Fascial work is starting to make sense to me. Or is that more sense? Does that mean that I might actually have some sense?
Over the past few years, I have had quite a few clients that have had issues that Myofascial Release has been the best approach for. But it wasn’t until a couple months back that I started to look a little deeper into work with the fascia. And although it probably falls under the heading of MFR, it is a little more than what I was shown in classes.
First off, fascia is connective tissue which runs all through the body and touches on everything. Every time something happens to one area of the body, the entire fascial network knows about it. That is why MFR teaches us to find the pain in one place and the true cause somewhere else.
Fascia becomes tight and hard (constricted). MFR makes it pliable again through holds and glides, all of which are done without oil. With MFR, the body is restructured. But even just oil-less glides, fascia is loosened so that the things it is surrounding are allowed to move and breathe.
I have been working for a few months on a lady that was in a car accident about two years ago. She has been being treated for this for a long time, longer than one is usually treated, and the pool of money she has to work with keeps getting smaller.
She had been seeing a chiropractor, and then the massage therapist at the chiropractor’s office. The chiropractor would pop her neck or spine. Then the massage therapist would do spot work on all the muscles around the areas of the adjustments. For this 20 minutes of spot massage, the insurance company would be billed $120. The total bill for the dual visit was $290.
A doctor recommended that she try Reiki, which brought her to me. This got her thinking that she could see me for massage and get an hour of work for $230 less per hour, thus getting her treatment longer because it would not eat up the pool of money as fast. The insurance company agreed to work with me even though they were subverting their own system to pay me.
But what I have been doing on her is mostly fascial work, and it makes sense. I have known for a while now that when spinal adjustments are made, the bones need to be able to go somewhere and not be forced back to where they were. Moving the fascia gives them someplace to go. And with the fascia loosened, it is more likely that the bones will stay where they are moved to. Otherwise it is like pushing against a rock. Sooner or later, the rock forces things back the way they were.
The same can be said for muscles. I can stretch muscles. But if the area around them is not loosened and allowed to accept new positions, the muscles will most likely tighten up again.
With this type of work, this client is getting better, much better, something that she had not felt while going to the chiropractor and his massage therapist. Cool.