What is Myofacial Release?

Myofascial Release

"Myo" in medical terms is a prefix that refers to muscle.

"Fascia" is a tough connective tissue that is found throughout the body. Fascia is the only substance that is present throughout the entire body. Trauma, bad posture or inflammation can cause the fascia to knit together resulting in excessive pressure on nerves, muscles, blood vessels and organs. An extremely high percentage of people suffering with pain and or lack of motion may go undiagnosed because many of the standard tests such as x-ray, myelograms, CT scans and electromyography do not reveal fascial restrictions.

Someone recently said, "Think of it this way…":

"Imagine you had a letter. It is somewhat crumpled. The letter goes into an envelope but because of the crumpling it doesn't fit precisely. Well now just imagine that the letter is the muscle and the envelope is the fascia. The covering becomes tight and will not allow the normal; elimination of muscle waste, byproducts or circulation. The buildup of these waste products and the lack of normal circulation adds another source of irritation to the muscle. The purpose of the technique is to open up this envelope and allow the muscle to return to the normal size and shape that it should have. Once the muscle has had a chance to relax the pain starts to decrease."

Myofascial Release consists of slow gentle manual application of sustained pressure to release tissue that may be trapping muscle and other tissues into a painful and less mobile position.

The intention of myofascial release is to provoke a natural body reaction called pixoelectric phenomena: the slow, sustained, gentle pressure of human touch causes soft tissues such as fascia to elongate and return to their normal relaxed state.