Fascia is a complex network or web of protein collagenous fibres, elastic fibres and Fibroblasts and is the main structural organ of the body. It is also known as the connective tissue. There are different types of fascia that have different textures and compositions. Fascia is sometimes more soft and elastic and sometimes more dense and leathery and sometimes even hard, as is the case with cartilage. It is always very tough.
Each muscle is surrounded and penetrated with fascia similar to the segments of a citrus fruit, and the fascia gives each muscle its structural integrity and range of movement. Fascia binds each muscle to the skeleton by means of tendons, which is also a type of fascia.
It is the most abundant tissue in the body. It binds muscles together, differentiates organs from each other and keeps them in place, keeps the skeleton upright, has an intimate connection with the metabolic interchange of cells and forms a fundamental part of the water metabolism and the mechanism through which the body guides and distributes fluids. It forms an intricate web coextensive with the body, central to body and central to its well being and performance. Each cell has structural fascia in it.
According to professor Jack Painter, Thomas Myers and Dr Schleip, the traumas of life, both physical and emotional, however subtle those may have been, cause the fascia to contract. The body and mind contract the fascia in an attempt to protect and armour the person from further pain. This armouring gets steered by the autonomic nervous system in the subconscious part of the brain. The brain and body remember those traumas long after the person may have forgotten about them.
There are long bands of fascia also known as anatomy trains that run all the way from the toes to the top of the head. There are also bands of fascia that connect the left and right side of the body
Most blood vessels and nerves run through the fascia, so if there is a contraction or armouring, it will compress the blood vessels and limit blood supply and thus oxygen and nutrients, also restricting the removal of waste products. As a result, the cells are thus more likely to be more malnutritioned and prone to mutation.
The skeleton is literally floating in connective tissue, and the bones serve as digits to which bands of the fascia connect to in a type of tensegrity system. If you could imagine a sail boat and imagine that the mast is the skeleton, the fascia would be the ropes that hold that mast in place. Without the ropes, the mast would be without proper support and just fall over.
At this stage, little is known about the fascia, as it was considered of little importance by the medical profession. Only in recent years has its function been reconsidered and the role it plays in the body and how it affects our health. It is now gained much recognition by the medical profession and vast amounts research is being done conducted by leading scientists around the world, particularly in Germany.