The myriad benefits of myofascial release are still unfolding today.

In a world of science-based health care professions, it is difficult to make a case for empirical studies and gain recognition through clinical experience. Yet the development of physical therapy comes largely from the empirical, clinical world. The effects of touch were noted in the treatment of ailments and pain as far back as the beginning of recorded history. Only in the last 300 years or so has science taken a more dominant role in establishing the facts of life and, thus, basing the validity of an experience on its findings.

What I experienced while treating physical ailments, disorders, and pain was largely unexplained in the scientific literature. Medical science still operates largely from the standpoint that the atom is the smallest particle of matter. Through recent scientific developments based on quantum physics, we are finally able to gain some understanding of a cell’s ability to adapt, change, and transform in response to its internal and external environment. Through the application of myofascial-release techniques, it has become evident that this body of tissue is highly adaptable, is able to contain information and maintain integrity in the system, and is involved in our defense mechanisms against internal and external attacks.

The understanding that connective tissue—in this case, fascial tissue—has the ability to contain, support, connect, and separate all other anatomical structures is suggestive of the importance of this vast body of tissue.

A Continuous Web

The fascia is a continuous web from head to toe and from the very core to the periphery. If any force, disease process, or insult (for example, a surgical procedure) interrupts the congruency of this vast tissue network, the effects can be noticed anywhere in the body and impair the function of the affected structure. This explains, for instance, how chronic headaches can be caused as a result of a hysterectomy. A tightening anywhere in the system can cause the dura and the cranial membranes to constrict, diminishing the flow of cerebral spinal fluid. Look at it this way: Pull on a piece of woven fabric, and look at the crease patterns that occur and extend far from the original site of the “pull.” As the fascial tissues surround many structures—such as nerves, circulatory vessels, tendons, and visceral ducts—in a similar way, one can imagine how those structures might get compromised.

The importance of the myofascial-release techniques designed to release the restriction and restore flexibility in this system is, therefore, imperative. The techniques are gentle and consist of applying sustained pressure to restricted myofascial tissues. Direct and indirect techniques restore the flexibility and motion in this tissue. In the direct technique, the pressure is applied away from the restriction through stretching, or elongating, the restricted tissue. In the indirect technique, pressure is applied with or into the direction of the restriction, and the tissues respond by moving away from or out of the restriction. The therapist then follows this movement in a 3-D fashion to allow the tissue to respond from its own inherent intelligent, “self-correcting mechanism.”

I prefer using the indirect technique because I have found that it is a safer application and it does not override self-protective or armoring mechanisms. This especially applies to the more delicate affected structures, such as visceral and circulatory structures. In the case of dense fibrotic restrictions, such as scar tissue resulting from trauma or surgical procedures, I sometimes choose to apply the direct techniques.

The SER Treatment

Another important clinical finding is that as the release occurs, the patient experiences a rush of heat, an emotional charge, altered breathing patterns, and the arising of at times vivid memories of a past trauma or incident. John E. Upledger, DO, and John F. Barnes, PT, have described this phenomenon and developed a treatment procedure to allow tissues to release this contained energy. The treatment, called Somato Emotional Release (SER), is a spontaneous by-product of the myofascial-release techniques. In my clinical experience, I have found this treatment to be very effective in the overall healing process.

When the healing process is delayed or stalled, the original insult to the body has somehow stayed behind in the tissues. The body invariably slows down as it comes in contact with the more dense energy levels of matter. Depending on the amount of energy that enters the system and the circumstances that surround it, the body will try to do its best to protect itself from serious harm. Through this complex mechanism, the body will have to make split-second decisions regarding where the majority of its available energy will go. Energy will always go to the most life-threatening part of the body, and it will do whatever it takes within the often very short time available to help the body survive physically. As a result, the energy in the tissues is contained or walled off to cause the least harm to the system as a whole.

The SER technique Upledger developed is designed to unwind and release these trapped energy pockets. It has been an amazing experience to see an affected area resolve the chronic patterns of pain and dysfunction as a result of this treatment technique.

Barnes believes that, “The body remembers everything that ever happened to it.” Even though we have inherent self-corrective mechanisms, there are unresolved dynamics, as described earlier. Helping the already present intelligent mechanism find safe, efficient, and respectful treatments to release past traumas has produced unexpected results. Limiting the understanding of this process to the level of scientifically proven methods is, in my opinion, not serving the potential of the full human capacity to help restore optimal function.

Research Findings

Often, through scientific research, empirically discovered phenomena are confirmed much later as scientific methods become more highly developed and more specifically designed to measure what happens deep in the cellular structures, and how they communicate with each other and with their environment.

The latest brain research shows that the corrective mechanisms in the brain can now be detected through integrative neurons, which connect the frontal cognitive cortex with the limbic (or feeling) and the reptilian (or survival, instinctual) brain. Disruption of these neuron connectors in the brain through direct or indirect trauma can cause dissociation and contribute to a dysfunction. This explains why certain response patterns will persist and are difficult to influence. A particular belief system from a physical trauma will often stay with a person and influence his or her perceived reality. Or a particular smell might trigger an emotional response based on a past trauma.

The good news is that these neurons can be restored by therapeutic intervention that accesses any or all levels. This explains the integral connection between the somatic (emotional) and psychological (mental) aspects of a healing process.

New Possibilities

New technology makes it possible to measure and witness cellular processes. The micromyofascial system is made from a skeleton of tubules filled with fluid, and it interconnects with all other structures from head to toe and from the core to the periphery. Could this explain or suggest that this powerful system might carry and transmit information to and from all these systems? Is the brain just a small part of a much more intricate, extensive, and highly sensitized nervous system that can receive and send information instantly from the core of our beings to our environments and back?

It is interesting to think about the implications of these findings and to possibly be close to a scientific explanation for healing through myofascial-release and SER techniques. My contribution to scientific research is to keep bringing these questions to the table and to inspire researchers to look deeper and further.

Marion Gilbert, RPT, received her physical therapy degree in Holland in 1978 and became certified in Califonia in 1984. For the past 18 years,  she has owned and worked in a private practice. She can be reached at springhillpt@sbcglobal.et.

Recommended Reading

Barnes, JF. Myofascial Release, the Search for Excellence. Paoli, Pa: Rehabilitation Services Inc; 1990.

Upledger JE. Your Inner Physician and You: CranioSacral Therapy and SomatoEmotional Release. Berkeley, Calif: North Atlantic Books; 1997.

Upledger JE, Vredevoogd J. Craniosacral Therapy. Vista, Calif: Eastland Press; 1983.