Integrated Myofascial Release
Have you been seeking therapeutic care for back pain related to postural issues? Have you been going week after week, month after month and not experiencing lasting results? Or have the results only last for a week or a couple of days at a time? The problem may not be entirely skeletal, or bone-related. The problem could be in your connective tissue- what we call fascia, and something to seek out a massage therapist for. As we know, fascia is everywhere in the human body. It surrounds all our muscles, organs, nerves, blood vessels, and connects it all to our bones. As an all-encompassing part of our body, problems can arise when you have physical adjustments to your skeletal structure to correct your posture, and the fascia remains untreated.
When an injury occurs, there is tearing in the muscle tissue or ligaments and scar tissue forms. Scar tissue does not only form in your muscles, but within the fascia as well. As a result of the dense rigidity of scar tissue, it pulls and shortens the fascial tissue, creating a constant force or tension in the area. This tension will act on your skeletal structure and can pull your joints out of position which leads the body to try and compensate for the imbalance. This can then lead to poor posture and subsequent joint pain and muscle pain.
We should also consider that the human body is meant to be in motion. Many of our jobs today require us to be seated or standing for long periods of time. In an office job, for instance, that requires us to sit at a computer, we find that our shoulders and lower back become problem areas. Some may even end up with numbness or pain in the legs, arms, and hands. When the body is static for long periods of time the fascia will actually shorten and become inflexible. This happens because fascia is Thixotropic.
A thixotropic substance is one that can go from a soft state to a hardened state and back again depending on conditions. When fascia is not moving it will go to more of a hardened, rigid state. When this happens the tension in the area will increase, and when it occurs between two joints (say between your knee and your pelvis) it will act as a tension force on those joints. When you are then sitting at your computer for hours on end, day after day, and your glutes get sore and low back gets sore, it’s probably from the fascia in those areas shortening. Imagine if you have been sitting for years at a computer five days a week for 48 weeks a year, the amount of time your hamstrings will be in that shortened state. What happens is the force of the tension in the hamstrings will actually pull your pelvis out of position, leading to improper posture.
Integrated Myofascial Release is used to treat these kinds of conditions. With a thorough postural exam, your Vancouver RMT finds the areas where the fascia is restricted and affecting posture. With specific manual techniques, combined with motion of the joints, we manipulate the fascia making it more mobile. This will let the joints affected move properly, allowing your proper posture to return. Integrated Myofascial Release is not the quick fix! It takes several treatments to actually get the big changes in our posture. When these changes do happen they tend to last, because, there are no abnormal or outside forces acting on our joints that bring them out of position, causing bad posture.
If you have had back pain for quite some time, and have been seeing practitioners to correct your spine, but not getting results- maybe the issue has to do with your fascial tissue. If you believe this is what is happening to you, feel free to contact the clinic by e-mail or phone to go over any questions you might have about Integrated Myofascial Release and if that treatment is the right thing for you.
Michael Scottnicki
Registered Massage Therapist @ Broadway Wellness in Vancouver, BC