Myofascial Release Therapy

Contrary to popular belief, myofascial release is not like massage or other types of physical therapy. By understanding the underlying principles of myofascial release can we truly understand the techniques, appreciate its benefits, and realize what makes it so special.

First, we need to understand exactly what the fascia is. Fascia is a dense, seamless, fibrous web of connective tissue surrounding all bones, muscles, arteries, and organs in the human body. Fascia is connected and interwoven with muscle tissue; muscles cannot be isolated from the fascia. Thus, stretching the muscles also stretches the fascia; massaging the muscles will also massage the fascia.

Accordingly, myofascial release focuses on relieving tension and removing restrictions in the fascia. Myofascial release treatment will not only affect the treated area. In fact, the release of tension in one area may help other organs in the body through the relaxation of the overall fascial system. Myofascial release is effective in treating both short-term and long term recurring pains. Besides relieving pain, myofascial release improves the posture of patients, and improves their range of motion. A series of tests and measurements are conducted with the patient to track his or her progress.

Myofascial release therapy is focused on helping the patient fell better. It is more effective than other stretching and massage techniques. The treatment program constantly changes and evolves according to feedback from the patient. By communicating with the patient, and using his or her feedback, the myofascial release therapist can locate and relieve tightness which would otherwise go un-detected using other techniques.

Sometimes, the feedback from the patient is different than what the therapist feels. When this occurs, the therapist will always proceed based upon what the patient feels. Thanks to the weight given to patient feedback, myofascial release therapy has little risk of over-stretching soft tissues. As a result, the techniques are safe techniques which rarely exacerbate existing injuries and conditions.

Myofascial release therapists accept patients for who they are, their physical condition, and assume that the patient’s condition is normal for him or her. The therapist focuses his or her attention on feedback from the patient. This can be in the form of tactile feedback – the patient’s physical reaction to the treatment – or simply through verbal communication. A good myofascial release thereapist will act as a guide to help the patient – never telling or ordering the paitent what to do. The cornerstone of myofascial release, like all massage, is for the therapist to work with the patient, not on the patient.

While the art of massage is perhaps one of the oldest medical practices, the term myofascial release is a relatively recent term. In this article, we will take a look at the history of massage throughout the ages. In our journey into the past, we will come to understand how physical therapy techniques have evolved into the the myofascial release techniques we recognize today.

Written in 3000 B.C., The oldest record of massage is an ancient Chinese text, the Cong-Fu of the Toa-Tse. The ancient Greeks were also familiar with physical therapy and massage. For example, the historian Homer writes about massage oils in his travels. Athletes at the ancient Greek Olympic games were known to receive massages to relive tension and prevent injury. Around 600 AD, the Japanese developed shiatsu massage. These techniques are known today as acupressure.

It would take nearly one thousand years for the benefits of massage began to be recognized in Europe. During the age of enlightenment and scientific revolution, Francis Bacon was the first to observe and document the increased blood circulation which occurs as a result of massage.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the (then) revolutionary field of psychology became interested in the benefits of massage techniques. The mind and body, early psychologists found, are inexorable linked. Massage makes people relax, and certain techniques have been found to actually raise endorphin levels, relieving pain and tension in patients. Massage was even used by Sigmund Freud to treat hysteria.

During the 1900s, massage became a more widely accepted treatment by the medical community. A whole host of new massage therapies and techniques followed. In the early part of the century, F.M Alexander created the Alexander Technique. Dr. Oakley Smith’s Naprapathy – an alternative medicine which focused on treatment of musculoskeletal conditions – followed soon after. During the First World War, Swedish massage techniques were used to help rehabilitate wounded soldiers.

After the war, the benefits of massage had become clear, and the popularity of the therapies skyrocketed. In 1927, the New York State Society of Medical Massage Therapists became the first professional association form massage practitioners in the United States.

Finally, in the late 1960s, the Myofascial Release approach was developed. The technique has since revolutionized the way people think about massage therapy, as well as the treatment of muscular-skeletal pain. Instead of applying pressure to muscles, myofascial release focuses on stretching the individual muscles in order to trigger a release in the fascia – the fibrous web of connective tissues running through the human body.

Chronic and acute pain is something that many people are forced to live with because the source of the pain is often ignored or untreated because it hasn’t been found.  Thus, although a sufferer may think that a pain was dealt with, it ends up coming back at a later date, sometimes worse than before.  The source of much of this chronic pain is not always an obvious injury or strain, but rather injured, twisted, or strained fascia that requires gentle stretching and massaging to return to its normal shape and elasticity.  Even people who have suffered from acute or chronic pain for a long time have found relief with myofascial release.

Myofascial release works well for chronic pain because it gently stretches out fascia that has become strained and tense, either through an old injury or general strain from things like bad posture and difficult exercise.  Since it goes for the actual cause of the pain instead of the side effects of the pain, sufferers find relief much more readily than with other things like massages and pain medications that only handle part of the pain or masks it instead of sorting out the root of the problem which is often damage to the fascia.  For acute pain, myofascial release works on the same lines, curing the damaged fascia through a series of gentle stretches and thus curing the pain.

Myofascial release is most well known for taking care of acute and chronic pain as this is the most common complaint of those seeking out this form of treatment.  As a result, it has been studied and improved along those lines, so if you are suffering from acute or chronic pain than myofascial release may well be your best solution for getting rid of it for good.  Getting rid of chronic or acute pain in one area may have surprising effects in other parts of the body too, such as getting rid of pain in another part of the body or getting rid of things like migraines.  This is because the fascia is connected throughout the body and if one part is damaged, the whole suffers.