Terry Lynn Hills

What Is Fascia, Why Is It Important, and Why Consider Fascial Treatment?
Fascia is a continuous, three-dimensional web of connective tissue that surrounds, supports, separates, and connects virtually every structure in the body—including muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels, organs, and the brain.
Why Is Fascia Important?
Holds you together: Provides internal support and helps keep muscles and organs in their proper anatomical positions.
Allows smooth movement: Its fluid-rich layers allow tissues to glide over one another with minimal friction.
Communicates with your nervous system: Contains millions of sensory nerve endings involved in pain, movement, and body awareness.
Transmits force: Distributes tension and mechanical forces throughout the body as you move.
Supports healing: Provides a framework for tissue repair and helps support lymphatic circulation.
What Happens When Fascia Becomes Restricted?
Trauma, inflammation, surgery, repetitive strain, and poor movement patterns can contribute to fascial restrictions. The tissue may become less mobile, leading to tightness, stiffness, reduced mobility, discomfort, and a feeling of heaviness.
Fascial restrictions may not always be visible on standard X-rays, CT scans, or other diagnostic imaging.
What Are the Benefits of Fascial Treatment?
Fascial treatment aims to improve the mobility of restricted tissues and may help:
Reduce tension and discomfort
Improve mobility and flexibility
Support posture and movement
Improve body awareness
Support healthy interaction between the nervous, muscular, vascular, and lymphatic systems
How Is Fascia Treated?
Fascial treatment is performed using gentle, sustained pressure and specialized techniques designed to work with the fascial tissues. Treatment may create sensations of pulling, stretching, warmth, or a slow “melting” feeling as the tissues begin to release.
Because the fascial system is a complex, interconnected network, treatment should be performed by a Myofascial practitioner with appropriate training and understanding of the fascial system.

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Try this. With your leg in a relaxed position, dorsiflex your ankle (bend the foot back at the ankle). Now, repeat that, but with your hip flexed and your knee fully extended. Feel a difference? That difference you feel is nerve tension. What many read as hamstrings and calf tightness is really just nerve tension.

I as well, often have this conversation in my office and say the same thing when asked about this. This is a great explanation of why foam rollers aren't always the best choice.

Foam rolling the IT band has become somewhat of a contentious subject, with some loving it and others thinking it's a total waste of time. Commonly, in the "waste of time" camp, the argument is that one can't forcibly stretch the IT band due to its strength. Unfortunately, that's actually a bit of a silly argument that broadly misses the point. The tensile strength of the IT band is irrelevant to stretching because stretching isn't a matter of force. Stretching is a neurological effect, not a mechanical one. It's not a function of FORCE. If the IT band, or any other soft tissue stretches, it's because the nervous system relaxed it -- typically in response to a stimulus. Any soft-tissue can be caused to relax, often with minimal if any mechanic force. Foam rolling the IT band can be a very effective way to get the IT band to relax and to improve the health of the connective tissues of the lateral thigh. That said, I don't think an actual foam roller is the best way to do that. It's too big and too firm. I'm a fan of using pool noodles.

I often see this situation when a client has had a general massage. Proper assessment is vital when dealing with the human body !!!

My wife got a massage the other day. She loved it of course, but afterwards, her back went into spasm. This isn't particularly unusual. I pulled out my portable table at home to figure it out (I'm always prepared). I asked if the guy did any particularly heavy work anywhere during the session. Apparently, he went especially heavy on the hamstrings. I tested the hamstrings, and of course they were totally inhibited. When you release a muscle that's not engaging well, it typically just makes the muscle perform even worse, leading to additional spasm. The spasmed hamstrings were creating poor pelvic and low back stability. I found restrictions around the sternal fascia that brought the hamstrings back online. This sort of thing is the risk you take releasing tissues willy-nilly without first figuring out WHY they're tight first. Proper assessment will often steer you in another direction.

The distal 4 inches or so of the triceps is some of the most fibrotic tissue you'll come across in most folks. Yet, it's rarely tender at all. Once released, the overall sensation and mobility at the elbow is dramatically changed. People are typically blown away by the change. "I had no idea!"

I think many feel this way. The pain is gone and they feel good and thats great but that doesn't mean the problem has been totaly resolved. Completing the care will give you the best chance for a complete rocovery.

Sometimes you've got to stay the course. I've posted before how problems typically build over time, only becoming symptomatic after reaching a tipping point. It's for this reason I sometimes encourage a client to return for a follow-up visit even if their symptoms have resolved. I need only to have gotten the issue back below that tipping point, not all the way better, for the symptoms to go away. If you end treatment prematurely, sometimes the problem can return.

A lot of us have an intellectual understanding of fascia in the body. Only when working through layers of tissue on cadavers does one gain a full appreciation of the sheer magnitude. Our muscular connections are practically an afterthought. Structurally speaking, fascia definitely rules the day.