What’s the big deal with Fascia?
Dr. Guy Voyer says, “Fascia is a stupid piece of meat,” which is a bit extreme, but the point is there. Simply put, fascia is what keeps everything in place. It connects your muscles, bones, ligaments, nerves, viscera, organs, and glands and provides structure. It is the “bag” that envelopes around your muscles to give it structure; it is what holds your organs in place; it is much more than how we currently approach it. Healthy fascia is highly composed of water!
No results from stretching?
Are you one of those individuals who has tried various forms of stretching, and have gotten little to no results?
Some of the common types of stretching today:
- Static: Passively holding a stretch for a period of time.
- Passive: Also passively stretching but with a partner.
- Dynamic: An active movement that slowly increase speed and range of motion.
- Ballistic: Bouncing of a muscle beyond its comfortable range of motion.
- Propioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF)/Contract-Relax: A technique of stretching with a partner that is a bit more active.
Most stretching techniques today merely focus on isolating a muscle, rather than placing tension on the full body and the fascial chains.
Here is the problem…
What if you try to stretch a muscle when the “bag of tissue” that surrounds the muscle is tight? I just mentioned that the fascia needs to be well hydrated, and most people are dehydrated today, which leads to my next question: How can you stretch when the “bag of tissue” is dehydrated and retracted? You can’t! Which is why you can stretch the muscle tissue, but the surrounding connective tissue pulls your muscles back into a tight formation. Then you have the issue of why your body is tight, and its relation to your body’s attempt to keep you stable, which is for another blog.
Myofascial Stretching
To effectively stretch, we must fix the entire fascial chain and focus on where we want to stretch. In embyrology, after two weeks of being two cells, we have one fascia that starts and connects our entire anatomy to turn us into a multi-layered organism! Stretching with respect to the fascia is technical and involves your whole body to be involved.
Myofascial Stretching is one of the safest and most effective ways to create space and balance in the body. This technique of stretching, perfected and taught by Guy VOYER DO, is extremely advanced because of its specificity to correct the body’s tensegrity through the fascial chains and its solicitation of the nervous system.
If you are an athlete, musician, or just an individual dealing with orthopedic pain and stiffness, or looking for a more powerful way to open up tension in your body, you will benefit from myofascial stretching.
Please contact us to learn more about MFS: info@fchlc.com
