Unpacking the anatomy: Basics of Fascia

Fascia is composed of connective tissue, which is the most abundant type of tissue in the body. The fascia is found deep to the skin (e.g the superficial fascia) and weaves through the layers of the body until it wraps around the bones becoming the periosteum. Fascia is in part made of collagen, elastic fibres, and GAG peptides (attracts water).

Many different cells are found in the fascia such as fibroblasts, mast cells, and histiocytes. Which are important for building up connective tissue and for immune response.

In osteopathy there are 4 major roles of the fascia known as the 4 P’s:

Packaging - It creates compartments around other structures that helps direct forces and create fluid movements.
Protection - creates limitations for movement and joints to avoid irreversible damage to tissues, the compartmentalization also works to limit the spread of infection.
Posturing- When the body performs repetitive motions the fascia can recognize those patterns and help execute them more efficiently similar to the concept of muscle memory.
Passageway - The fascia surrounds all tissues in the body and allows nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic cells to reach their intended tissues.

Properties of fascia and their importance in treatment:

Fluidity
Deformation
Elasticity

One of the extraordinary things about fascia is its thixotropic property. This is the fascia’s ability to change between a fluid and gel like state. When enough pressure is sustained over the fascia it has the ability to deform and reshape itself through it changing of states.

In osteopathic treatment, the myofascial layer (muscles and fascia) is always addressed first. We use the properties of the fascia in treatment techniques by applying a constant light pressure to break down and reshape the fascia in a specific way. It helps to liberate the nerves, lymphatics and blood vessels in the area while creating more space for the deeper muscles to move appropriately.