Fascial Release
Over the last couple of years strange
pieces of equipment have been appearing in Gyms and exercise studios around the
country.
Rollers, spiky balls and other equipment
used to inflict pain and sweet agony upon our-selves. In movement classes,
Pilates Classes and Fascial Fitness classes, the instructors encourage you to
roll and massage, lie on or over these balls and rollers.
Have you ever wondered what it is actually
doing? It hurts so it must be doing us good- right?
Apart from being a way of challenging
balance, ‘core’ and proprioceptive skills, all good reasons for using them,
they are a way of releasing tension in areas of overuse, if that place is along
a myofascial line then the release of tension may go beyond the immediate area
of pressure. However their use to rehydrate the connective tissue or fascia is
the less obvious but most important reason for use, to promote long-term fascial
health and reduced injury, and perhaps to whole body health.
Why is rehydration of Fascia so important?
Lets remind our-selves of what Fascia is.
Here is the definition adopted after the first International Fascia research
congress:
Fascia
is ‘all collagenous fibrous connective tissues that can be seen as elements of
a body-wide tensional force transmission network.’ (Fascia in Sport and
Movement, 2015).
Fascia is ubiquitous, it surrounds and
separates muscles, bones, organs, nerves, indeed everything in our body, and
until very recently it has been treated as a rather dull packing organ. But new
research techniques and ways of measuring and seeing this colourless fibrous
tissue has catapulted it into the limelight and it is now attracting worldwide
attention and excitement amongst some of our most talented scientists.
Fascia, as defined above, (the medical
profession has a more refined definition) is made up of cells and an
extracellular matrix. The cells make up a very small part- about 5% and are
mostly Fibroblasts, which act as builders and repairers of the extracellular
matrix.
The matrix is made up of ground substance
and fibres.
The fibres are mostly made of collagen and
some elastin, the exact proportions varying according to location, load and
use. These form what we think of as the body wide net.
The Ground substance is mostly water bound
by proteoglycans (a form of protein).
All we need to know is that 2/3rds of
fascial tissues, in volume, is made up of water, and our body is full of
fascial tissues. Healthy fascial
tissue has a high proportion of a special form of water, known as bound water.
The first time I heard about bound water I
was sitting in the underground International Fascial Research Congress hall in
Vancouver in 2012. Gerald Pollack, PhD gave a ground breaking lecture on the
magical world of water and the properties of Bound Water in our body. It was a
little late in the day, we had been sitting all day in an airless room and yet
no one left the hall, we all knew what he was saying was important and just a
little controversial. Pollack produced slide after slide of why bound water was
so important to health. His findings are still ‘new’ to science but the
possibilities of his findings are opening up many new fields of research in
every area of health.
Since the congress Pollack has gone on to
publish his findings (The fourth phase of water. Beyond solid, liquid and
vapor, 2013).
Pollack suggests that bound water has the
characteristics of a liquid crystal and a higher elastic storage ability. The rest of the water found
in fascial tissue is known as bulk water. Pathologies such as inflammatory
conditions, oedema, accumulation of free radicals and waste products are linked
with a shift to a higher proportion of bulk water in the ground substance of
our extracellular matrix. So it makes sense to find ways to encourage and
maintain a higher percentage of bound water in our fascia
When we roll on rollers or balls, spiky or
smooth we are mechanically loading and stretching our fascial tissue, which
acts like a sponge when squeezed. Particularly in more stressed zones when
fascial release is performed the ‘polluted’ bulk water, full of inflammatory
cytokines, free radicals and other by-products of stress and aging are squeezed
out and refreshed with water from blood plasma which forms bound water, improving
the ratio of bound to bulk water, and hopefully leading to a healthier ground
substance and fascia. I think that
this is a good reason to incorporate fascial release techniques into your exercise
routine.
However beware, rolling is not for
everyone, there has been recent research, which questions the speed and depth
and frequency of the release. Hours of painful rolling is not recommended.
So all these funny bits of equipment are
here to stay and may be a way to healthier fascia and all the benefits that
brings to us.
Tracey Mellor
March 2015 ©
All references are from Fascia in sport and movement 2015, DVD's of Fascia Research Congress 2012.
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