A common problem among all of our clients is a general feeling of tightness or pain in the body. While we might immediately attribute this discomfort to our muscles, joints, or ligaments, important elements like fascia are often ignored.

At Mantis, we target this special layer of connective tissue that wraps and protects our bodies, enabling your muscles to fully relax and respond to our massage techniques.

What is Fascia?

We often talk about muscles, joints, and nerves when we discuss our pain or discomfort. However, often our pain can be stemming from issues in the fascia surrounding these other structures.

Fascia is a widespread connective tissue made up of mostly collagen and fluids. It encloses our muscles, organs, and vessels like a sheath. It is a wholly connected and integrated system – not unlike a spider’s web or the thin transparent layers around orange segments. This web interacts with every aspect of our physical frame and, when disrupted, can cause a host of problems.

The fascia also stores water and carries an electrical charge. This allows your tissues to stay nourished and enables cellular activity for many of your body’s processes. Again, inflamed, knotted, or brittle fascia will hinder your body from working properly and will eventually cause pain and functional issues.

How Does Myofascial Therapy Work?

Myofascial therapy has one main aim: to release areas of tension or blockage in this vast web of tissue to help restore our bodies to their best shape. Think of how you might feel if you were locked up in a tight, restrictive straitjacket: you can’t move properly, breathe properly, or certainly can’t relax properly. When your fascia is damaged or stressed, this is how your muscles, nerves, joints, and blood vessels react. The goal is to release the areas of restriction in the fascia to restore the gentle and beneficial hug of fascia and all the nutrients it provides.

At Mantis Massage, our massage therapists are trained in using effective and comfortable myofascial release techniques to help get your body back on track. These techniques often involve sustained and slow pressure in specific directions to gently release the bound-up fascia. In general, myofascial release is comfortable, but you may feel some deep pressure or stretching as the fascia releases.

Benefits of Myofascial Release

Fascia is an underrated, yet all-encompassing structure in the body. Spending some time to help improve the health of the fascia is sure to improve your health in more ways that one. Here are the main reasons we love to incorporate myofascial release in our massage sessions:

Relieves Muscular Tension
Releasing tension in the connective tissue allows for increased nourishment and fluids to flow through the fascia. This, in turn, nourishes and moistens the muscles, allowing them to stay pliable, flexible, and toned. Trigger points, knots, and restricted muscles can more easily relax after a myofascial massage.

Increases Blood and Lymph Flow
Myofascial release is the perfect way to get blood and lymph fluids flowing properly through the whole body. Massage therapy is great to stimulate blood flow, but myofascial release works to eliminate the subtle (and not-so-subtle) blocks in the system. Once fluids are flowing properly, toxins are eliminated, inflammation is reduced, tissues are nourished, and pain is relieved.

Enhances Athletic Performance
Athletes’ muscles take quite a beating. Through overuse and injury, muscles and joints become damaged – as does the fascia.  This limits the body’s ability to perform at its best. If you are an athlete or engage in regular physical exercise just for fun (runners, yogis, cyclists), consider adding myofascial release into your training schedule to heal your body and continue in the best shape possible.

Targets Chronic Pain Conditions
The fascia is an integral, yet often forgotten, player in our physical body. Issues in the fascia are often misunderstood as unrelenting conditions that don’t respond to other therapies. Conditions like fibromyalgia, back pain, migraines, and pelvic pain can often have roots in an unhealthy fascial system. If you’ve tried everything for your pain, it may be time to look at myofascial therapy.

Schedule Your Appointment

Ready to get on the table at Mantis Massage? Our myofascial massage specialists are ready to help you dive deep and relieve the tension in your tissues. Contact us today at one of our Austin massage clinics to start on the road to a healthier life, free from pain.