Skip to main content

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?




DFL – Deep Front Line 


SL – Spiral Line


LL – Lateral Line


 
SFL – Superficial Front Line


SBL -Superficial Back Line



SFAL – Superficial Front Arm Line
DBAL – Deep Back Arm Line
DFAL – Deep Front Arm Line
SBAL – Superficial Back Arm Line



BFL – Back Functional Line
FFL – Front Functional Line
IFL – Ipsilateral Functional Line


Resources:





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fat loss thoughts going into summer...

I have been getting a lot of questions about fat loss leading into summer from my clients. I first want to mention that this is FAT loss not WEIGHT loss. If we want to create a lean body, we need to keep our lean muscle mass. I never want to have any client say weight loss due to the effects of the diet and fat free cultures that came before us. Crash diets and starving yourself to be "thin" or "skinny" is not a great way to set yourself up for a strong and hearty life. Our scale weight is only a representation of our caloric intake, our bodyfat percentage is a the true representation of a strong and healthy body. Here are a couple of the main points I have been making sure clients are prioritizing leading into a fat loss phase. Prioritize protein! Proteins are the nutrient that helps us with recovery. It is used to repair tissues and also is more satiating. When we consume an adequate amount per day we are providing the body building blocks to a lean body. I recom...

The Warmup is the Workout

You warmup is your workout. When done right it can be uncomfortable, get you fired up for your session, and should directly relate to what you are about to do.  A great warmup directly relates to your workout. If your warmup is not preparing you for the movements that you will be doing the rest of the session, then it is time to change things up. It does not have to be complicated either. Take the activity you are doing that day, take squats for example, and do activities that mimic that movement. For squats things like toe touch squats, overhead squats, box jumps, and light weight squats can be great choices for preparing you for your squat session.  A great warmup can be a tone setter for your workout. Bringing the right focus and execution to a warmup can bleed over to the rest of your session. None of those muscles are going to stretch themselves. None of those joints are going to mobilize themselves. None of those dynamic movements matter if you are not being DYNAMIC whil...

Part-Part-Whole vs. Whole-Part-Whole Coaching

When it comes to learning/coaching a new movement pattern, or in the case of team sports a skills development activity, in the gym or on the field there is more than one way to get there. Two useful strageties for the coaching process are Part-Part-Whole (PPW) and Whole-Part-Whole (WPW). Now while the two methods both use the DDCDD ( DESCRIBE it, DEMONSTRATE it, and CUE it; athletes will DO it; and both will DEBRIEF it)  Coaching Loop found in Language of Coaching  (https://humankinetics.me/2021/02/10/what-is-the-coaching-communication-loop-and-how-can-you-use-it/).  PPW coaching takes the movement you are looking to correct and breaks it up into its base parts before returning to the whole. For this discussion we will use the example of a Lateral Med Ball Throw. The big benefit of this method is that you allow the athlete to find the feelings they need to have without the distraction of the Med Ball. If the athlete has issues with more than one component of the movement ...