A Brief Summary of the Facial System

"You have a body and you are working with it." - Thomas Myers.

"Movement is food, movement is medicine." - Thomas Myers

"Has anyone taught you how to use a chair?" - Thomas Myers

What is the Fascial System?

The “Rules to the Game” developed by Tom Myers help maintain professional consistency as we discover and present new myofascial lines. In simple terms, the rules claim that an “active myofascial meridian must proceed in a consistent direction and depth via direct fibrous connections capable of force transmission." In more details they state:

1. Myofascial Meridians must proceed in a fairly consistent direction, without jumping levels, or crossing over intervening planes of fascia.

2. Myofascial Meridians must enmesh themselves into the inner osteoarticular wrapping (i.e. the muscle’s epimysium continued with the bone’s periosteum).

3. Myofascial Meridians may join and diverge like switches at one junction, multiple junctions, or a roundhouse.

4. Posture, Sport Performance, and the function of Myofascial Meridians that incorporate polyarticular muscles or expresses (muscle that cross over more than one joint), are affected by the deep underlying monarticular muscles or locals (muscles that cross over one joint)

The fascial system is a comprehensive collagen and fluid matrix that envelops, supports, and allows for freedom of movement to all of the tissues in the human body. Think the inside of an orange. This spider web like matrix of connective tissue holds all of you bones, muscles, and organs in a balanced tensegrity model. Tensegrity is the combination of structural integrity and structural tension. When this model does not have structural integration, mechanical function of the model (movement patterns of the athlete) can be compromised. The Fascia system is also quite adaptive to long term postures, which can be a negative for those who find themselves in compromising postures for long periods of time. Fibroblasts (the little spiders who lay collagen webs throughout the body) contribute to the maintenance of the facial system and respond to the needs of the system along with the Extra Cellular Matrix, which provides the fluid for fascial development. But, if we do not utilize this collagen fluid it can become a hinderance.

There are three layers to the Fascial System:

The Ednomysium which is the deep fascia around the muscle cells.

The Perimysium which is the lubricating fascia that helps muscles and tendons glide smoothly.

The Epimysium the "saran wrap" that envelops all the muscles.

What does the fascial system do?

One thing the facial system does is contributes proprioceptively to the the body working as a kinesthetic GPS for the brain. Think of your brain as the spider and the fascia as the web. When the web feels a change, it passes that vibration to the brain/spider and the appropriate nerve receptors.

The facial webbing allows for the transmission of force between muscles and tendons. This role is quite important in the way we function as humans. These fascial receptors are very responsive to tension and multidirectional movements. Because of the rhythmic nature of plyometrics, and the tension and relaxation pulse of med ball throws, it has been shown that the fascial system is a heavy contributor to force development in those activities. Some layers of fascia work almost a non-Newtonian fluid that responds to tension and pressure and that means the fascial system can adapt well to different demands.

When you are stretching, you are most likely feeling your fascia stretch. To use an example from Mike Boyle; picture a raw chicken breast in a plastic bag. You are asked to stretch the chicken, now what are you going to pull on?

"You have six times more receptors in your fascia than you muscles." TM

For a great video on the fascial system check out Strolling Under The Skin.

What are the signs of healthy Fascia?

Sliding, gliding, hydrated and uninflamed fascia. Pinch your skin and test facial glide.

How can I train the fascial system?

"Healthy loading positively remodels fascial architecture.

Perhaps the most significant clinical finding for trainers is that regular loading (read: exercise) within the healthy limits of the tissue induces a regular spiral lattice pattern through the myofascia, while a lack of regular loading produces a felt-like irregular architecture (Fig. 10.1).°-12 Lack of fascial loading also reduces the molecular 'crimp' in the fascia, which not only provides a healthy first 'bounce' of elasticity to the tissue, but also is the method by which the Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs) read the load on the tissue. 12,13 Reduce the crimp through inactivity and the perception of load will be less accurate (Fig. 10.2). Thus the sedentary person leaving the couch or the hospital bed to return to exercise faces two fascial challenges in addition to his muscle weakness: remodeling the spiral lattice and building the crimp back in.

Both of these require longer time scales than building muscle, as collagen turnover in the less-vascular fascia is far slower than protein turnover in the well-served muscle, so that early in any new training program is a more likely time for injury, when the muscles are outdistancing their supporting fascia.

Training long kinetic chains with variable vectors trains the fascial system more globally." (Anatomy Trains p. 212)

What are the 12 Fascial Lines?