Everyone experiences pain; it may be neck pain or a back ache. This pain often occurs due to joint stiffness or a term you have not heard of. It is Fascia. A Fascia is a network of tissues that are spread throughout the body. One may feel that it is less important, but Fascia is responsible for every movement you make.

It would be absolutely correct to say that the Fascial system is as important as any other system in our body. Though Fascia is a less known term and can confuse many. So here is a typical blog that will help you know what fascia is and why it is important to keep it healthy.

Knowing Fascia

Fascia is a connective tissue that surrounds muscles. It runs throughout the body and helps the body to function in a way that is correct and effective. In simple terms, Fascia is like a web, and you can feel the effects everywhere when something happens to one part of the web.

It looks like a sheet of tissues made of multiple layers of liquid and designed to move with every stretch you make in your body. When it tightens u, it makes your muscles sore and causes discomfort in movement.

So, do not limit your mobility and work on keeping your Fascia healthy and hydrated. Learn in-depth what Fascia contains and how you and keep it alive.

Fascia Elements And Yoga

The Elements of fascia can be kept healthy by yoga poses and asanas that cause the stretch to every part of your body. Practicing yoga keeps Fascia hydrated, active, and resilient.

Water

Fascia is mostly made up of water. It carries water and other chemicals to every tissue of the body. When you do yoga, every stretch or contract in a muscle squeezes water from Fascia. With every movement or position you take in yoga, the water changes position and carries all kinds of elements like neuropeptides, hormones, a new position, and histamines.

When you do, regular yoga facilitates the renewal of postures because their postures move from the body systematically through full ranges of motion. And when you exit any stretch, Fascia rehydrates the boost.

Hyaluronan

Hyaluronan is a sponge-like structure that soaks up water. When Hyaluronan is well-hydrated, it has a gel-like texture similar to egg whites. The presence of Hyaluronan makes things smooth, which is why we do not have friction in our joints. But as soon as we are less hydrated, it becomes sticky.

The stickiness of Hyaluronan also comes through aging, fascia becomes less lubricated, and joints start rubbing onto each other. This situation leads to arthritis, where joints are under too much friction, making it harder for the tissue to stick together. At this time, when water comes rushing in, it leads to swelling.

Glycosaminoglycans

Glycosaminoglycans are responsible for retaining moisture. It unfurls when they are near water and curl up when there is no activity. Yoga helps the body to move the parts that are inactive usually and thus helps in uncurling and soaking moisture.

Glycosaminoglycans are like ferns that draw water molecules along the edges, help absorb the water, and retain them for a healthy Fascia.

Collagen

Collagen is the white sinewy stuff that is stronger than steel. Their fibers lie alongside each other; when there is a stretch, the bond melts between the fiber, and these fibers slide on each other. That bond becomes stronger than ever.

Yoga poses involve stretching that helps in the strengthening of collagen fibers. It helps in creating a bond that is much stronger and healthier.

How Yoga Helps Fascia

Fascia is like felty, unorganized fibers that run throughout the body. But when our body moves or indulges in yoga, it helps organize fascia. Learn how it works:

Elasticity

Fascia is meant to be elastic; its very nature is always elastic. But sometimes, due to immobility, inactivity, or aging, fascia begins to lose its elasticity. Your body will lose the youthful bounce, and you will feel achy, sore, and inability to perform optimal yoga and other physical activities.

Fascia has a lot of tendons, like spring, that can be stretched by cyclic movements and bouncing motions to maintain the elasticity of Fascia. Doing exercises and training for fascia helps us to feel healthier and more mobile and also helps us to bring more balance, proprioception, and reflex.

Plasticity

When you stretch a plastic bag, it does not come to its original shape. The same happens with fascia; if you stretch, it goes from elasticity to plasticity. The problem is when you stretch yourself too much, and too quickly, it affects your tendon, causing them to strain and stretch.

Plasticity of fascia happens when you hold a sustained stretch such as an extended triangle pose; it melts the connection between the fascial fibers and allows them to slide on each other, creating a new length.

Remodeling

Fascia has the tendency to remodel; that is, it regenerates itself. When someone gets injured, it breaks Fascia by straining a tendon. This fibroblast exaggerates the creation of new Fascia to protect the body by creating a tissue.

When you are into strong yoga, Fascia remodels itself. Depending on age, health, diet, exercise, and habits, it tears and repairs in a day or two. Remodeling is one of the best works our body is interested in. It helps build healthier patterns in Fascia and facilitates correcting postures.

Six Problems you can fix with Fascia

One would be glad to know that most of our pains and body issues can be easily sorted by aligning the fascia right. Below are the day-to-day problems we all face, and they can be quickly resolved with foam rolling. Doing it effectively will help to loosen the damaged areas, relax and smooth them. Read the amazing strategies and take your Fascia care to another level.

