The World Of Fascia
fascinating organ of communication?
Mar 24, 2022 Barbara Depta
You probably have heard there are many ways to improve communication. There are coaches, therapists, tools, and different methods to help us communicate better.
Regardless of what steps and route you decide to take, looking at your whole system vs. parts of your body and behavior is a holistic perspective I propose - let's take a "deeper look" underneath your skin.
Just as Fascia connects an international audience of researchers and medical practitioners, it physically forms a continuous tensional network throughout the human body, connecting every organ, muscle, nerve, and tiny muscle fiber. (Schleip, Stecco, Driscoll, Huijing 2022).
Whether you are aware of it, Fascia indeed plays a key communicator role in our daily lives. When the researchers continue their work, health practitioners, therapists, structural integrators, movement experts, and others working with Fascia have the possibility and absolute pleasure to do our best and translate current scientific data into practical applications. I genuinely try to connect the dots, rethink, translate, read, teach, and reevaluate again. Fascia helps me to communicate better with others, and it is part of my emotional growth.
For the last decade, I have enjoyed the process of collecting data on Fascia. It has been a curious journey to understand and heal myself from physical & emotional pain and become a genuine communicator.
Today I respect and appreciate the process and the emotions that came from it.
Different Definitions of Fascia
Findley and Schleip (2007) have defined Fascia quite broadly to include all of the soft fibrous connective tissues that penetrate the human body.
They are not the only ones who gave Fascia its meaning. There were many before and after.
Pischinger (2007) described the fascial system as the largest system in the body, as it is the only system that touches all of the other known systems.
Paoletti and Pischinger believe that Fascia is involved in every type of human pathology to some extent and that Fascia is the one system that connects to every aspect of human physiology.
Other well-respected scientists, Langevin and Yandow (2002) suggest that Fascia is a metasystem that connects and influences all other systems - a potential concept to change our core understanding of human physiology, right?
From the few selective definitions I shared, you can see it's believed Fascia is involved in everything we do - it helps our body to work as a unified wholeness.
As a passionate structural balance & flexibility coach, I feel the most crucial part is understanding the value of Fascia quality and its relevance in life and movement.
This continuous network shapes us, hold us together, and connects everything with everything else, from muscles to bones, internal organs, nerves, and blood vessels. It is omnipresent from underneath the skin into the body's deep core and up to the brain.
Recently, I learned from one of the most respected scientists in Fascia field, Jaap van der Wal that fascial complexity begins in its development in the human embryo, and the process of embryological fascial development seems to be quite fascinating.
Based on my personal life experiences, I strongly believe the fascial network is one of our richest sensory organs that can help us move effortlessly, it can free us up from old traumatic experiences, and if nurtured nutritionally and therapeutically, I believe it can change the way we live & experience life.
I find it essential to understand the nutritional needs Fascia and its neighboring tissues underneath the skin have.
Also, the intricate connection Fascia has with our emotions and self-awareness. The subject of how we experience what is going on with and in our body how it is correlated to fascial receptors, emotions, and self-awareness is elaborated in the 2nd edition of "The Tensional Network of the Human Body" by Robert Schleip, and other scientists like Joeri Calscius, and Heike Jager.
Then if you are interested to learn what we know about the nutritional needs of Fascia and its neighboring tissues, I invite you to watch our most recent online lectures. Click here
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6-Part Course to Optimize Connective Tissue Health & Strengthen Every Layer of Your Body
For now, I would like to share that essentially Fascia is made of 3 elements:
#1 Fibers: Collagen - the most prevalent protein and also elastin.
#2 Ground substance: viscous (gel-like) material that consists of water-absorbing molecules.
The degree of viscosity in different fascial structures varies naturally. It behaves like a sponge to absorb water.
#3 Water: most of the water in Fascia is bound, like the fluid absorbed by a wet sponge.
Fascia & Hydration It is important to note that hydrating does not come just from how much water you drink (it matters) but where and can the water get to the tissues is what makes them hydrated or dehydrated.
Through movement and different loading patterns, you squeeze the water out of the tissues and then you need rest for the water to come back into the tissues to avoid dehydrated tissues which are sticky and unmovable. Do you know what else happens when Fascia starts to dehydrate? It starts to lose Collagen, an essential protein of Fascia and other connective tissues, and the crucial part of every layer of the body.
And to learn more in-depth on the nutritional needs of different connective tissues and Fascia, check our online courses here.
Collagen Builders, Co-Factors & Regulators For Optimal Connective Tissue Health
About This Class
This class considers vital nutritional factors that impact every layer of connective tissues health, with a deep dive into the importance of healthy collagen tissues and skin health. Nutrition plays a significant role in maintaining skin elasticity, structure, appearance, and health. This course provides evidence-based nutrition recommendations to optimize your overall skin and connective tissue health.
LEARN MOREDid You Know That....?
- Plantar Fascia has been shown to contribute to sensorimotor regulation of our postural control (Erdemir and Piazza 2004) and posture? Our postural balance correlates to our emotional well-being.
- Collagen slowly renews over a period of several months and, after water, is the second-largest component of Fascia?
Between collagen fibers is a water-binding ground substance, which enables fibers to slide against each other. - The more collagen-rich Fascia is, the more tensile strength it has, meaning it is more stable and force-transmitting?
More collagen-rich Fascia creates healthier movement and body. - #Muscles hardly ever transmit their full force directly via tendons into the skeleton. They distribute a large portion of their tensional forces onto fascial sheets, which transmit the forces to synergistic and antagonistic muscles.
- Fascial stiffness and elasticity play a significant role in ballistic movements. Therefore, how far you can jump or throw a ball depends not only on the contraction of your muscle fibers it also depends, to a large degree on, how well the elastic recoil properties of your fascial network are supporting these movements (Schleip et al. 2022).
Last, for today, let's not forget our "fascia net" plays a role in muscle regeneration and adaptation of muscle size.
That's why the way we mechanically load our body will impact the strength, stability, pliability, and shape of our myofascial (muscles & Fascia) system.
Understanding the function of fascial and other connective tissues that play key role in our movement and posture is essential to our well-being. This knowledge allows us to respect this powerful interconnected net and asks for supporting it physically, emotionally, and nutritionally.
The more we know about Fascia, the more we can connect with and understand our bodies. Today, we are thankful to scientists like Fabiana Silva, Leonardo Sette Vieira, and again Jaap can der Wal, for helping us to understand that environment metabolic responses integrated with our genetics are relevant to facial tissue & impacts its health.
Check our new classes online to learn how to take care of Fascia & other tissues nutritionally. A must-have knowledge for coaches, RDs, nutritionists, and health professionals.
Enjoy.
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Wishing you the best in your health,
The Resync Team
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