Healthy Foundations Massage
Let Massage Therapy be a part of your Healthy Foundation
What is Fascia?
Fascia is a thin, fibrous type of connective tissue that spreads through our whole body from head to toe without interruption. Think of it like a three dimensional spider's web that wraps around every muscle, muscle fiber, our organs and encapsulates our joints. Fascia is composed of collagen, elastin and a viscous gel substance. The collagen provides strength. Elastin provides elasticity. The gel substance provides lubrication for the collagen and elastin strands to slide over each other. These three elements give your fascial system the strength, elasticity and viscosity to withstand the loads placed on your joints and muscles. However, injuries, trauma and inflammatory responses cause restrictions in your fascia. This can put pressure on nerves and blood vessels, resulting in pain and loss of movement. It may not just be your muscles or joints that are causing problems with movement and pain, but the restrictions in your fascia that surround these structures can also be a factor.
John Barnes approach to Myofascial Release
I have taken 60 hours of hands on Myofascial Release seminars. John Barnes is a physical therapist and has developed an effective approach to myofascial release. The method utilizes a gentle applied pressure over a length of time (5-7 minutes on average) to elicit a release in the fascia in a particular area of the body. The time element is important because our fascia softens more easily when pressure and energy are allowed to penetrate the system. This is the method I believe in and use for the myofascial release work I do. When used in conjunction with massage therapy, this can help provide longer lasting results.