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Fascial News

December 8, 2010 by

I saw an article by John Barnes where he talks about how fascia is far more complex and important than previously thought. Here’s the link and some excerpts:

The Myofascial Release Perspective

The following quotes are from Carol Davis, D.P.T., Ed.D., M.S., F.A.P.T.A., editor of a book titled, Complementary Therapies in Rehabilitation: Evidence for Efficacy in Therapy, Prevention, and Wellness, (3rd Edition) 1 (www.slackbooks.com/ctr). Davis has been researching the latest articles about fascia, as well as some previously published information, for an update of her chapter on myofascial release for a well-known neurological textbook to which she has contributed.

* Fascia turns out to be far more complex and far more involved in the moment to moment function of all our cells, and is intricately involved with the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system tissue. It is no longer useful to view the body or the fascial system as a mechanical system alone. Nonlinear system dynamics are at work as we now understand the involvement of fascia with the neuroendrocrine system, the brain and the neurological plexus in the lining of organs like the stomach and gut.

Fascia must be viewed by practitioners and patients not as a static, but as enervated, alive, functional, fluid and self-regulatory. Involving the patient or client in the process of manipulation of fascia and its embedded tissue enhances the response of the tissue and the patient. (Schleip R. Fascial plasticity–a new neurobiological explanation. J. Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2003;7(2): 104-116.)

Filed Under: Structural Integration Tagged With:

Mycelium Running

November 16, 2010 by

A client was just telling me how the network of a mushroom’s roots reminds her of fascia.  I’d have to say that I agree.  Especially in how both have been misunderstood, ignored and only recently are attitudes changing so that we are learning about the value of each.  Read more at: Mycelium Running

Filed Under: Structural Integration Tagged With:

The New Science of Reverse Aging

November 8, 2010 by
Scientists have pinpointed the exact part of our DNA that links stress to aging. Danielle Friedman on how your doctor will soon test you for it—and 10 ways to turn back the clock now.

For Thea Singer, stress isn’t an abstract concept. Three years ago, shortly before the manuscript for her book was due to her publisher, her elderly mother’s health deteriorated. Suffering from severe emphysema, she clung to life through a ventilator, as Singer coordinated her care. Around the same time, Singer’s daughter entered her pre-teens, and their usually serene relationship became challenging. “It was an incredibly, incredibly stressful time,” she says.

Yet fortuitously for the Boston-based science writer, the book she was working round-the-clock to report and write aimed to mitigate these very types of stressors—along with larger issues Americans grapple with, from financial woes to terrorist threats. Specifically, Singer was exploring cutting-edge research into how stress ages us.

This fall, the product of her work hit shelves. In Stress Less: The New Science That Shows Women How to Rejuvenate the Body and the Mind, Singer has compiled perhaps the most comprehensive look at the impact of stress on women and men’s bodies, down to our DNA. Her research reveals in unsettling detail how the more we let stress “get to us,” the shorter we may live. “Stress is basically a biological clock,” Singer told The Daily Beast.

Read more at: The New Science of Reverse Aging

by Danielle Friedman Info

Danielle Friedman


Danielle Friedman is a homepage editor and reporter for The Daily Beast. Previously, she spent five years working as a nonfiction book editor for Hudson Street Press and Plume, two imprints of Penguin Group. She’s a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Life is like a River

October 25, 2010 by

A number of years ago, a friend told me that under natural conditions, a river can cleanse itself in 10 miles.  What that means is that if some leaves, or an animal falls into the river, 10 miles later, all traces are gone.

Now, imagine what it would be like if someone built a paper mill on that river.  It would take more than 10 miles for it be cleansed because paper mills aren’t natural.  And then imagine what it would be like with a paper mill every mile or so.  The river would probably probably become totally fouled and we’d need to add a lot of filters in order to move it towards its natural state.

Well, living life the way we do is a lot like having many paper mills on your river.  It’s just that our form of pollution is the stresses we face in life.  Everything from hurtling along a concrete corridor at 70 miles per hour with other drivers who may or may not be paying attention to what they’re doing.  Having your boss question you about why you haven’t finished your project on time.  Arguments with relatives, financial concerns or worries about your kids involvement with texting and Facebook.  All of these modern life stressors are creators of pollution on our rivers of life and are not what I’d call natural.

Unfortunately, most people I know can’t really change the number of polluters on their river.  They may be married to their biggest polluters, whether it’s their spouse, job, kids or lifestyle and that’s not going to change.  So the solution to dealing with these polluters is a lot like our river.  We need to add more filters.

Filters can be anything that works for you.  Taking the phone off the hook, going for a walk or bike ride in nature, forgoing the nightly news, taking a hot bath or getting a massage.  It can even be pounding pillows or screaming under a railroad bridge.  Whatever you need to do to relieve the stress.

When looked at this way, you can see that when the number of polluters on your river grows, as your stress intensifies, you’ll be better able to handle it if you add more filters.  And when your filters match your polluters, you’ll have a much cleaner river.

Filed Under: Massage Tagged With: ,

A single massage can boost the immune system

October 15, 2010 by

Devotees of massage therapy know it’s relaxing and feels good. But massage may also be an effective tool for maintaining good health. Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center reported this week that a single massage produced measurable changes in the immune system and endocrine system of healthy adults.

The researchers, led by Dr. Mark Rapaport, studied 29 healthy adults who received a 45-minute Swedish massage and 24 healthy adults who had a 45-minute session of light touch massage, a much milder exercise that served as a comparison to the more vigorous Swedish massage. Blood samples were taken before the massage began and at regular intervals up to one hour after the massage was completed.


Read more at http://tinyurl.com/366zf8m

Filed Under: Massage Tagged With: