Myo = muscle. Fascia = connective tissue. MyoFascial Release (MFR) is a therapy that frees up muscle that has become bound by connective tissue, which is the same material as scar tissue. In my experience working on hundreds of bodies, most issues do not occur in the muscle, but in the fascia.

“Fascia is the organ of posture. Nobody ever says this; all the talk is about muscles. The body is a web of fascia. We can trace the lines of that web to get an understanding of how what we see in a body works.”
-Dr. Ida P. Rolf

If you removed the bones and muscles from your body, you would still retain your shape, due to the fascia. The purpose of connective tissue is to protect, support, and assist the muscle. It surrounds each muscle, group of muscles, and the blood vessels and nerves. It adapts to what we do, i.e., repetitive motion, strain, and chronic posture, and to our state of mind/emotion, i.e., stress and anxiety, and can change from a pliable ‘sol’ state to a hard, stuck gluelike ‘gel’ state.

So what’s the problem? The body literally changes its shape to accommodate what we do on a daily basis. Our bad habits become physically reinforced! Every NINETEEN minutes that you are typing at a computer, sitting in a non-ergonomic posture, worrying or stressing, etc., your brain gets a message to send help to the area. It sends a little bit of connective, or scar tissue to the area to support the muscles being taxed. Over time, a painful ‘knot’ forms and muscles become ‘glued’ to their neighbors. Eventually, as this ‘support’ continues to grow, it interferes with nerve pathways, as in the case of what is termed ‘carpal tunnel syndrome,’ and range of motion, i.e., ‘frozen shoulder.’ (Hint: you might try MFR for these conditions before considering surgery)!

…to be continued!