Muscle Pain vs. Fascia Pain

What Causes Your Stiffness & Pain?

What Causes Muscle Pain ?

Muscle pain often arise from factors such as muscular imbalance, overuse, muscle strain, or well-known delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), typically after an unfamiliar workout or intense physical activity. This type of soreness usually manifests quickly within 12 to 24 hours post-exercise and can last anywhere from two to three days.

However, other reasons also contribute to muscle pain. For example

• Viral infections like the flu can cause widespread muscle aches.
• Medical conditions such as fibromyalgia or myositis that cause muscle pain.
• Certain medications such as statins
• Daily stress or anxiety can cause myofascial (muscle & fascia) pain.

Muscle pain can be a short or a long-term issue, depending on the cause and our overall well-being.

What Causes Muscle Stiffness ?

Muscle stiffness refers to the sensation of tightness or difficulty in moving certain muscles, often without significant pain. Our range of motion becomes limited along the entire muscle chain.

For example, your calves, hamstrings, and lower back feel "stiff" when you bend forward.

It is not one muscle that feels stiff but the entire chain of muscles, which, by the way, are embedded in fascia(musculoskeletal fascia).

• Prolonged Inactivity: Sitting or lying down for extended periods.
• Cold Temperatures: Muscles tend to tighten in response to cold, especially during prolonged cold exposure. We may experience shivering - the body induces involuntary muscle contractions. This mechanism is controlled by the hypothalamus and serves to elevate body temperature. We know there is a benefit to using cold therapy to address muscle recovery and inflammation, but that’s not what we are talking about here with extreme prolonged cold exposure.
• Exercise: Especially after unfamiliar or intense physical activity, where the eccentric load is present - causes more delayed muscle soreness and stiffness.
• Nutritional Imbalances Conditions: Electrolyte imbalances alone (not limited to that) can cause muscle stiffness. Electrolytes are critical to muscle function, yet there are not the only elements muscles and fascia need to avoid pain with stiffness. If you are interested to learn more about potassium and sodium balance and their impact on muscle and vascular health, read our blog here.

What is Fascia ?

In early 2025, some of the most recognized scientists and researchers in the field of Fascia came together to create a more comprehensive definition of what Fascia is.

Today, we know that Fascia is more than just connective tissue—it is a body-wide system that plays a vital role in movement, pain, and fluid flow. Researchers now define the fascial system as a network of four key layers:
- Superficial fascia,
- Musculoskeletal (deep) fascia
- Visceral fascia
- Neural fascia 

These layers work together to manage tension, allow elasticity and mobility, and support all body’s structure. (Stecco et al.,2025)

Musculoskeletal Fascia

Thankfully to Carla Stecco and colleagues, we know that the musculoskeletal fascia, also known as deep fascia or myofascia, is a continuous network of connective tissue that surrounds and integrates with joints, and bones. Science recognizes that they work together as one system to support movement, coordination, force transmission, and keep us healthy, out of pain.

• It is not just a body part, but an organ: Due to its widespread and interconnected nature, musculoskeletal fascia is now considered an organ within the larger fascial system.
• Supports movement and stability: It allows tensional loading (resisting force) and shearing mobility (smooth gliding of tissues).
• Includes many well-known structures: Examples include the thoracolumbar fascia—all of which contribute to healthy posture and movement.

Source: “Towards a comprehensive definition of the human fascial system” (Stecco et al.,2025).

Fascia Is Highly Innervated - The Body’s Largest Sensory Organ ?

Fascia and Pain Regulation

• When the extracellular matrix in Fascia (the fluid environment around cells) is chemically altered, fascia receptors can become hypersensitive, leading to chronic pain (Slater et al. 2024).
• Fascial dysfunction can last longer and be more painful than muscle-related issues because fascia contains more nerve endings than muscles. (Slater et al. 2024).
• Traditional treatments like massage, taping, and compression have been labeled as passive therapies (only affecting tissues mechanically). However, the new understanding of fascia challenges this idea, showing that these treatments can actively influence nervous system regulation and inflammation levels.

Of course, more studies are needed to explore how manual therapies, movement, and medical treatments can regulate fascia, and improve pain conditions.

Fascia Stiffness & Hyaluronan: The Body’s Lubricant or Glue ?

Hyaluronan, also known as hyaluronic acid (HA), is a key component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) (major component of fascia which contains HA) which provides structure and support to tissues. Hyaluronan acts as a natural lubricant that allows muscles, nerves, and fascia to glide smoothly so we can move with no stiffness. However, under certain conditions, it can turn into a sticky glue-like substance, leading to stiffness, pain, and swelling

Why Is Hyaluronan Important ?

• Lubrication: It helps muscles, fascia, and nerves slide against each other, preventing friction and stiffness.

When Hyaluronan Becomes Dysregulated

Like anything in life, Hyaluronan levels must stay balanced—too much or too little can lead to pain and other health issues:

• Under-activity → Hyaluronan builds up excessively

• Leads to tissue swelling, increased pressure, and pain
• Impairs blood and lymphatic circulation, contributing to lymphedema and lipedema (painful fat disorders).

