We spend a lot of time studying the fascia of the musculoskeletal fascia – and who could blame us? – but over the next few weeks we’ll be delving into the visceral fascia. In this lovely illustration from Nature, we can see the Dura Mater, or “tough Mother” forming the outermost of the three meningeal…
I’ve touched on the heightened prevalence of ACL injuries in females compared to males in athletic populations – between 2 and 8 times more frequently, depending on which authors you’re reading! Today I’d like to explore this a little further…. A consensus statement came to light in a 2016 article that appeared in the Journal…
Adstrum, S., Hedley, G., Schleip, R., Stecco, C., and Yucesoy, C. A. (2017). Defining the fascial system. Bodyw. Mov. Ther. 21, 173–177. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2016.11.003 Azizi, E., Deslauriers, A. R., Holt, N. C., and Eaton, C. E. (2017). Resistance to radial expansion limits muscle strain and work. Model. Mechanobiol. 16, 1633–1643. doi: 10.1007/s10237-017-0909- 3 Baar, K…
The Source Physio 0:05 Welcome to the Australian Fashionista Collective. James it’s lovely to have you on board. Given that James is battling lockdown conditions and there’s uncertainty as to when to return to the UK, we really appreciate you agreeing to come on board and having a chat with us this morning or this…
This exquisite image comes to us from Clinical Anatomist John Sharkey, and is reproduced with his kind permission. This image represents painstaking work to remove the superficial fascia of an ENTIRE male cadaver. Note the inclusion of the fingers and toes (which must have taken hours in themselves!) Note thatthis is only the superficial fascia!…
Aging is a major influence on fascia, never more obvious (unfortunately!) than in the sagging and wrinkling of skin. The density, thickness and integrity of fascia tends to deteriorate, with a general loss in organisation and structure. The arrangement of collagen fibrils becomes denser and more regular with age, with an associated gradual decrease in the…
Remember we spoke last week about the idea that hormones – namely estrogen and relaxin – may be implicated in the sensitization of fascial nociceptors, making females far more susceptible to myofascial pain than men? Caterina Fede’s work with colleagues from the Anatomy Department of the University of Padua from 2016 can be extrapolated to…
Caterina Fede and her associates hypothesized that hormones – namely estrogen and relaxin, for example – are possibly implicated in the sensitization of fascial nociceptors. These hormones are critical to remodeling of the extracellular matrix by constraining fibrosis and inflammation, both of which exert a major influence on the stiffness of fascia and on sensitization…
I was walking along the beach today and started thinking about how much we take “functional feet” for granted. Let’s face it, the only time you think about your feet is when they’re misbehaving (read “painful”)…. And the plantar fascia (aponeurosis) is so often the cause of that pain. Take a look at the picture…
Acute inflammation is a biological response of the immune system and the very keystone of healing. Helene Langevin (FRS Webinar May 2020) identifies fascia and its extracellular matrix as the “arena” of the inflammatory reaction and so the home for our immune response. The health of our fascia and the efficacy of our lymphatic system…