Why does it work?

The fascia is stronger than muscle and found all through our bodies; it wraps the muscles and muscle fibres, bones and organs. Its function is to operate like Castrol GTX, lubricating and allowing the fibres and organs to move smoothly against each other while being held in place.

When functioning well the fabric of the fascia is in a gel like state, but when injured it can be dry and adhesive, jamming up the smooth operation. Imagine a thick knitted jumper, if you pull a thread in the hem, there will be a wide-ranging effect on the fabric; the whole hang of the garment will change at the front. In the same way, an injury or adhesion to the fascia which is in one place, can show up as pain or distortion in another part of the body.

All kinds of physical therapy will affect the tissue that wraps the muscles, but there is a specific range of techniques that wholly focus on stretching and releasing the fascia.

You can have an experience of the fascia right now - stretch your arm out strongly to the side with your fingers splayed wide. Maintaining the stretch, slowly rotate your arm backwards. You may experience a slight burning sensation, just under the skin; this is the fascia stretching as your arm twists.

What happens in a Myofascial Release session?

The therapist will do different kinds of assessments:

• Your medical history, including information about the duration and site of the pain.
• A postural assessment to see where there are misalignments or asymmetricality.
• A physical assessment - palpating the fascia to find the problem areas.