Key City Myofascial Release

09/12/2026

WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY “FASCIA”?
That question turns out to have a surprisingly complicated answer.

Historically, fascia has been used for quite different anatomical concepts—from bands and sheets of fibrous tissue to membranous structures and, more recently, a body-wide connective-tissue system. In fact, fascia researchers themselves have acknowledged that inconsistent definitions have created confusion.

That is why researchers eventually distinguished between “a fascia”—a recognizable anatomical connective-tissue structure—and “the fascial system,” a much broader three-dimensional continuum of loose and dense connective tissues throughout the body.

And the story is still evolving.

A 2025 Journal of Anatomy paper proposed a more detailed model in which the fascial system contains layers with contrasting properties: some predominantly collagenous and relatively stiff, and others rich in hyaluronan and more viscous, facilitating fluid movement and shear between tissue interfaces.

So the familiar picture of fascia as simply a sheet of fibrous connective tissue wrapped around a muscle is not wrong—but it is incomplete.

And that matters.

Because many of the manual therapies intended to “treat fascia” developed from earlier understandings of what fascia was and how it behaved.

Which brings us back to the question that began this inquiry:

If our understanding of fascia has changed, should our understanding of what it means to treat fascia change with it?

Next, we'll go back to the origins of the term Myofascial Release itself.

And as we're already discovering, even that history isn't quite as simple as it first appears.

09/09/2026

We often begin paying attention to our bodies when something goes wrong.

Pain appears.

Movement becomes difficult.

Something feels tight, uncomfortable or simply different.

And then we start looking for a solution.

But paying attention to the body doesn't have to begin with a problem.

Myofascial Release can also be an opportunity to slow down, notice patterns of tension and movement, and become more aware of how your body is responding and adapting.

Sometimes there is a specific reason for coming in.

Sometimes there isn't.

You may simply decide that caring for your body deserves a regular place in your life.

At Key City Myofascial Release, treatment begins with listening — not only to where you hurt, but to what your body may be communicating as a whole.

If you're curious about experiencing Myofascial Release, I invite you to learn more or schedule a session at Key City MFR.

And if you're interested in learning more about the body, healing and consciousness, follow along here on Instagram or Facebook.

There's a lot we're still discovering.

And some very interesting questions worth asking.

Key City Myofascial Release
Frederick, Maryland

09/07/2026

Has our understanding of fascia evolved faster than our explanation of how we treat it?

The term “myofascial release” is now used to describe a remarkably wide range of approaches — from manual therapy and stretching to foam rolling, instruments and other techniques intended to affect fascia.

But what do we actually mean by fascia?

And when we say we're going to “release” it, what exactly do we believe is changing?

Our understanding of the fascial system has evolved considerably. Fascia is no longer viewed simply as passive fibrous material surrounding muscles and other structures. We now understand it as part of a living, continuous and biologically active system whose behavior involves far more than collagen fibers alone.

That raises an interesting possibility:

Perhaps our understanding of fascia has evolved faster than our explanations for how we treat it.

Over the coming weeks, I'm going to explore that question — beginning with the origins of the term myofascial release, how our understanding of fascia has changed, and what current research can and cannot tell us about what may actually be happening during treatment.

This isn't an attempt to prove that one approach is right and another is wrong.

It's an inquiry.

What do we know?
What does the evidence suggest?
What are we assuming?
And what don't we know yet?
Because as our understanding of the body evolves, perhaps our understanding of treatment should evolve with it.

Let's begin with a simple question:

What exactly are we trying to release?

08/29/2026

We naturally try to make sense of what we feel.

My back hurts because I sit too much.
My shoulder hurts because I injured it years ago.
I'm tight because I need to stretch more.

Sometimes those explanations may be right.

But sometimes, when we stop assuming we already know the answer and begin paying attention to the body itself, a different picture emerges.

Patterns of tension may extend far beyond the place that hurts. Areas that seem unrelated may move together. The nervous system may continue protecting long after the original threat has passed.

The body isn't necessarily telling us what's wrong.

It may simply be showing us how it has adapted.

Myofascial Release gives us an opportunity to become curious about those patterns—to listen before deciding what needs to change.

Sometimes the body tells a different story.

08/27/2026

Every cell in your body exists within an environment.

That environment is largely shaped by the extracellular matrix — the ECM.

Once thought of primarily as the material that fills the space between cells, the ECM is now understood as a dynamic, biologically active environment.

It provides structural support, but it also participates in communication between cells, influences cell behavior, transmits mechanical forces, and continually changes in response to what is happening within the tissues.

In other words, cells don't function in isolation.

They respond to the environment around them.

