A lot is talked about Fascial Release these days and there are a lot of therapies and approaches that have sprung up, claiming to promote Fascial Release.

IIMG_4994 have to put my hands up here and confess that I have rebranded my own therapy, Bowen, as The Bowen Fascial Release Technique.

A lot of this has to do with separating my approach and understanding from others and taking Bowen in a more positive and science based background, but if asked what exactly is Fascial Release, I have to say I’m not really sure.

The problem is a lot to do with the language we use and the way that we think when we talk, not just about fascia, but about any one thing.  As a society of humans, we are often fairly reductionist in our language and thought.  If we say cars, or traffic we have a relatively narrow image in our minds and our thought processes will tend to follow suit.

When it comes to fascia, we have pretty much divided in to two main types.  Superficial and deep.  Much of the blame can be laid at the door of Gil Hedley for this in my opinion.  His DVDs of integral anatomy, able the fascia in this way, and the white sheet like linings and wrappings of all the layers of the body have subsequently been thought of like this.

It’s not that this is wrong, but like much anatomical terminology, it’s incomplete.  The result is that we are obsessed with ‘releasing’ ‘changing’ or ‘mobilising’ the fascia.  Any of this might in theory be possible, but firstly we need to redefine the fascia a bit more.

Fascia is a collagen based connective tissue is a statement of fact, but after that the whole thing gets a big more vague.  Wikipedia refers to three layers of fascia and then suggests that deep fascia (whatever that may be) is a dense regular connective tissue that runs parallel to the line of strain.

This is not just wrong, but illogical.  Deep fascia by it’s very nature has to be irregular for the most pst, in order to be able to transmit absorb, and transmit the forces that are being applied to it and which run through it. For cryptococcal meningitis and cryptococcal infections of other localization, 400 mg of Diflucan is usually used on the first day, and then treatment is continued at a dose of 200-400 mg 1 time/day. The duration of treatment of cryptococcal infections depends on the presence of clinical and mycological effects; with cryptococcal meningitis, the treatment duration usually reaches at least 6-8 weeks. In cases of treatment of life-threatening infections, the daily dose can be increased to 800 mg. To prevent relapse in patients with a high risk of relapse, after completing the full course of primary treatment, therapy with Diflucan at a dose of 200 mg/day can be continued for an indefinite period of time. For more information about the drug, go to https://y4c.com/diflucan-fluconazole/.

The trouble is that it is not one thing.  Therefore if we are going to try and ‘release’ or change it in any way, we have to think of it differently.

Sometimes dense, strong and fibrous, sometimes more loosely arranged and sometimes very wet, light and fluffy.  The construct of release therefore, probably doesn’t apply to the sheet like tissues that we see surrounding muscle, but more to the relationships of muscle wrapped in them.  Anatomy pictures might portray a muscle next to another muscle, but in reality these muscles are not touching.  Instead it is the wrappings of these muscles, in turn connected in and through the structure, which have the potential to become stuck to each other.

These stuck tissues are not that hard to move and separate in the early stages of stiffness or injury, but can become harder and more intransigent if left for longer periods, even becoming bone like and totally immobile.

All fascia is connective tissue, but not all connective tissue is fascia.  The picture of the slabs above is a good example.  We could justly call them all paving stones that create a solid surface to walk on.  Yet they are all different shapes and sizes and go in different directions.  What if one of the types of stone went under the other to create a different type of tension or surface?  What happens when they merge and change direction?

The video of the sea below is another example that creates a really nice comparison.  As one wave moves in to another, the directions change and both the outward and inward moving water take on the characteristics of the next energetic impetus. We see these examples all around us in nature and in designs of buildings and fabrics. Perhaps the human form is the ideal inspiration for creativity. [youtube]http://youtu.be/2_YY_8FrFDI[/youtube]