• Over-activity → Too much hyaluronan is produced

• Excess hyaluronan super-aggregates, making tissues sticky instead of slippery.
• Can cause delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and fibrosis (tissue thickening and stiffness) (Slater et al. 2024).

How Lifestyle Affects Hyaluronan Balance

• Too little movement (immobility) → Causes hyaluronan to accumulate abnormally, reducing fluid movement and increasing stiffness.
• Too much intense exercise → Yes too much of exercise can be more pro inflammatory to the body and scinece also tells us that it it overstimulates hyaluronan production, causing it to become glue-like instead of slippery, leading to more pain and inflammation.

Hyaluronan is essential for pain-free movement and fascia health, but its balance must be maintained Understanding how physical activity levels, inflammation, and hydration affect hyaluronan can help prevent stiffness, pain, and chronic conditions like lymphedema, DOMS, and fibrosis.
There is one more thing that matters to me as a female and fascia focused performance coach that I would like to address here that has impact on stiffness and musculoskeletal fascia - our hormonal balance.

How Hormones Impact Stiffness, Flexibility, and Pain.

Recent research has found that fascia is highly influenced by hormones particularly estrogen and relaxin, which are concentrated in the fibroblasts of muscular fascia (Kodama et al. 2023). These hormones regulate tissue flexibility, stiffness, and pain sensitivity throughout life.

How Hormones Affect Fascia?

• Estrogen & Relaxin:

• Help reduce stiffness and inhibit fibrosis (excessive tissue thickening).
• Regulate inflammation and tissue remodeling, keeping fascia supple and resilient.
• Levels fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause, impacting flexibility and pain perception.

• Hormonal Changes Across the Lifespan:

• During the menstrual cycle → Fascia’s stiffness and elasticity fluctuate, affecting movement and injury risk.
• During pregnancy → Higher relaxin levels increase joint and fascial flexibility, which may lead to instability. (Sims et al. 2022).
• During perimenopause & menopause → Estrogen declines, leading to stiffer fascia, increased inflammation, and higher pain sensitivity. This may contribute to fibromyalgia and chronic pain conditions in some individuals. ( Ruschak et al. 2023).

People in perimenopause and menopause may require targeted strategies (movement, nutrition, and possibly hormone therapy) to manage fascia stiffness and pain.

Tips To Manage Stiffness & Musculoskeletal Fascia Pain

Keep Your Fascia Hydrated Through Nutrition:

Fascia stiffness is highly dependent on hydration—dehydrated fascia becomes stiff, sticky, and painful

• Drink plenty of water with electrolytes, minerals, and essential vitamins to maintain fascia’s natural gliding ability.
• Eat collagen-boosting foods like bone broth and take quality supplements to support muscle and fascia repair and elasticity. With Beyond Muscle Recovery & Repair you support more than muscle and fascia health. I will admit, It has been a long road, but I am very humble and happy to bring this product to the market, not just to support professional athletes health and performance, but also, people like me, who are in their 40’s and further down the life journey, and want to stay flexible, strong, and healthy. If you want to learn more on supplement selection, take a look on The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best Fascia Supplement.

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Keep Your Fascia Hydrated Through Movement:

• Variety of movement and loading patterns are great to keep your musculoskeletal fascia healthy. Now, allow me to share that not all movement contributes equally to fascia hydration. If you are interested in learning key drills to support your fascia hydration as you age, then I invite you to check an online class resilient aging, where you learn the most effective drills to hydrate your fascia and get rid of morning stiffness within minutes. If you want quick full-body fascia-focused movement routines with no equipment that focus on fascia hydration, check my favorite 7 best fascia hydration routines to increase elasticity from the toes to the neck.
• Using soft foam rollers, myofascial balls, and getting regular massage can help keep our fascia healthy and hydrated. You can learn more on other fascia friendly tools like Core Boot to start hydrating your fascia from the ground up.

Conclusion

After reading this article, I hope you learned something new and realized that Fascia is not just connective tissue or a structural tissue—it plays a major role in our health and pain perception.

Understanding Fascia as a regulatory system could revolutionize pain management and treatments for many conditions that are not even mentioned in this article.

I am excited the research on Fascia continues. I believe it can empower all of us to look at our body from a broader and healthier perspective so we can start asking better questions like "How do I feel in my body?” or “What’s contributing to my pain?” vs. focusing on the pain or stiffness symptom and masking them with a pain killer. We can do better than that.

If you want to learn more about how to keep your fascia elastic and healthy as you age. Here are the 3-steps-to-stop-your-body-from-drying-out-after-40.

We hope these tips help you maintain whole-body hydration for optimal health.

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Resync is backed by research. We break down complex science into practical takeaways you can use today. When you have the right information, you are empowered to make the decision that’s right for you. If there’s something you want to know more about, let us know by leaving a comment, contacting us or getting in touch on social media!

Helping you lead a healthier life,The Resync Team

Author

Barbara Depta 

Published on: March 06, 2025

Tags

Fascia and Muscle
fascial 
fascia Pain
Muscle Pain

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