AND SOLUTION OF MYOFASCIAL PROBLEMS


THE FASCIA IS OFTEN THE SOURCE


MYOFASCIAL RELEASE WITH THE MYOFASCIAL TAPING METHOD Myofascial Taping aims to reduce and normalise myofascial tension and to restore myofascial balance within each single muscle (myofascial unit) and the global myofascial system. The myofascial release technique is the first step. This is where the importance of the Anatomy Trains comes into play. Knowledge of the basic principles of Anatomy Trains helps the therapist to understand how Myofascial Taping works. Every part of the body is connected through fascia, but some parts are ‘more’ connected than others. These are the parts where muscles and fascia are biomechanically linked together. These biomechanical and myofascial slings can be explained by the Anatomy Trains principal, developed by Thomas Myers, which are formed by pathways of common force transmission through myofascia. The Anatomy Trains can also be used as a map of the dominant myofascial connections. Postural compensation, strain, tension, fixation


and resilience are all distributed along these lines giving it a systemic point of view (4).


The most powerful pulls and tensions run along the Anatomy Trains. Almost all deep and superficial regular dense connective tissue (RDCT) layers are organised in series with muscle fascicles (presented as muscle compartment walls)(8). If the myofascia is overloaded, shortened, injured or scarred, the major restriction and increased tension also will be in this major fibre direction. To ‘cure’ the fascia-related problem completely, one needs to treat the fascial tissue in different ways and directions but the most intense effect will come from treatment along the line of the main fibre direction. One should start by reducing tension at the point of pain. This is exactly the area where the fibres need to be offloaded. In LBP it would be the thoracolumbar fascia and erector spinae, although this does not necessarily mean that this is the source of the problem. If the myofascial tension has been high for a long period of time, the dysfunctions and tension could have been transferred to other connected parts that can be quite remote from the pain. The next step would be to find and treat these remote structures as well. In LBP the hamstrings and associated fascia are often part of the structures from which LBP symptoms arise.


THE LANGUAGE OF FASCIAL RECEPTORS The offloading and reduction of myofascial tension most often brings complete pain reduction immediately. The myofascial release technique not only treats fascia sensibly in a mechanical way but also addresses the receptors that are embedded in the fascial tissue in their specific language’, so that they respond immediately. It is like software programming. Once the correct code has been entered and you press the Enter key, the program is rewritten and active. In a similar way, Myofascial Taping changes myofascial tension immediately and reliably. It’s simply about shifting the tissue: by adjusting the tension on the tape, the fascia is moved in the right direction at the right places and an intense myofascial release is created. This release effect reduces the myofascial tension and pain. The amount of tension required on the tape depends on the quality of the fascia and how much the tissue has to be moved in order to offload the fascial structures and receptors and so changing the receptor’s activity, or sensitivity, respectively, so that the release effect is created.


MYOFASCIAL RELEASE FOR NON-INJURED FASCIA Golgi organs


Golgi organs measure and control myofascial tension in series. The highest density of Golgi organs are ‘muscular’ zones that are the stress- and force conveying zones of the muscle. The fascial tissue where Golgi organs are embedded – mostly at muscle insertions and muscle tendon junctions – will be shifted by applying the tape with tension. The shift in the tissue stimulates the Golgi organs. The stimulation of the Golgi organs leads to a reduction of muscle tone that reduces the myofascial tension via a neurological pathway as illustrated in the Figure 2.


Figure 2: (A) and (B) illustrate a longitudinal section of tissue showing the different fascial layers as well as muscle and bone. (A), The layers are in a normal state, without tape. (B), The MyofascialTape® is applied with stretch from left to the right, shifting all layers from left to the right. The more superficial the tissue (layer) the further it is shifted to the right. Depending on the area of the body, it moves even the deepest fascial layers as in most parts of the limbs for example.


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Interstitial receptors Eighty per cent of afferent nerve endings are free nerve endings termed ‘interstitial muscle receptors’ (interstitials), located in fascial tissues such as the endomysium or perimysium.


sportEX dynamics 2014;39(January):18-24


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