What is Myofascial Release? (MFR)
Myofascial Release, or MFR, is a safe and gentle form of hands on bodywork that helps reduce or eliminate pain, improve posture, and increase range of motion by addressing the patterns of myofascial restriction in your body. MFR never forces, and therefore can never injure! Treatment consists of gentle sustained pressure into the fascial restrictions.
This uninterrupted pressure (piezoelectricity or “pressure electricity”) into the system initiates “phase transition”, literally melting the restrictions, allowing the areas that have become dense and tight to regain fluidity and achieve “resonance” in a balanced and flexible state. It is actually similar to the way our touch screen devices work as the gentle pressure/electrical connection of your finger creates change on the screen, but in the body during treatment this process takes a minimum of 3-5 minutes to begin.
Other modalities address merely the elasto-muscular component of the tissue, missing this essential time element that gently allows the fascial web to open without forcing; this is why they cannot provide lasting change. The art and science of MFR is using focus, patience, time and sustained pressure to release the fascia and free you from the symptoms manifested by the tightened protective web in your body!
Are you ready to feel better?
This drawing of a sweater illustrates what happens when an area of fascia becomes dense and tight as a protective response. Pulling a thread (tightening) in one part of the garment (fascial “web”) distorts the entire sweater. In your body, fascial restrictions are indiscriminate. Their only mission is to protect by reinforcing, no matter what’s in the way. When an area within this web of soft tissue binds down and hardens, it produces a drag-like effect throughout the entire body, easily compressing or pulling joints out of alignment, impinging nerves, constricting muscles, compromising normal organ function, suffocating cells, or producing symptoms away from the restricted area or pain in areas you might not expect!
NONE of the standard tests, including X-Ray, Myleograms, EMG, and CAT scans show fascial restrictions. It is thought that an extremely high percentage of people suffering with pain and/or reduced range of motion have fascial-based issues!
What is Fascia
The fascia is a connective tissue that has an appearance similar to a dewy spider’s web. In its optimal state it is flexible, fluid-filled, and infinitely adaptable in three dimensions, a single matrix that exists body wide without interruption. At the cellular level it is responsible for cell health and inter-cell communication. On a broader scale, it connects tissue fibers together to create muscles and organs, and at a most familiar level, sheaths of fascia provide boundaries in the body, like muscle group coverings and body cavity linings. (Since muscle tissue is defined by fascia, this is why massage and stretching modalities produce temporary results- You cannot effectively change the tone of a muscle without reshaping the matrix that defines it.)
When the fascia senses a trauma, it goes into protective mode, loses its natural state of adaptable fluidity, tightens, and solidifies, which is called a “restriction”. Injury, stress, repetitive motion, inflammatory responses, and/or surgical procedures may create myofascial restrictions. Restrictions can form in any direction within us, often producing symptoms distant from the actual issue. Fascia is plastic in nature, and unless released, restrictions will continue to spread and tighten, creating a “straightjacket” of pain and limited motion.
For a remarkable video of living fascia, including releases, click here : Warning: this video shows internal body structures and an open surgical site.
I invite you to watch both the videos below. One is by Gil Hedley and is entertaining and informative.
The other is by Richard Harty explaining what Myofascial Release is and how it works.
The Fuzz Speech: Gil Hedley, Leader of Integral Anatomy expeditions of the human form in his innovative whole body, layer by layer approach to the study of anatomy speaks simply to the role of fascia, aka "The Fuzz", in our everyday patterns of movement and how stretching affects the fascial system.. (5 min)
This video by Richard Harty is about Myofascial Release and how it works.