Headaches

Your headaches are mainly due to your desk jobs. The stabbing pain at your temples is the result of cranky neck Fascia. Your position at work doesn’t allow your spine to align with your shoulders, neck and head. Thus the muscles at the base of the head tighten while the shoulders muscles grow weak. This combo at the sensitive area leads to tension headaches.

How To Fix

Strengthen your back muscles and open your chest with seated rows. Do three sets of twelve at least thrice a week.

Lack Of Athleticism

With each passing day in your lives, you may feel you are aging and lacking Athleticism. But the thing is, you have not trained your Fascia. Fascia tissues hold more kinetic energy than any other tissue. Thus, by increasing density, plyometrics training makes your Fascia more durable and resilient.

How To Fix

Strengthen your Fascia by spending up to 5 minutes doing agility ladder drills. Don’t have a ladder? Do 3 sets of 10 to 20 jump squats. It will help you to get the Athleticism you lack in your body.

Chronic Foot Pain

Research says that around two million people experience heel pain or Planter fasciitis due to inflamed fascia. It is common among runners and happens due to calf tightness or flat feet.

How To Fix

Take a Lacrosse ball and roll your feet over it for a minute every day. You can also foam roll your calves for up to five minutes each. It is one of the easiest ways to keep your Fascia intact and give you relief from chronic pain.

Back Pain

If you are in a desk job, you may have trouble in your psoas. Psoas is a muscle in your hip flexors that lets you lift your knee and is effective for core strength. Sitting continuously restrict the fascia where the middle and lower spine meet; it is like a nightmare zone, pretty painful and stretchy.

How To Fix

Releasing Psoas is challenging because it lies deep in the pelvic region. You need to stretch your hip flexors, and foam roll your hamstrings at least twice a week.

Trouble moving after injury

When you undergo a serious injury or surgery, your body tends to form collagen-based scar tissue that can replace a healthy fascia. The problem arises when you know that normal tissues form parallel, which helps in stretching, while the scar tissues are haphazard, limiting your muscles’ ability to strengthen and contract.

How To Fix

Once you are recovered from an injury, gently massage by gliding the skin forward and backward, then side to side, for a few minutes. It helps in realigning the fascial fibers.

Joint Stiffness

After a certain age, you may experience joint stiffness and tightness in muscles. All this leads to long-term issues in your body; for example, it reduces the ability of your body to touch your toes, changing your gait.

How To Fix

You can use a firm roll or stretch any tense area after each workout. It is a perfect time to stretch your muscles and respond great when they are warm. Do 30 seconds of stretching the standing calf daily.

How to Keep Fascia Flexible

Treating fascia takes time, but it gives you instant relief once you get through it. You can not make your Fascia 100% healthy quickly; it needs a good amount of time and continuous practice to make it healthy.

1. Indulge Into Streching

Stretching helps in elongating muscles, which helps to release tension in your muscles. To keep your Fascia intact, it is recommended to hold a stretch for thirty seconds to one minute, but do not force yourself into pain.

You can always try your hands-on stretches during work or at your desk; arm stretches, 5-minute daily stretch routine, or four-leg stretches.

2. Try A Mobility Program

Mobility programs are fitness programs that help a person to learn the basic ability to move well. The program is for all, irrespective of the lack of agility, flexibility, or strength. Mobility works on activating and addressing the body’s Fascia.

As things like foam rolling, myofascial work, and manual therapies work on breaking down the Fascia and helping in the more smooth working of a person same is with the mobility program. The module includes online sessions and schedules that are specifically designed to improve mobility.

3. Give A Chance To Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is an effective way to check out where your Fascia is tight and holding tension. If you are experiencing soreness or pain at any particular point, just give it a try to foam rolling and get started. Once you start to roll the foam at every point of your body, you will easily figure out the points that need your attention.

Once you hit the trigger point, work on that spot for 30-60 seconds with the foam roller. It will ease your muscles by releasing the tension; also it will restore the Fascia to its optimal health.

4. Relishing The Sauna Bath

How cool and relaxing it sounds when you say enjoying a Sauna Bath? It is a soothing experience one can ever have. If you are regular to a gym, you must know the importance of a Sauna Bath. Sauna helps reduce soreness and muscle pain from excessive workouts and stretching.

Sauna Bath effectively treats Fascia pain and helps it repair soon. A research study also says that thirty minutes of sitting in a sauna increases women’s level of human growth hormone that helps in breaking down fat and building muscles.

5. Hands-On Cold Therapy

Likewise, Sauna bath, Ice therapy also works wonders in treating fascia. Cold therapy or cryotherapy after working out is extremely effective in treating soreness. You can apply an ice pack wrapped in a piece of fabric to reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling.

