FASCIAL COUNTERSTRAIN

Fascia is the connective tissue matrix that wraps all of our body systems: it envelops every muscle, bone, and ligament, as well as our vessels (arteries, veins, and lymphatics), every organ, including the brain and spinal cord, as well as every single nerve in our body. The fascia makes up the outer one-third of our nerves.

Healthy fascia is supportive but will move, glide and slide with the body. Our nervous system heavily innervates it. It detects any unwanted stretch or tension around the structures it envelops. When too much stretch is detected, it will turn on muscle spasms to protect these deep structures from injury.

For example, the vertebral artery travels through openings in the cervical vertebrae. During a whiplash injury, the deep stretch of the neck can place traction on the vertebral artery. The body will feel this traction through the fascia– and in its brilliant design– communicate this to our nervous system through a reflex loop. This puts deep muscles surrounding the structure (in this case, the vertebral artery) into a state of spasm to protect it from damage. The body does a great job turning on this tension to keep itself safe but often does not do a good job turning it off. Because of this, after an injury has healed, many people continue to complain of pain or notice pain developing in other areas.

Fascial counter-strain, through specific hands-on scans of the body, can identify which fascia systems (muscle-skeletal, venous/lymphatic, arterial, visceral, or nervous systems) are holding tension in the body. Counter-strain releases it through very gentle and specific glides that decompress this tension, turning off the reflex loop and the muscle spasm.

Pain relief through these techniques is best understood once experienced - ask our patients!