method is best for you!
Dr. DeFabio D.C. is a highly regarded chiropractor in Chicago who focuses on helping his patients achieve optimal health and wellness. He takes a holistic approach to care, treating symptoms and addressing underlying issues to promote long-term healing. Dr. DeFabio D.C. is passionate about empowering his patients to take control of their health and live their best lives. You can find him surfing, skateboarding, and volunteering at the Lakeview Food Pantry when he’s not in the office.
