What is Fascia and Why it might be causing your pain?

Fascia is a connective tissue found in virtually every part of your body. It surrounds your muscles, bones, nerves, ligaments and tendons. It is a living tissue that requires oxygen and nutrients to function properly. Fascia also has the ability to contract and has pain receptors. Fascia helps to separate muscles and individual muscle fibers and is very important to a muscles ability to move or move a body part.

 
In essentially every musculoskeletal injury the fascial tissue surrounding the area of injury will became damaged as well. While fascia can heal on its own it can also become distorted with an injury. This means that even though your muscle or bone has already healed you may still be having pain because of a fascial distortion that is either restricting motion or causing pain with motion. You can also disrupt fascia with repetitive microtrauma such as with running or other repetitive activities. 

Fascia can be treated. Having been trained in what is called the Fascial Distortion Model, I take a somewhat unique approach to treating persistent injuries. Under this model there are 6 principal types of fascial distortions. Each of which can be recognized by distinct gestures of body language given by the patient. Basically the injured person it directing me to there pain and based on the hand gestures given I can treat the injury with a variety of hands on techniques. 

This can be a very effective form of treatment, especially if you are having pain that doesn't follow a specific pattern or are hurting long after you feel that your injury should have healed. So if you are having persistent pain long after injury or you just want to recover faster from an injury this can be a very effective for you.

Written By:

David Branvold, DPT at CPR