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.

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.

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.

1.  Myofascial Release Works Great, Over Time
 If you are expecting to be cured of your aches and pains immediately after session one, you’ll be disappointed.  It takes several sessions to fully relax the damaged fascia and the longer you have lived with aches and pains, the more sessions it will take.  Many people also experience pain at the same degree or even worse after a treatment.  This is because, much like a vaccination that makes you sore and sometimes sick afterwards, the body needs time to adjust to the treatment and the adjustment comes with some pain.  However, as long as you stick with your treatment schedule, you will quickly see progressive results culminating in a permanent end to your pains.

2.  You Have to Make Your Appointments
 Like exercising, if you start skipping out on your treatments, you’ll backslide.  The fascia has to be fully stretched and loosened before your pain will go away and for that to happen, you need several regular treatments, not a few sporadic ones.  In fact, not sticking to your schedule could make your problems worse as your body adjusts to only half cured fascia, leading to pains in new areas.

3.  Myofascial Release is Sometimes Covered by Insurance
 If you’re worried that this chance at this alternative medicine will be scuttled by cost, rest at ease and check your policy.  The popularity of myofascial release is growing and with this comes an ease on policies to allow it.  Check your policy to see what’s covered before writing off this form of treatment as too costly to attempt.

4.  Check With Your Doctor and Really Push for Answers
 Many doctors consider myofascial release, and other alternative treatments, to be quackery; ineffectual and best and dangerous at worst.  However, if nothing else is working, push for information about chiropractors in your area who practice myofascial and whether you would be a good candidate for it.  If you must, get a second opinion from someone who does do myofascial to see whether it would work for you.  Some people find that it doesn’t work as well as the hype makes it out to for various reasons.  Before putting your heart and your money on the line, find out whether you’re even a good candidate to begin with and ask all the questions you can think of about the process.

5.  Some General Tips:
• Wear comfortable, minimal clothing to each session.  You don’t need to strip naked, but do have as much skin as you feel comfortable with exposed so that your therapist can directly treat the fascia.
• Drink plenty of fluids before and during the treatment.  This will cut down or mitigate side effects
• Be patient and ride out any side effects.  Your body has to get used to the new system of fascia.  It won’t take long. 
Myofascial release is very useful, so long as the above tips are observed and understood.  In this way, you can get the most out of each treatment and be cured all the faster.

The fascia surrounding the body is strong, but easily strained and this leads to pain even in areas that are far away from the initial inflammation or twisting.  This means that if the fascia is stretched in the pelvic area, women can suffer not only from menstrual cramps, but backaches as well (something that is fairly common for sufferers from menstrual cramps.)  Unwinding the fascia will deal with both problems successfully.  This is just one example of how myofascial release can help women with health issues.

Women’s health issues are often left in the dark because there are many women who prefer not to talk about it and many think that there is nothing that can be done about them.  Myofascial release though is a way for women to discreetly and effectively deal with many of their health issues, from pregnancy, to menstruation, to headaches and stress from the daily grind.  If you are a woman suffering from any of these, you deserve the chance to unwind and get rid of these uncomfortable parts of your life so that you can return to enjoying your life.

 Pregnancy has a profound effect on the body that causes discomfort while the body is readjusting to make way for the baby.  This leads to things like back aches, ranging from mild to severe, headaches, cramping, and pelvic pain.  A lot of this can be linked to the fact that the fascia in the body is being stretched and twisted in the process of pregnancy and it can be very hard to put it back to normal again without assistance.  Just like the stretch marks that are the visible sign of changes, the fascia becomes stretched and distorted as well.  Myofascial release allows the fascia to be put back to normal, thus getting rid of much of the pain and discomfort of pregnancy. 

 During labor, myofascial release can be a great and natural way for the mother to handle the pain and for the birth partner, spouse or otherwise, to be directly involved.  Many clinics that do myofascial release for pregnant women are willing to teach the partner so that he or she can perform this for the laboring mother.  Myofascial release relaxes the fascia made taut and twisted from the muscles contracting during labor and this helps manage the incredible pain that the woman is going through.  By relaxing the muscles too, the labor can go by quicker and easier.

