A Frontier In Health
Whilst most people are aware of the importance of the importance of food, exercise and reducing stress, an often overlooked component of overall health, is fascia. After decades of being ignored and discounted in science and healthcare, in the last 20+ years, fascial research has exploded leading to an acknowledgement of fascia as being, a whole-body system in its own right and our largest sensory organ.
What’s Fascia?
As the connective tissue system, that links the trillions of cells in our body and all bodily organs and systems, touching into the fascial system is a way to engage with the body as one whole integrated system. Fascia, is the connective tissue system that compartmentalises yet links everything from the top of our head to our toes – whether it be the Gerota’s fascia around our kidneys, the pericardium around our heart or the periosteum around our bones.
Fascial Research
Emerging research suggests that fascia affects multiple physiological and regulatory systems throughout the body including, circulation, fluid exchange, posture, autonomic and neurovascular regulation, including the control of blood pressure and the modulation of blood flow to the central nervous system and heart during stress. It also influences hormonal production and secretion, including adrenaline, oestrogen, insulin, thyroid hormones, and oxytocin (the love hormone). Fascia is also becoming recognized as a key regulatory system that holds onto memory both physically and emotionally.
Tensile Strength
Fascia is immensely strong and if any part of the fascia is twisted, pulled and imbalanced, it will affect the whole body in some way. Fascia can tighten, harden, twist, glue together and become inflamed due to constant stress, injuries and lack of movement and when fascia tightens and hardens it can cause body systems not to function optimally.
Hence the aim of Fascial unwinding is to support the body in unwinding interwoven areas of tension, so the body can return to a freer, more open, fluid and functional state.
What’s Fascial Unwinding?
Like Craniosacral Therapy. ‘fascial unwinding’ originated in osteopathy and the term was originally coined to describe the involuntary, spontaneous, movements that many people experience during treatment sessions.
What does Fascial Unwinding Do?
The more stressful events we experience, the more wound-up our system can become. Hence after experiencing an unwinding people often report feeling a greater degree of relaxation, freedom and spaciousness in their body.
A Whole-Body, Whole-person Approach
When we experience stress related discomfort or pain, it’s easy to focus in on that area and to loose sight of the rest of the body, although pain and dysfunction rarely originate in the same place the symptoms are felt.
For example, an ascending pattern in the pelvis, legs and feet can be a causative factor of issues, developing further up the body, including conditions such as headaches and neck and shoulder pain.
This is why an old ankle sprain unwinding and coming back into place, may resolve an acute pain in the shoulder and the pelvis coming back into alignment, may unwind chronic tension in the shoulders and the jaw.
Nothing in the body, mind and emotions occurs in isolation as everything is a relationship !
For more information on fascial unwinding click on the article below.
