If you have been to PT, there is a good chance you have heard this word.
So what is fascia?
Fascia is connective tissue that connects all parts of the body to everything else. That means it helps connects bone to bone, to muscle, to organs, to skin etc.
Fascia also connects different parts of the body together, there is even a long chain of fascia that connects your big toe to your tongue! These chains of fascia allow our bodies to move efficiently during activities such as walking or running.
But what is fascinating is that in addition to providing support, stability, and lending aide to creation of efficient movement patterns, fascia also moves. There are contractile fibers that exist as part of the makeup of fascia itself, which when signaled by the brain, can contract a small amount if your brain is receiving nociceptive input from within your body.
How Fascia Is Involved In Pain and Mobility
What happens is tension is created along the chain of facia itself in order to reduce movement and reduce nociceptive input. As a result, movement patterns are altered and this can lead to an increase in pain and poor movement quality, further increasing overall tissue tension.
This increase in tissue tension can cause pain to be referred along the chain of fascia due to compensation patterns.
With treatment, we here at CSC+M work to reduce that neural input to allow for reduction of fascial compression and improved movement patterns to allow for return to previous level of function. Contact us here at CSC+M today to further explore all things fascia during treatment, using Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Massage!
