myofascialsyndrome

What Is Myofascial Release, And How Does It Work For You?

By Scott Van Niekerk

Myofascial Release is an extremely effective form of bodywork that helps to reduce pain and stiffness, and gives you back your energy. It is also called manual therapy, or hands-on therapy / healing. It is a gentle form of stretching and balancing which has a profound effect upon the body tissues.
There are many different forms of myofascial release. Physical therapists whom are specialty trained by John Barnes have superior tools to help you. He is the founder of the most widely accepted, gentle and effective form of myofascial release.
To understand how this relates to your body better it may help to understand a little about the anatomy of fascia.
Fascia
Fascia (also called connective tissue) is a tissue system of the body to which relatively little attention has been given in the past.
The fascia is a continuous spiderweb-like network that extends without interruption from the top of the head to the tip of the toes. It surrounds, supports, protects and infuses with every other tissue and organ of the body, including nerves, blood vessels, muscle and bone. Muscle provides the greatest bulk of our body's soft tissue. Because all muscle is enveloped by and ingrained with fascia, myofascial release is the term that has been given to the techniques that are used to relieve soft tissue from the strait-jacket grip of tight fascia ("myo" means "Muscle" in latin).
Myofascial restrictions
These do not show up on any of the standard tests (x-rays, CAT scans, MRI's etc) so they often are ignored or misdiagnosed. The fascia becomes stuck down, hard, dried out and restricted after surgery (a scar) but also following trauma, inflammation, or disease. The tightening fascia can put pressure on the body which is pain-sensitive and reach into far-away areas helping to create Some seemingly bizarre pain symptoms that appear to be unrelated to the original or primary complaint. Through this lense patients can now feel understood and validated.
Treating Fascial Restrictions
The point of all the above information is to help you understand your body better. During myofascial release treatments, you may be treated in areas that you may not think are related to your condition. The trained therapist has a thorough understanding of the fascial system and will "release" the fascia in areas that he/she knows have a strong "drag" on your area of injury. This is, therefore, a whole body approach to treatment, a WHOLE body approach in the truest sense of the word.
The type of myofascial release technique carried out by the therapist will depend upon where in your body the therapist finds the fascia restricted. Each treatment session will be different, a recipe is never followed, because a person's body is different from day to day.
The therapist needs to be use "skin to skin" contact to provide the friction interface needed to release the fascia effectively. Therefore, the patient should be "comfortably undressed", wearing, for example a two piece bathing suit, pants and bra or gym shorts and sports bra / tank top.
Myofascial Release treatment sessions are often extremely relaxing. There may or may not be conversation with the therapist, however the therapist encourages the patient to be present and aware of sensations within their body. Feedback from the patient to the therapist regarding what they are feeling helps the therapist to be as effective as possible.
Sometimes, but not always, there is a temporary increase in pain after treatment. There is no cause for alarm, but certainly notify the therapist. This period of the "healing crisis" is then followed by remarkable improvement. Often remarkable improvement is noted immediately during or after a treatment. Sometimes new pains in new areas will be experienced. There is sometimes a feeling of light-headedness or nausea. Sometimes a patient experiences a temporary emotion change. All of these are normal reactions of the body to the profound, but positive, changes that have occurred by releasing the fascial restrictions. Any and all of these reactions should be communicated with the therapist.
It is felt that release of tight tissue is accompanied by release of trapped metabolic waste products in the surrounding tissue and bloodstream. We highly recommend that you "flush your system" by drinking a lot of fluids during the course of your treatments, so that reactions like nausea and light-headedness will remain minimal or nil.
If you have any questions concerning myofascial release, please discuss them with your John Barnes trained MFR therapist.
This article is original material written by Scott van Niekerk, physical therapist and owner of Wholistic physical Therapy in Brewster, NY. We are a Holistic Treatment center, with physical therapists specialised in Myofascial Release, as taught by John Barnes. Please visit our website http://wholisticphysicaltherapy.com for more information on how we can help you be FREE of pain and stiffness, to have your life back!

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