Fascias

Definition

Fasciae are generally understood to be the connective tissue sheaths of the musculature. They consist of tightly interwoven collagenous connective tissue and elastin. Inside the fascia there is a layer of thinner, loose connective tissue.

In the preparation of meat, everyone has probably had contact with fasciae at some time or another when peeling the thin whitish skin from the muscle layers. In the strict medical sense, fasciae are solid, flat connective tissue plates, such as the foot fascia or the large back fascia. We find connective tissue as a connecting structure everywhere in our body.

Muscle fibers are “wrapped” in connective tissue, joints and organs are protected by connective tissue capsules, and ligaments, which also consist of fascial tissue, connect our bones with each other. The body fasciae are arranged in so-called fascial chains, which support each other because they are under tension. Therefore, it makes sense to treat entire fascial chains and not to concentrate on a single section.

Fasciae are not rigid tissues, which means that the tension of the fascia can change with every movement. Furthermore, fascial tension is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. The various fascial tissues are all connected mechanically and by the vegetative nervous system. Our thickest and strongest body fasciae are located at the heel – Achilles tendon and in the lumbar spine – large dorsal fascia.

History of fasciae – What is the significance of fasciae?

In the past, fascial tissue was primarily considered to be an annoying packaging organ and filling fabric. For a long time, one had to rely on the subjective perception of the test persons and the tactile feeling of the examiners when examining the fascia. However, for years it has been possible to measure the thickness and mobility of a fascia down to tenths of a millimeter thanks to highly sensitive ultrasound equipment and other modern examination methods.

Nowadays, the strength, elastic behavior and water content of the fascia can be measured before and after sporting activities or therapeutic intervention. Groundbreaking findings have been obtained in research by examining the Achilles tendon. This tendon has highly elastic properties that help people to walk in a springy manner, since the Achilles tendon can store kinetic energy and release it again like a catapult, similar to shooting an arrow after a pretensioned bow. The power and speed of the footprint is primarily dependent on the storage of the jumping energy and its sudden discharge. This effect was discovered in kangaroos and exploited in the implementation of current running techniques and in the production of artificial jumping orthoses.

Read next article in this series:

All articles in this series:

  1. Fascias
  2. Anatomy
  3. Damage to the fascia
  4. How is fascial damage diagnosed?
  5. Fasciae as a cause of back pain
  6. The fascia roll
  7. Fascial Training
  8. Self-help by rolling out – Self myofascial release
  9. Multimodal therapy
  10. FDM: Fascial distortion model according to Typaldos
  11. Active functional training
  12. Rocking stretches – Warm Up
  13. Strength training with catapult effect – Rebound Elasticity
  14. Functional strength training
  15. Three-dimensional stretching
  16. Body perception relaxation – Sensory Refinement