Fascia: A Web of Connections
Imagine an orange with its stringy fibers, holding peel to fruit and further intertwining itself inside individual slices, connecting these juicy citrus pieces into a whole. Now imagine a similarly healthy, flexible webbing inside of you which runs through and connects everything within us, from skin down through muscles, into bones, organs, and so on. There’s an ease of movement, a gliding gait and flexibility. But now, that webbing has lost its flex, has hardened in your abdomen, ultimately causing you to hunch at your shoulders. Your pelvis is pulled out of alignment and your spine afforded little to no rotation… yikes!
It just might be that fascia is the main contributor to your discomfort. Not muscles necessarily, but fascia, this webby connective tissue which unites our muscles and bones and permeates our entire physical being. In recent years, the study and understanding of fascia has increased substantially. But because there has been so much disregard of fascia for so long, our understanding of fascia in the general population has much catching up to do when compared to our understanding of the musculoskeletal system. So, in this post we’ll dive into fascia, fascial lines, fascial restrictions, and the impact such restrictions have on mobility and pain. Plus, how a lack of movement physically alters not just our muscles but our fascia too!
Okay, so what is fascia, its purpose, and importance? Fascia is connective tissue which wraps and connects essentially every nerve, cell, joint, bone, muscle, and organ in our body. It provides us our structure with its web-like structure, connecting all these aspects of our body in such a way to provide tensegrity, or tension + integrity. If we didn’t have fascia, our body would collapse into a pile of proverbial laundry on the floor; not good, and thankfully, not the case. Instead, we have functional form.
Think of fascia like a webbing or plastic wrap which coats itself around our muscles, bones, and organs like a sheath, holding them in place. And within each muscle and organ, the fascia dives into and connects tissue fibers to create form and the ability for our muscles and everything else inside of us to glide smoothly as we move. You can also think of fascia like the white, webby, connective fibers within an orange. Without those pulpy fibers connecting the juicy cells of the orange, it would simply be a puddle of juice, and of course, no form. Yet, the orange can absorb contact, change its shape to a degree, and all the while maintain its integrity. As do we.
Continuing on with this metaphor of the orange, we have different layers of fascia just like the orange has various layers of connective, pulpy, stringy fibers. An orange has the initial albedo, that connective layer which holds the peel to the fruit resting inside (yes, I literally looked up the anatomy of an orange). And we have our superficial layer which ties together the different layers of the epithelial tissue, or skin, like the albedo holds the peel. We also have deep layers of fascia, which is found below the skin as it works its way into muscle and bone, similar to how oranges have stringy fibers that circulate throughout the individual pieces of fruit. Remember, fascia acts as a mechanism to connect, hold together, and unite our layers of tissue. All being said, we have various different types of connective tissues, such as tendons, ligaments, aponeuroses, and fascia, and at times these labels can blur rather than stand alone in separate groups. The most important thing to understand though is that fascia holds us together and is therefore a crucial aspect of movement.
Movement! Let’s get into movement. We have “fascial lines”, or fascial highways if you will, which are bands of connective tissue that run particular directions and assist with particular functions. We have an X shaped line on the front of the body, running from the pec muscles to opposite hips, and we have another X on our back, going from the back of the armpit, crossing the spine at the sacrum, and wrapping around to the glutes. These lines assist with our most essential functions, walking, running, and rotating. That walking and running form, with one leg and the opposite arm reaching forward, is of course a function of muscle, but these X fascial lines across the front and back of the torso connect and chain those individual muscles together, reflexively generating glide to provide this integral movement whether we’re going for a walk at the park or engaged in any sport.
We also have fascial lines that run vertical up and down the body. An example of one line is the line which runs from the bottom of the scalp, down the spine, through the glutes, and through our posterior leg muscles. You can imagine a similar line, running from our neck along our sternum, through our superficial abdominals, and down through the thighs, shins and feet. Lastly, we have a deep front line in our core. This line works down from our neck, into our ribs, through the psoas and deep abdominals into our adductors of the inner thigh. This final, deepest line I just mentioned is most concerned with stability around the spine. This makes sense, considering our limbs have the most dynamic movement and our core is more fixed. That being said, if our deepest fascial line has developed tension and holding, which is not uncommon in the sitting-society we live in, it will directly affect the mobility of our torso, affect the position of our bones, cause other muscles to compensate, and manifest as limited range of motion, poor posture, and pain. The body is indeed all connected, head to toe.
