What is Fascia?

Fascia is a form of connective tissue that covers all the body’s structures down to cellular level.  It is fully continuous (there are no ‘layers’ in the body), which means that what happens to fascia in one part of the body cannot but affect the fascia, and the structures it is covering, in other parts of the body.  In our fascia release work we help the body to realign and rebalance.

Fascia is so much more than a covering and protection of the body’s internal structures.  It is a three-dimensional web or matrix that connects every part of the body. When it is damaged it may create, for example, a ‘straitjacketed’ feeling of internal tension, restricted breathing, mobility and pain, not necessarily just where the injury is but somewhere that may appear totally unrelated.

Fascia, it is often cited, has a tensile strength of up to 2,000 lbs per square inch (~900 Kg) (Katake, 1961).  Therefore, when it becomes damaged and restricted, a strong fascial pull may be created in the body – strong enough to pull joints, vertebrae and other structures out of balance.

Research is ongoing into further aspects of this fascinating tissue, such as its ability to communicate within the body and to remember trauma.  As time goes on we learn more and more about something which used to be disregarded and thought of as mere body ‘packaging’.