Myofascial Release Massage: Addressing Stress, Tension, and Pain

It’s no secret that the entirety of the body is connected, and many of us intuitively feel that regardless of our training. Fascia, the connective tissue which permeates every structure of the body, is the main webbing which creates this vast, layered connectedness of the body. There’s a past blog post about fascia here on the Homebody blog, so I’ll refer you there for in-depth info regarding fascia and its function within the body. 

What’s essential to know here is that fascia provides our structure, shape, and our ability to move. Without it, our stiff skeleton would be about as pliable as wood. Our muscles, organs, and bones would constantly bump into other muscles, organs, and bones, preventing and restricting movement. We’d flop helplessly, a mess of a species. But fascia provides glide and pliability, allowing structures to slip and slide under, over, and around each other as we move through space and gravity. This is why we’re able to move in such dynamic ways! And yet, fascia is bound to the law of change. Over time, the elastic and pliable characteristics of fascia can turn rigid, adhesive, hard and short. The body feels stiff, achy and tense. We can chalk this up to various factors, such as repetitive movements, sedentariness, the natural deterioration of our body as we age, and the physical + emotional traumas we all live through. Here’s the thing though, our fascia can change and return to a more pliable, elastic state. How? Well, massage, Myofascial Release, and yoga are the modalities we specialize in and find great benefit from. We’re going to focus on Myofascial Release today. 

Myofascial Release is a bit of a buzzword these days, and it can be hard to pin down. Many massage therapy and bodywork courses offer varying myofascial techniques, which fall under the umbrella of Myofascial Release and may blur the lines of other massage strokes, such as deep tissue work. So to remove some of the mystique, we can simply say that Myofascial Release is a modality which involves techniques that lift, drag, yank and pin fascia. Here’s an example: with shorts on, sit in a chair and bring the heel of your hand to the top of your thigh or quadriceps muscle near the hip, with your hand directly on the skin of the thigh. Now, slowly drag the fascia by moving the heel of your hand in a straight line from the hip/top of your quadriceps toward the knee, feeling the skin pull and fascia drag under the pressure and movement of the hand as it glides toward the knee. There is often a tackiness or sting to the drag, which tells us we’re getting a good drag and yet can be alleviated with the slightest dab of lotion to smooth out the experience. In a nutshell, that is one technique of Myofascial Release. 

The training I have personally received is Howard Rontal’s Myofascial Release Massage training. Myofascial Release Massage is a derivative of Hellerwork, and Hellerwork is a derivative of Rolfing. There is a tree of sorts, with Myofascial Release Massage branching off of Hellerwork, which branches off from the trunk of Rolfing. What’s Rolfing? Well that’s a full conversation in itself, so check out Ida Rolf if you’re interested to learn more about that form of bodywork. 

Okay, so we have an idea of fascia and what Myofascial Release is. Who’s a good candidate to receive Myofascial Release Massage? Well, it’s almost easier to ask who’s not a good candidate to receive Myofascial Release Massage because the list is long, but I’ll give an example below. Here’s a story of someone whose fascia is restricted.

Imagine a person who works at a computer each day. Routinely, they come to their desk and sit. Over time, their spine curves toward the screen with the neck reaching out; the spine from low back up to neck begins to make the shape of a C. For hours a day, this is their posture, relatively. Due to this routine posture, the body and fascia adapt. Fascia tightens and restricts in the front of the body as the spine curls toward the screen. The front of the hips get used to being shortened in this sitting posture right where the hip flexors and quadriceps attach at the hip. The abdomen folds in upon itself. The intercostals, muscles which line the space between the ribs and are important for breathing, are pulled on by the tensions already mentioned and have difficulty expanding at full range, restricting the ability to take a full breath. Maybe the pectoral muscles curl in as they hunch over the desk, making the chest somewhat concave. All of that tight, restricted fascia in the front then pulls the spine and muscles of the back forward into a bend, lengthening the back of the body as the front shortens. Our friend’s posture reflects this tension throughout the day, both at the desk and after they leave it more or less. Maybe the primary observation is a hunch of the back (kyphosis), or a jutting forward of the neck (tech neck). Oftentimes, the pain is felt in the back of the body, but interestingly, some of the most important aspects of the body to address exist in the front of the body. This posture is an adaptation to that daily routine, but unfortunately, it’s an adaptation that hurts and hinders. 

Okay, the stage is set. Sadly, our friend here walks into Homebody Massage + Yoga with chronic pain in the neck and shoulders and just the other day they had a flare up where they couldn’t turn their head side to side due to sharp neck pain. This is a perfect candidate for Myofascial Release Massage. With this work, it is my aim to relieve stress, pain, and tension in the body and in turn, better align the client’s body in gravity. Well, how is that done?

There’s a Myofascial Release Massage sequence I’ve been taught by Krissy Viccione, a teacher of Howard Rontal’s Myofascial Release Massage modality, which targets all aspects of the upper body. This sequence addresses the scalp, neck, shoulder and rotator cuff, the back, arms and hands. Yet it also addresses the sternum, the ribs and intercostals, the diaphragm, and the abdomen. Many of those front of body structures I just mentioned rarely receive therapeutic touch and yet many of them are key to chronic pain and postural issues. Remember the front of body restrictions I specified early with our friend? A compressed abdomen, tight intercostals, curled concave pecs, along with neck pain? Well with this sequence I treat not just the painful places, which often happen to be the neck, shoulders and back, but also those regions of the body that are not yelling out in pain but are still important pieces to the puzzle. The opening of the front of the body might be the most vital piece to improving posture and relieving tension. In August 2025 I’ll learn the lower body sequence too and will therefore have a full body sequence I can utilize to provide a thorough treatment.

At this point a question might arise; how is Myofascial Release Massage technically different from other modalities? There are various types of bodywork and massage modalities and it's easy to get overwhelmed by them all. I find that there are two distinct techniques to Myofascial Release Massage which separate it from other types of massage and bodywork. First, it is a friction based modality meaning there is little to no oil/lotion applied during the treatment. Why? Because that friction provides a depth that is lost with the glide of oil or lotion. That depth of the friction affects deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue (fascia), thus providing a deeper spaciousness in the body. With too much oil or lotion, such as you’d receive in a Swedish massage, we glide too much to affect those deeper structures. We are layered like onions; myofascial techniques affect these deeper tissues. Secondly, with this friction there is often a movement/stretch added in the opposite direction. The synergy of friction and active movement further deepens the work, reducing stiffness of the tissues and creating even greater pliability and elasticity. In short, you might say it “feels like being ironed out.” That said, we can strike a balance of comfort and effectiveness. This work does not require pain to be effective, and a slight dab of lotion can alleviate the burn of the dry friction, but there is a gentle and helpful hurt to it. Ultimately, the degree of intensity and sensation is up to you, I adjust to what you can receive. All in all, Myofascial Release has similarities and differences to other forms of bodywork and can be blended in with Deep Tissue and Swedish treatments, but the friction and movement are cornerstones of the modality.

After reading this, you might be ready to dive right into a full Myofascial Release session. Please do! But if you still have hesitations or questions, that’s okay. I incorporate a good deal of this technique into my Therapeutic Massage offering, which is a blend of the various techniques I’ve learned, and so that is one way to get a feel for it. And if you have questions, I encourage you to reach out via email and I’ll be happy to get back to you. Regardless, if you have chronic pain, tension and stress, I hope you utilize bodywork as a pathway to improved wellbeing.