Fascia is a connective tissue which forms a continuous sheath throughout the body from the top of the head to the soles of the feet. It envelops every organ, nerve, blood vessel, muscle and indeed every structure throughout the body.
The significance of this shows up when the body experiences trauma. Think of fascia like glad wrap, layers and layers of glad wrap. Between each layer is a thin layer of fluid so that they glide over each other smoothly.
When trauma happens it imprints on the fascia and inhibits the free movement of the fascia. The bruises may heal but the imprint remains in the fascia.
Because the fascia covers every structure in the body a trauma in one part of the body affects the whole body.
Think of a tin of beans sitting on a shelf in a supermarket. It is wrapped in a layer of glad wrap. The tin next to it is also wrapped in glad wrap. The tin on the other side is also wrapped in glad wrapped. All three tins are then wrapped together in a further layer of glad wrap. All the tins of beans on the shelf are also wrapped in glad wrap. On the shelf below all the tins of peas are wrapped individually and then in groups. Then the shelf with the beans and the shelf with the peas are wrapped together.
This process is repeated with every item on every shelf of the whole isle. Then the isle is wrapped together with the isle next to it. Then those two isles are wrapped together with the isle next to them. This process continues until every item in the whole supermarket is wrapped in glad wrap then the whole supermarket itself is wrapped in a giant sheet of glad wrap.
The supermarket is then wrapped together with the store next to it which has also had its whole contents individually and collectively wrapped in glad wrap. Every building in the whole suburb is similarly wrapped and then the whole suburb is wrapped in one giant sheet of glad wrap. It is then wrapped with the suburb next to it and the both suburbs are wrapped together with the suburb next to them and so on until the whole city is wrapped in glad wrap.
Outside the city a small boy tugs on the glad wrap. It doesn’t look like his tugging has any effect on city at all. One small boy tugging on this huge city wrapped in glad wrap. Nothing is affected except our original tin of beans. It is rattling on the shelf every time the boy tugs. If the boy keeps tugging it will fall off the shelf.
You are on the far side of the city. By placing your hands on the glad wrap (fascia) you can feel along it to the tin of beans and then following through you can feel the boy and his tugging.
Fascia is your friend.
It is like the glad wrap of the body and so much more. It is infused with the living energy of the person and can help you find and treat restrictions far from where your hands contact the body.
Connection to the cranio sacral rhythm.
This continuous fascial sheath forms a close connection to the meninges at the point where each peripheral nerve emanates from the spinal cord. As the spinal nerves penetrate the Dura they pull some of the Dura with them and this blends into the fascial sheath which covers the spinal nerve on its journey.
This transition point from membrane to fascia is called the epineurium. It is one of the ways the Cranio Sacral Rhythm is translated to the rest of the body.
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