Changes in the composition, organization and mechanical properties of the ECM are associated with normal processes such as development, adaptation and tissue repair — and with many disease processes when regulation becomes disrupted.

This doesn't mean that every health problem begins in the extracellular matrix.

But it does suggest something important:

If we want to understand the health of the cell, perhaps we also need to understand the health of the environment in which that cell lives.

The space between our cells may be far more important than we once imagined.

08/25/2026

It seems intuitive.

Something hurts, therefore something must be damaged.

But pain doesn't work quite that simply.

Nociception is the nervous system's process of detecting and transmitting information about actual or potential threats to tissue.

But nociception and pain are not the same thing.

Nociceptive signals contribute to the experience of pain, but pain is ultimately an experience produced through the interaction of sensory information with many other biological and contextual factors.

That's why pain can sometimes persist after tissues have healed—and why significant tissue changes can sometimes occur with surprisingly little pain.

This doesn't mean pain isn't real.

Quite the opposite.

It means pain is more complex—and perhaps more interesting—than a simple alarm telling us exactly where something is damaged.

Which raises another question:

If pain isn't simply a measurement of tissue damage, what exactly is the body telling us?

08/24/2026

Pain has a way of drawing our attention to a particular place.

A shoulder.
A hip.
The low back.
The neck.

Naturally, we begin looking for the problem there.

But the body doesn't always organize itself according to the location of our symptoms.

Tension in one area can influence movement somewhere else. Protective patterns can persist long after an injury has healed. And sometimes what we experience as pain is part of a much larger pattern involving the tissues and nervous system.

This is why I don't begin by asking only:

“Where does it hurt?”

I'm also interested in:

“What might the body be responding to?”

Myofascial Release offers one way of exploring that question.

Not by forcing the body to change.

But by listening to what it's already telling us.

Key City Myofascial Release

08/20/2026

Close your eyes.

Raise your right hand over your head.

Even without looking, you know where your hand is.

You know that your elbow moved.
You know approximately where your arm is in space.
You can sense its movement and position without seeing it.

This remarkable ability is called proprioception.

Proprioception is the nervous system's ability to sense the position, movement and forces of the body. It contributes to coordination, balance and controlled movement.

And fascia is part of that sensory system.

Fascial tissues are richly innervated. Sensory structures associated with proprioception—including Ruffini and Pacinian corpuscles—have been identified in particular fascial tissues, especially structures associated with joints and movement. Fascia therefore isn't simply transmitting mechanical forces through the body; it can also contribute sensory information about the body's mechanical state.

The brain continuously integrates information from muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, joints, skin and connective tissues to construct our ongoing sense of where our body is and what it's doing.

So does Myofascial Release improve proprioception?

That's where we need to distinguish what we know from what we might reasonably wonder about.

The fact that fascia participates in proprioception does not by itself demonstrate that changing fascia through MFR improves proprioception.

However, because MFR involves mechanical interaction with richly innervated tissues, it provides sensory input to the nervous system. Whether and under what circumstances that input produces measurable changes in proprioceptive function remains a question for research.

In my clinical work, I'm interested in more than how tissue feels beneath my hands. I'm also interested in how someone experiences their own body—how they move, what they sense, and what they become aware of during treatment.

Because fascia isn't simply something that holds us together.

It's also part of how we know where we are.

08/19/2026

How do you know what is happening inside your body?

Before you ever put it into words, your nervous system is continuously receiving and processing information from within you.

Your heartbeat.
Your breathing.
Hunger and fullness.
Temperature.
Visceral sensations.
Changes in your internal physiological state.

This process is called interoception.

Interoception helps your nervous system build a moment-to-moment representation of what's happening inside your body. It contributes to physiological regulation, homeostasis, feelings, and our ongoing sense of our internal state.

So where does fascia enter the picture?

Fascia isn't simply passive wrapping. Fascial tissues are richly innervated and contain different types of sensory nerve endings. Researchers are increasingly interested in how fascia and other connective tissues may participate in the body's sensory systems—including interoception—but there is still much we don't know.

Does Myofascial Release improve interoception?

At this point, research does not allow us to say that MFR directly improves interoception.
We do know that fascial tissues participate in sensory signaling and that touch and manual therapy provide sensory input to the nervous system.

Whether Myofascial Release can meaningfully influence interoceptive processing is an interesting possibility—but one that still needs to be studied.

In my clinical experience, MFR often seems to help people become more aware of sensations within their bodies. Whether that represents a measurable change in interoception is a different question—and one research has not yet answered.

And that distinction matters.

At Key City Myofascial Release, I'm interested not only in what we already know about the body, but also in the questions we're still learning how to ask.

Your body is always communicating.
How well are you listening?

08/09/2026