MYOFASCIA

‘What you are aware of you are in control of, what you are not aware of is in control of you De Mello

When addressing the fascial system one takes a global approach to a patient’s symptoms. In a similar way a joint-based therapist may mobilise the lumbar spine to alleviate hip pain, then a fascial prac- titioner may release lumbar spine fascia in order to alleviate a shoulder problem. If the patient’s pain is described as a light bulb, then the practitioner attempts to find the switch to turn off the light, in effect the patient’s or client’s pain.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BEYOND The mind and body are inextricably linked. Development and inte- gration of such disciplines as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) into the practice of manual therapy are testament to the growing interest in, and significance of mental and emotional stresses in terms of presentation of patient symptoms. How we hold ourselves is a reflection of our mental and emotional state, which if held over a prolonged period of time can become an habitual posture.

In simple terms, notice how some people’s shoulders become tense when their stress levels rise. This tension can be eased with some simple release techniques to the upper trapezius muscles. But what happens when those stress levels start to rise again? Fascial release is not simply a global structural approach to a patient’s physical symptoms, it also helps patients to tie in their physical symptoms with the stresses they encounter in their daily lives.

INTEGRATION OF FASCIAL WORK Any form of fascial release work relies upon the practitioner’s abil- ity to palpate the subtle tensions within the fascial matrix. The concept and the techniques are relatively easy to apply, but the key is knowing where to apply them. In order to explore the fas- cial network to identify these areas of tension it is necessary to develop one’s palpatory skills to a high level of competency. What follows are a series of palpatory exercises designed to achieve this.

Palpation philosophy and barriers to effectiveness The major objective in palpation is to locate areas of restriction or tension within the three dimensional fascial matrix effectively. This is achieved through light touch palpatory skills. In order to locate these restrictions the practitioner must relax and pay atten-

tion to his or her hands, and the information they are receiving. There seems to be some that just get it and others that find it a struggle. I have found that the latter group fall into several differ- ent categories:- 1. ‘This is rubbish’ ie. how can palpating so lightly tell us anything? 2. ‘I’m never going to get this’ - this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy 3. ‘What exactly is it I’m supposed to be feeling’ - in this instance the thinking process gets in the way of feeling 4. ‘I really, really, really, want to be able to do this’ - the practi- tioner is trying too hard and is too tense to feel any subtle tensions in the body.

While these undermining thoughts, beliefs, attitudes are whirling around in our mind it becomes very difficult to feel. It’s almost a question of if you are thinking you are not feeling or at least not as well as you might be.

Another barrier to one’s effectiveness in terms of palpation, is nar- rowing the search down in what we are looking for. If we set out to feel for restrictions in purely the musculoskeletal system, guess what we will find? It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The fascial matrix encompasses all of the major bodily systems so rather than being blinkered by a particular bias in your assessment, you are free to explore in a non judgemental way, waiting for infor- mation to come to you, rather than being armed with reams of knowledge trying to reference it. Your hands are like radio receivers, but if they only tune into one frequency they will only pick up one radio station, but if they are free to scan all the different frequen- cies then all radio stations can be picked up! It maybe that some of those stations are in French or German, and your understanding of that particular language is limited, but to filter out these sta- tions would be to diminish the bigger picture. Fascia, or connective tissue surrounds, supports and gives structural integrity to all the systems of the body.

PALPATORY SKILLS PRACTICE Attuning the whole hand When palpating I very often used to be able to feel more easily with

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