Healing Chance Equine Manual Therapy

    Myofascial Release Technique

    The word “fascia” originates from Latin and means to band or connect. Fascia is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue
    system that permeates the human and animal body. It interpenetrates and surrounds muscles, bones, organs, nerves, blood vessels
    and other structures. Fascia is an uninterrupted, three-dimensional web of elastic tissue that extends from head to toe, from front to
    back, from interior to exterior. It is responsible for maintaining structural integrity, providing support and protection and acting as a
    shock absorber.

    Most of us have seen this thin layer of tissue: If you picture a chicken thigh in your kitchen and you start removing the skin, fascia is the
    white/transparent flexible layer between the chicken skin and the meat. Another example that may help to understand fascia is, if in
    your mind’s eyes you picture a horse standing, if you were to remove the skin, muscles, bones, and organs just leaving the fascia,
    you would see a transparent horse and still able to distinguish all individual components of the body.

    Myofascia is the tissue that covers all muscles of the body, and Myofascial Release concentrates on removing adhesions that may
    restrict motion, muscle function and cause nerve pain and great discomfort. Adhesions are the body's normal protective mechanism,
    but are like internal scars that have become thickened, abnormal tissue that is now inflexible and thus limits motion. Adhesions can
    be caused by direct trauma, repetitive motion, wounds or surgical procedures, and because fascia is an uninterrupted network
    throughout the entire body, trauma in one location can cause restrictions throughout the body even in distant locations from the origin.

    Myofascial Release is the hands on technique that uses non-invasive, soft pressure to re-align the collagen fibers to return the
    normal flexibility of the fascia, thus enabling the normal function and strength of the muscles. These are slow releases that may take
    from 3-5 minutes each, and depending on the size, severity and chronic nature of the trauma, they may need to be repeated a few
    times due to body’s muscle memory recreating the adhesions if the original trauma has not completely healed. Myofascial adhesions
    many times are symptoms of a cause, rather than a cause itself.

    Watching someone perform Myofascial releases is not very exciting. It may seem that the therapist is simply holding their hands on a
    horse and waiting for “the grass to grow,” but the most exciting part of this therapy is not only the releases that the therapist feels
    through the tissue but the results the horse and the rider feel upon successful completion.
       
Eeva Patrakka ~ (503) 630-5615 ~ E-mail: Eeva@HealingChance.com
© 2008 Healing Chance Equine Manual Therapy. Website created by Eeva Patrakka.
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