Fascia can make or break us. It provides us with our form and holds us together, yet it adheres to our patterns of movement and constricts if we don’t move with stretching and physical activity. Fascia tightens to the position we most often find ourselves in, like sitting for example. The front X fascial highway becomes taut and shortened, the deep fascia hardens, and over time everyday movement becomes uncomfortable, restricted, and burdensome. Moreover, when we engage in repetitive motions either in our work or as athletes, once again our fascia tightens in localized regions with the repetitive use, sometimes overuse, and it’s often worsened due to the lack of necessary movement, stretching, and bodywork. That tight fascia in the front of the hips due to sitting directly contributes to a hunched standing posture, or the repetitive use with the same arm or leg causes other muscles to compensate for the restriction and can even cause damage to cartilage as it wears down irregularly. One other example could include an endured trauma, such as a car accident. While the accident may have only happened for mere seconds, the nervous system and the mind often relive that experience over and over. In turn, we become tense (including the fascia) and unwillingly continue to increase that tension days, weeks, months after the initial accident due to an overactive nervous system. Remember, fascia coats our nerves and is in turn directly affected by our nervous system; fascia is in fact 6-10x more sensitive than muscles. Over time, the fascia can become so tight from mental and physical patterns that it can lead to extreme stiffness, chronic pain, and possibly nerve damage. No thank you!
So how do we keep our fascia healthy and prevent ourselves from falling into a fascial bind? And how might we get ourselves out of such a hold? This is an issue which requires a multi-pronged approach. At Homebody, our bread and butter is “therapeutic massage”. During therapeutic massage, we blend a variety of modalities we’ve learned to provide you the most comprehensive care. This at times includes myofascial release and cupping. Myofascial release is often done without massage oil or lotion and includes slow moving strokes, affecting both superficial and deep fascia as well as muscle. And cupping, with its suction/negative pressure, assists in moving blood, lymph, toxins, and lactic acid, removing the gunk and providing fresh, clean fluids in addition to moving our tissues around to create spaciousness. So, therapeutic massage with myofascial release and cupping are great tools.
But there’s more, and what I’m about to say may surprise you; that hour or so on the table every couple weeks to a month is not a fix-all. Incorporating daily movement and breathwork to your day is critical. That time ought to provide you with dynamic movements as found in yoga and stretching, opening and contorting the body so the fascia is moved around and gliding rather than still, stuck, and inactive. And breathwork relaxes the nervous system, key to releasing tension in both the mind and body. Plus, there are other approaches to consider. Physical therapy and strength training aid in toning certain muscles, key for activating the right muscles at the right times. Foam rolling and ball rolling between massages helps open fascia and musculature. Low impact activities such as walking, dancing, swimming, etc. all provide movement and exercise which is vital to many aspects of health. And yet, consider what movements you do that put stress on the body and offset that stress with therapeutic movement, like a restorative yoga class with Sasha! An approach combined with bodywork, self-care exercises, and a generally more active lifestyle is the way to mobility and functional movement. Find joy in moving.
Resources utilized:
Muscle Pain: It May Actually Be Your Fascia | Johns Hopkins Medicine
Fascia & The Mystery of Chronic Pain | Dana Sterling | LIFE TALK - YouTube (highly recommended! fantastic demonstration of fascia and restrictions)
Massage and Bodywork, May/June 2024, Our Three Rotational Muscle Systems - by Thomas Myers
Gil Hedley: Fascia and Stretching: The Fuzz Speech (youtube.com) (content warning: includes scenes of cadaver)
Does Fascia Stretch?: Learn Integral Anatomy with Gil Hedley (youtube.com) (content warning: includes scenes of cadaver)
The different Types of Fascia | Discovering Fascia Online (youtube.com) (content warning: includes scenes of cadaver)