 Postpartum is also a difficult part of a woman’s life.  Although the labor is over, the mother exhausted, her muscles can be stretched and painful, and she is very hormonal.  Myofascial release can help with this aspect of pregnancy as well.  It is a relaxing, gentle tissue treatment that can ease sore, stretched muscles and help make the woman feel more rested and relaxed afterwards which helps her deal with sleep deprivation and raging hormones with greater ease.

 If you or someone you know is pregnant or postpartum, consider myofascial release as a way to deal with some of the most uncomfortable parts of the process so that you can enjoy the rest of it.

 Tension headaches are caused by a number of things that myofascial release can deal with.  Old injuries, poor posture, working long hours in an incorrect position, even things like emotional and mental trauma that causes people to unconsciously take on protective and damage positions cause the fascia to become taut and unreceptive to free motion.  This in turn causes pulling and in the end headaches that may seem to come from nowhere and are difficult to cure.  Myofascial release unwinds the tension in the fascia the tension points where the pain is originating (usually in the neck and skull) and with this comes a dwindling of the pain and eventually the ending of the pain altogether.  The great thing about myofascial release is that since it deals with the root of the problem, after a few sessions, the headaches are gone for good.  Myofascial release works on all kinds of headaches: tension, migraines, and sinus headaches, as well as TMJ and cluster headaches because all of these headaches have the same cause at their root-tension in the fascia causing pulling and unnatural stretching, leading to pain.  If you are having difficulty with persistent headaches, then trying myofascial release could be the best thing for you.

Scarring on the fascia does not come up on traditional X-Rays or MRIs and so they usually go unnoticed and untreated.  This also leads to misdiagnoses of pain and stiffness which means that people cannot find relief for their pain except with very short term measures like drugs.  However, myofascial release is geared towards restoring the free motion of the body by easing the scars on the fascia and ultimately eliminating their effect and even lessening the appearance of scarring on the outside of the body.  The stretching, pulling out, and relaxing of scars bring free motion back to the area of the body where the scarring occurred.  The age of the scar also has no negative impact on the ability of myofascial release to release the scar.  Fifteen year old scar tissue has been positively healed using myofascial release.

Scarring on the fascia forces the body into a certain position in order to compensate for the strained nerves.  Releasing the scar tissue may cause some new pain as the body gets used to the more natural position, but this pain is far more easily resolved than the initial pain of the scar tissue.

Myofascial release is one of the few ways to target the pain and discomfort caused by scarred tissue because it is one of the few therapies/treatments which acknowledges that something can be done about it.  Since scarred tissue is difficult to detect, it is also almost impossible for conventional medicine to treat.  Myofascial release may be just what you need to get rid of that pain once and for all.

 By unwinding the fascia using myofascial release you can see that an interesting side effect will be that your ability to concentrate and remember things will improve as well.  This is because you will be able to get a better night’s rest without the tension of taut muscles and thus you will be able to remember things better and concentrate on your day with fewer false stimulates.  This will lead to a spiral of improvement whereby you’ll be able to sleep better, concentrate better, and rely less on things like energy drinks and reams of coffee.  This will improve your health and your mental capabilities.

There is no reason why people should live with chronic pain though.  It decreases one’s quality of life and makes people more susceptible to depression and stress.  It can lead to a dependency on pain killers and other ways of getting through the day while living with pain.  It doesn’t have to be like that; myofascial release is a gentle and effective way to reduce chronic pain from injuries.  It does this by easing and stretching fascia made taut by scarred and damaged nerves, tissue, and muscle.  Unwinding the tense fascia is a great way to get rid of the chronic pain that one has been living with for a long time with no relief in sight.  Unwinding the fascia can also have an effect on other parts of the body as well as the fascia is connected, so you can feel pain relief in places other than the immediate area.  Although permanent relief takes a few treatments, especially if you have been living with your pain for a long time, even after one session you will notice improvement, without drugs and without surgeries.  This treatment will also allow you to relax mentally and emotionally which can further help with your treatment.