NOTES ON FASCIA
Although Sarga Bodywork practices and proclaims the wonders of myofascial bodywork, we don’t pretend to be fascia and anatomy experts or claim to know exactly why connective tissue can benefit and change from our manual therapy methods. We may know a few of the “hows” of myofascial manipulation, but we really don’t know many of the “whys”.
Ida Rolf (1896-1979) pioneered the manual manipulation of connective tissue (Structural Integration) that many body therapies reference in the West, but quantitative facia research is still quite new, and the mechanisms that catalyze change in recipients’ bodies via manual input remain....a bit fuzzy. It is unknown whether these changes are primarily caused by inputs such as pressure and shear-force, or ensue from more subtle inputs that recruit nervous system stimuli to inspire neuromuscular fluency, body awareness, or simply a parasympathetic wave. While the latest science may provide more insight and language around our work as manual therapists, we know that scientific understanding is just one aspect of the healing arts. To be skillful bodyworkers our challenge is to remain curious, comfortable and energized within the inherent mystery of healing.
Being more technicians and therapists than scientists, with our hands and feet deep in our trade, it has been exciting to hear the latest studies on fascia from scientists and anatomists as they filter out to us in the field. But while the quantitative fascia science continues to evolve, out here in the field the therapeutic results remain qualitatively undeniable!
Ida Rolf (1896-1979) pioneered the manual manipulation of connective tissue (Structural Integration) that many body therapies reference in the West, but quantitative facia research is still quite new, and the mechanisms that catalyze change in recipients’ bodies via manual input remain....a bit fuzzy. It is unknown whether these changes are primarily caused by inputs such as pressure and shear-force, or ensue from more subtle inputs that recruit nervous system stimuli to inspire neuromuscular fluency, body awareness, or simply a parasympathetic wave. While the latest science may provide more insight and language around our work as manual therapists, we know that scientific understanding is just one aspect of the healing arts. To be skillful bodyworkers our challenge is to remain curious, comfortable and energized within the inherent mystery of healing.
Being more technicians and therapists than scientists, with our hands and feet deep in our trade, it has been exciting to hear the latest studies on fascia from scientists and anatomists as they filter out to us in the field. But while the quantitative fascia science continues to evolve, out here in the field the therapeutic results remain qualitatively undeniable!
As technicians, our goal as Sarga Bodywork practitioners is to provide a systematic and full-bodied "combing" of recipients’ connective tissue during our massage treatments. Like a comb being run through a lock of hair, straightening out twists, kinks, and facilitating more organization, Sarga Bodywork techniques aim to increase organization in the fibrous fascial network of the human body.
Sarga Bodywork subscribes to the idea that the therapeutic manipulation of fascia (myofascial technique) can be characterized as having slow, sustained, oblique and high-friction contact...
...and we experience these techniques as having a lengthening, hydrating, detoxifying and organizing effect on the fascial network of the human body...
...and we find the broad contact surface of the human foot to be an incredibly useful and intelligent tool for this purpose!
Sarga Bodywork subscribes to the idea that the therapeutic manipulation of fascia (myofascial technique) can be characterized as having slow, sustained, oblique and high-friction contact...
...and we experience these techniques as having a lengthening, hydrating, detoxifying and organizing effect on the fascial network of the human body...
...and we find the broad contact surface of the human foot to be an incredibly useful and intelligent tool for this purpose!
FURTHER READING
For more information on manual therapy’s effect on the body’s connective tissue, a cursory internet search will reveal research by Robert Schleip, Tom Myers, Gill Hedley and more. An in-depth exploration of the technical application of myofascial bodywork has been long practiced and taught by The Rolf Institute, The Rolf Guild, Tom Myers’ Anatomy Trains, John Barnes’ Myofascial Release Treatment Centers & Seminars, and more.
A few relevant articles on Fascia:
- This interesting blog post by “Alice” offers a cursory overview of recent research that undermines former ideas about manual therapies’ effect on connective tissue: If We Cannot Stretch Fascia, What Are We Doing?
- A critique by Tom Myers of Anatomy Trains on the previous piece “If We Cannot Stretch Fascia, What Are We Doing?”: Can Fascia Stretch?
- A short paper by Budiman Minasny, PhD, describing how the mechanisms of “fascial unwinding” or Myofascial Release (MFR) have both mechanical and neurological involvement, but that the mechanisms of change remain “grey”: Understanding the Process of Fascial Unwinding.
- In this article, author Dr. Russel Schierling describes the highly innervated nature of fascia and what happens when chronic pain causes connective tissue to lose proprioceptive acuity: Fascia, Proprioception, and Chronic Pain.
- Gil Hedley’s famous “Fuzz Speech” video on YouTube.
For more information on manual therapy’s effect on the body’s connective tissue, a cursory internet search will reveal research by Robert Schleip, Tom Myers, Gill Hedley and more. An in-depth exploration of the technical application of myofascial bodywork has been long practiced and taught by The Rolf Institute, The Rolf Guild, Tom Myers’ Anatomy Trains, John Barnes’ Myofascial Release Treatment Centers & Seminars, and more.
A few relevant articles on Fascia:
- This interesting blog post by “Alice” offers a cursory overview of recent research that undermines former ideas about manual therapies’ effect on connective tissue: If We Cannot Stretch Fascia, What Are We Doing?
- A critique by Tom Myers of Anatomy Trains on the previous piece “If We Cannot Stretch Fascia, What Are We Doing?”: Can Fascia Stretch?
- A short paper by Budiman Minasny, PhD, describing how the mechanisms of “fascial unwinding” or Myofascial Release (MFR) have both mechanical and neurological involvement, but that the mechanisms of change remain “grey”: Understanding the Process of Fascial Unwinding.
- In this article, author Dr. Russel Schierling describes the highly innervated nature of fascia and what happens when chronic pain causes connective tissue to lose proprioceptive acuity: Fascia, Proprioception, and Chronic Pain.
- Gil Hedley’s famous “Fuzz Speech” video on YouTube.
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