Magically extracted as a whole, the fascialweb would show us all the shapes of thebody, inside and out. It would be just one bignet with muscles squirming in it like swim-ming fish. Organs would hang in it like jelly-fish. Every system, every organ and evenevery cell lives embedded within the sea of aunitary fascial net.This concept is important because we are sostrongly inclined to name individual structuresand think that way clinically: “Oh, you toreyour biceps,” forgetting that “biceps” is ourconception. Our common scientific nomencla-ture gives a false impression, while the NewAge shibboleth is more literally true:
thebody—and the fascial net in particular—isa single connected unity in which themuscles and bones float.
You can tear this net in injury, cut it with asurgeon’s scalpel, feed and hydrate it well orclog it with high-fructose corn syrup. No mat-ter how you treat it, it will eventually lose itselasticity. In your eye’s lens, for instance, thenet stiffens in a very regular way, requiringyou to use reading glasses at about age 50.In your skin, the net frays to cause wrinkles.Key elements like hip cartilage may fail youbefore you die, and need replacement, butwhen you finally breathe your last breath yourfascial web will still be the same single netyou started with.It’s no small wonder that this system, like thenervous and circulatory systems, would de-velop complex signaling and homeostaticmechanisms (Langevin et al. 2006). Thelarger wonder is that we have not really seenor explored the connective-tissue system’s re-sponses until now.
A Definition of Terms
In medicine, the term fascia designates tis-sues with specific topology and histology, asdistinct from tendon, ligament or other speci-fied tissues. In this article, however, we areusing fascia as an overall name for this sys-temic net of connective tissue, because thereis no generalized term (Huijing & Langevin2009). Connective tissue includes the bloodand blood cells, and other elements not partof the structural net we are examining. Per-haps the closest term would be
extra-cellu-lar matrix (ECM)
, which includes everythingin your body that isn’t cellular (see Figure 3).The ECM has three main elements:
Muscle Isolation vs. Fascial Integration
Most fitness professionals have studied muscle function inisolation. Essentially, Western kinesiological anatomy asks:What would the action of the biceps be if it were the onlymuscle on the skeleton? Left to itself, the biceps is a radio-ulnar supinator,an elbow flexorand some kindof weak diago-nal flexor of theshoulder. Whenwe have thatdown, we imag-ine we under-stand the bicepsand what itdoes. That isone way of looking at it.The only thingis, the bicepsnever works inisolation. Isolat-ing muscles tostudy theirfunction is thevery opposite of integration and holism. What is the prac-tical difference? Studying the muscle solo leaves out fourvital fascial factors in daily muscle function:
1. The Effect From and on Neighboring Medial or Lat-eral Muscles.
The biceps has force-transmitting fascialconnections with the coracobrachialis, the brachialis andthe supinator and even across the septa into the triceps.These fascial connections affect the functioning of the bi-ceps and the arm (Huijing 2007).
2. The Effect From and on Muscles That Are Con-nected Proximally and Distally.
The biceps has connec-tions distally with the interosseous membrane and thefascia around the radius, as well as the bicipital aponeuro-sis into the flexors; and proximally with the pectoralisminor and supraspinatus via the short and long head re-spectively (see Figure 1) (Myers 2001, 2009).
3. The Effect Muscle Contraction Has on Local Liga-ments.
Contracting the biceps exerts a stabilizing influ-ence on the ligaments of both the shoulder and the elbow.Our assumption that ligaments are arranged in parallel tothe muscles is an incorrect one. Most ligaments are dy-namically integrated with the muscles in series so thatmuscle contraction helps the ligaments stabilize the jointat all angles (Van der Wal 2009).
4. The Fact That Every Muscle Has to Be Supplied byNerves and Blood Vessels.
These “wires and tubes” ar-rive encased in a fascial sheath. If this sheath is twistedor impinged, or if it becomes too short through bad pos-ture, muscle function is affected (Shacklock 2005)
I l l u s t r a t i o n : G r u n d y , U S e d w i t h p e r m i s s i o n .