How Did I Get So Messed Up?

I often get asked the question, "How did I get this way?"  This is usually during a therapy session where the goal at the moment is to break up an adhesion in a muscle.

There is a lot of science to what exactly is happening with fascia.  Stecco, the Italian researcher, has shown that painful areas under imaging have a thickening to the fascia.  This thickening is no good.  Langevin, a researcher at the University of Vermont, has shown that fascial thickening is a key component to lumbar back pain.

Social media has provided amazing access to profound thinkers.  On a Facebook post recently the eminent Leon Chaitow stated that some fascial problems come from what I'm calling the 4 Uses.  Overuse, Misuse, Abuse and Disuse.

Overuse.  You have the strength and endurance to run a 5k, but for some reason you run a 10k.  The tissue doesn't have the capacity for the load you are imposing.  Repetitive activity would also fall under this category.

Misuse.  Lets say you insist on doing exercises or movements that you really should not be doing.  Many machine based movements block natural movement.  Some exercises are just bad.  (upright rows).  Shoveling snow with lazy form.

Abuse.  Abuse is basically trauma.  Taking a spill on the mountain bike.  Falling.  Accidents happen, fascia pays the price.  Surgeries will fall under this category.

Disuse.  This simply is not moving.  There are lots of people that sit at work all day go home and sit in front of the TV.  Hit the repeat button for 5 straight days and then wonder why certain muscle groups are so tight.  Movement is our friend.

These are the 4 use's, which one are you guilty of?

Fascia Fitness Friday: Free the Quad for a Better Glute

I've been checking the deep section of the vastus lateralis just in front and lower of the greater trochanter for tension, adhesions and trigger points.  I have noticed that when this is clear there is better hip centration and glute max hip extension is greatly improved.

I went looking for answers besides just the clearing the anterior chain improves the posterior chain.  I found it in the book I'm reading entitled, "Trigger Points and Muscle Chains In Osteopathy."  A great book for your library.

"the lower layer of the gluteus maximus is connected to the vast us externus, which is activated by the same motion pattern.  A pull on the vastus externus in addition stabilizes the gluteus maximus.  

Always nice to figure out the why to the how.  Keep that area free and see how your own hip extension improves.

Fascia Fitness Friday: Improving Contractile Force

Information is always changing.  10 years ago the general consensus was that fascia didn't contract.  Muscles contract, fascia was just the "bag" it's in.  Now we know that fascia does indeed contract.  Now there are some people that describe the anatomy of a person as a bag of fascia with 600 or so compartments for the muscles.

It has been said that the fascia contributes up to 30% of the contractile force.  If the fascia is not healthy, it is tight or weak, the true expression of strength will never be realized.  The true expression of effortless movement will never be realized.

Do your foam rolling, do your multi planar movements, drink your water, keep your fascia healthy.  You will be rewarded with improved strength and better movement.  Test it out.  Create a marker workout.  Record time or weight or both.  Next time through, do some aggressive foam rolling work with a roller, lacrosse ball ect.  before, between and after and compare the marker workout.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Fascia Fitness Friday: Break Out of Your Pattern

Most athletes tend to gravitate to a particular type of training.  Runners run, swimmers swim, bikers bike and lifters lift.  Some even combine them and call it "cross training."

What you have is a pattern.  Pattern is important to develop, we call this movement memory, or muscle memory.  Athletes train for decades to hone their movement.  To make it effortless.  To know that it takes them 42 strides to run a 100 meter.  To carry a 95rpm cadence on the bike, hour after hour.   Pattern.

The cost of this efficiency can be the fascial health of their body.  Fascia likes big movements that allow all the muscular chains to be involved.  It doesn't like repetitive activity.  It likes variation in tempo, duration and intensity.  Right now as I type, sitting in a chair, my fascial health is not improving.

Runners should do bear crawls, swimmers should trail run, lifters should play soccer, bikers should play some beach volleyball.  They should all jump, climb, crawl and throw things.  Their fascia will be healthier and in the end they may have found that the pattern they have worked all these years to develop actually improves.  That is some "cross training."