Fascia - A Simple Breakdown

FAQs

Fascia. The fascial system. The myofascial* system. Myofascial Release (MFR). It’s a lot.

You know the statistic that gets thrown around how we humans are comprised of anywhere from 60-80% water? Well, do you know why when we get a cut all that water doesn’t come bursting out of us? Wellllll, that’s because the water in our bodies exists in a fluid, gel-like state known as our fascial system.

The way I understand fascia most basically is by comparing our human bodies to a pot of chicken soup. Stay with me. Our skin is the pot, the vessel that which contains all of the ingredients and is the reason why we can call this meal “soup” to begin with. I then compare the chicken, vegetables, seasonings, and spices, to the muscles, bones, organs, blood vessels, nerve endings, etc. These are the structures that exist within the pot of soup; like our organs/bones/etc exists within our skin. They have their own roles, but work together seamlessly. Now all that’s left is the broth, which in this analogy, is the fascial system. Without the broth, it’s merely a pot of cooked protein and veggies.

The broth is what makes it soup.

Our fascia is what makes us human.

I like this analogy because if you leave a pot of soup in the fridge, i.e. in stagnation, it sort of hardens/thickens a bit, becomes less “soupy.” And that is exactly what happens to us when we drive, sit on modern furniture, sleep, or simply engage with life mindlessly for any extended period of time.

We get stiffer, more tense, harder, more solidified in places where we previously felt free.

We need to warm and maintain our broths so we can keep eating AKA we need to learn how to listen to our bodies via our fascial system so we can keep moving with ease and certainty.

Like this post if you’re still with me.

More technically, fascia is a 3D liquid-crystalline matrix, with no beginning or end. It’s like a spider’s web.. if that web was wrapped around every single structure in the body and made of tiny tubules that carry and send water, light, and some theorize, consciousness throughout the body. It is more innervated than muscle tissue, meaning it’s more sensitive to pain/pressure/any nervous system signal. It is bioelectric (produces electrical signals), piezoelectric (produces electrical signals under mechanical pressure), elastic & collagenous (made of collagen and elastin fibers), and fluid (also comprised of a ground substance). When fascia is healthy, it’s supple and moveable. When it’s impaired we feel tension, stiffness, soreness, tightness, and pain.

(*myo- stems from Greek word for muscle; “myofascial” simply means the interaction of the fascial and muscular systems - when performing “Myofascial Release” a therapist is working directly with the muscles and the fascia.)