Fascia is a crucial element of your body that is often overlooked, underrated, or simply unknown. We wanted to educate you about the importance to your health, and the role it plays in our body. Working with fascial can completely transform your health and fitness outlook and results.

It is is a prime example of how our emotional and physical wellbeing interlace and affects our health. This is why it’s so important that we take care of ourselves in a holistic manner.

But firstly, what is Fascia and what is its function?

The Fascia is the connective tissue around every ligament, organ, muscle, etc. in your body. It’s like a spider web that stretches around your whole body and connects everything together. Therefore it’s so important to take care of your fascia. It is so often  neglected, yet vital to our health.

There are several reasons why our bodies fascia can become tight and stiff. These include:

1. Overtraining

By overtraining, the muscles are rendered tense and firm, therefore tightening the fascia as its way of protecting the body.

2. Undertraining

Lack of movement in the body can also create a tightened and stiff fascia as a result of the body thinking it is being sheltered from movement. This further creates lack of mobility and physical performance.

3. Injury

The body’s way of protecting an injury is by sheltering it further, by tightening the fascia. The best thing we can do in this situation is to create as much mobility in the injured area as possible and reducing build up to allow this injury to properly heal.

4. Emotional Trauma

The body doesn’t know the difference between emotional and physical trauma. When we go through an emotionally traumatic experience or period of time our body reacts the same as if it were a physical injury in that it tightens in the areas usually related to the chest, shoulders, neck, and hips. Without releasing this built up fascia, the body can experience both physical issues as well as chronic disease and emotional and energy imbalances.

One way we can help our body, mental health and emotional wellbeing is to make sure we are participating in activities that help keep our fascia strong, yet soft and relaxed.

These include:

• Yin Yoga
• Foam rolling
• Deep tissue massage
• Restorative yoga
• Stretching for 10 minutes every day
• Functional Pilates
• Restorative walks
• Tai Chi

Check out our latest Instagram post on stretching! X