06/22/2020
What is Fascia and why is Fascia important to your health?
Facts about fascia:
* Fascia connects all connective tissues (that means the muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, and blood)
* Fascia holds together the entire body.
* There are four different kinds of fascia (structural, intersectoral, visceral, and spinal), but they’re all connected.
* When it’s healthy, it’s flexible, supple, and it glides.
Because fascia appears and connects throughout the body, you might think of it like a dinning room table set placed on a table cloth. If you pull one corner, it can rearrange the position of everything else on the table.
Why does it matter?
Antonio Stecco, the brother of Carla Stecco orthopedic surgeon and son to the father Luigi Stecco who wrote the book on fascia, is a proud member of the first family of fascia, is a research assistant professor at New York University in physical medicine and rehabilitation who describes fascia’s main functions as helping coordinate the body’s movements (i.e., biomechanics), position in space (i.e., proprioception) and fluid flow throughout the body.
Related to these functions, research has indicated that Structural Integration (a type of body work thought to release stiff fascia) has improved balance in patients with chronic fatigue, range of motion in patients with neck pain, and reduced eye spasms in patients with muscular dystonia.
