The importance of the fascia in osteopathy

Do you know when you first have to stretch in the morning after getting up or after sitting for a long time in order to remove some of the stiffness in your body and become more flexible? The solution to these phenomena often lies in the fasciae.

What are fasciae actually?

In recent years, researchers have discovered the great importance of fasciae for a healthy and flexible body.

Everyone knows the thin, fine membranes that cover a piece of turkey meat, for example, or the white membranes of an orange that separate the pulp chambers from each other.

This is roughly how you can imagine the fasciae in the human body. They surround all muscles, ligaments, organs, arteries, veins and nerves.

They protect and supply our tissues, give shape and structure, transmit stimuli and support the transmission of force from the muscles.

The fasciae also contain a multitude of pain receptors.

Pain without an identifiable cause?

Fasciae can stick together, shorten, become matted or hardened. The muscles can become extremely tense, rigid and immobile. The consequences can be that joints or other parts of the body are permanently restricted. Therefore, severe pain can occur during movement.

Imaging procedures such as X-rays or an MRI unfortunately cannot detect this type of tissue change.

Common causes of stuck and tense fasciae

Lack of exercise

If we don't move enough, it has a bad effect on our fasciae. They shorten and harden. Their elastin, which stretches well, decreases and is replaced by the tough, hardly stretchable collagen.

Unhealthy diet

Fasciae consist mainly of water and proteins. Therefore, it is important that we drink enough water, provide ourselves with high-quality proteins and eat a diet rich in minerals and vitamins.

Stress

When we are stressed - often in the shoulder and neck area - the muscles and therefore also the fasciae tense up. It doesn't matter whether it is professional or emotional stress that increases the pressure within us.

Congestion in the lymphatic system

When there is a congestion in the lymphatic system, protein is converted into fibrin. This in turn is the cause of tissue adhesions.

How can an osteopath help with fascia problems?

A trained osteopath can feel adhesions and hardenings in the body and determine what type of tissue changes are involved in each case and where exactly they are located. Through many different techniques, most of them gentle, an osteopath can relieve and improve the symptoms.

Which complaints related to fascia can be treated?

• Acute and chronic pain in the musculoskeletal system

• Problems with joints

• Fibromyalgia

• Headaches, migraines

• Asthma

• Lymphatic problems

• Digestive problems

Author:

Sybille Heinzl, Osteopath/Naturopath

Osteopathy for babies, children, adults

Naturopathy

Practice in Marbella/Spain and in Lehre/Germany

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