It is always advisable not to use ice directly on the skin as it can cause rupture and can damage your nerves and tissues.

6. Time For Cardio

Doing cardio is filled with an abundance of benefits. Cardio does not only includes working on a treadmill and brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, or any activity that leads to blood pumping.

Cardio helps in keeping the immune system perfect, promotes better sleep, reduces chronic pain, and also improves mood. It is one the best you can do for your body. The idea is to move your body to let the blood pumping and the heart thrill.

7. Yoga For Lifetime

If Cardio is boring for you, or you have tired of the same workout pattern, then it is time to try your hands-on Yoga. Yoga is an ocean of benefits and serves you with everything your body needs. It helps in improving flexibility and bringing balance and strength.

Apart from the bodily benefits, it also helps in delivering mental benefits like reducing stress and anxiety levels. So if you are looking for physical and mental benefits then give it a try to yoga. Yoga has magic that few can feel.

8. Drink And Drink

Keeping yourself hydrated is one of the easiest ways to keep your Fascia healthy. One must drink enough water because of its amazing properties. It helps in flushing out the toxins from your body and keeps your fascia qualities intact.

If you drink less water, you will automatically feel less energized and experience soreness in your body. A little stretch in your body will cause you an injury, and also, you will take a lot of time to heal from an injury. Thus drink ample amounts of water and stay happy and healthy.

9. Ask For Help

If all the above things are not working for you, and you are experiencing continuous pain and soreness, you must seek professional help. Because fascia is interconnected, so it happens that we are not able to find a proper place where the soreness is present. Thus at this time, professional help can be a rescuer.

Stretching For Relieving Fascia Pain

Here are a few strategies that help relieve Fascia pain and unknot the painful knots.

1.   Heel Sit

• Come to the kneeling position with your knees bent, and your shins parallel to the floor.
• Curl your toes and sit back on your heels.
• Align with the ankle bone and maintain a straight back
• Now bend forward or backward to make the stretch more intense.
• Hold the position for 30-60 seconds. You can also hold for up to 3 minutes.
• Repeat it 2-3 times.

2.   Downward-facing Dog

• Come in a tabletop position.
• Spread your fingers as wide as possible.
• Now time to lift your hips and bend your knees and elbows slightly.
• Tuck your chin towards the chest.
• Hold the pose for one minute.
• Repeat it 4-5 times and see the blood flowing over your face.

3.   Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

• Put your body weight on your left foot.
• Now to bring balance, press your toe and focus on a point.
• Bend your right knee and heel towards your glute.
• Grasp your ankle with your right hand.
• Slightly bend your left knee as you engage your core and glute muscles.
• Time to draw your knee down.
• Place the opposite hand on your hip and reach back to the ankle.
• Hold the position for one minute.
• Repeat the pose for the opposite side.

4.   Standing Figure Four Stretch

• Put your body weight on your left foot.
• Now to bring balance, press your toe and focus on a point.
• Bend your right knee and heel towards your glute.
• Keep your hips square to face forwards, elongate your spine, and lift your chest.
• Bend your knees to lower your hips and come in a squat position.
• Hold for a minute.
• Repeat the pose for the opposite side.

5.   Extended Side Angle Pose

• Stand with your feet apart.
• Touch your right toe with your right hand in such a way that the left-hand goes up and stretches.
• Now hold the pose for a few minutes and feel the stretch at the sides of your body.
• Now repeat it for another side.
• You can repeat and hold the pose for 3-4 minutes.

The idea to follow these stretches is to reach the point of sensation and avoid straining or forcing yourself into any position. These stretches will help you relax, feel better, and move more easily.

Why It is Important to Keep Fascia Healthy

• An improved Fascia brings symmetry and alignment to your body.
• It helps in improving blood flow, which means faster exercise recovery.
• It helps in reducing the appearance of stretch marks and cellulitis.
• It also eases the pain day by day.
• It helps improve the performance of any sports activity as you become more flexible.
• It also reduces the risk of injury.

Reasons For Unhealthy Fascia

• A healthy fascia is all about a healthy lifestyle.
• Poor quality of sleep leads to unhealthy fascia.
• Lack of hydration makes fascia lose its strength and elasticity.
• Wrong posture or continuous sitting at a particular place.
• Frequently damaging muscles.
• A stressful life also affects the quality of fascia.

The Bottom Line

Yoga is one of the best ways to keep your Fascia healthy and reshape it for better flexibility and stability. Practice yoga regularly, and you will feel the changes physically and mentally.  You will feel more aligned and connected to yourself; also, things will become easy for you. Like day-to-day moving, exercising, engaging in various activities, and many more.

Now that you know what Fascia is, you can easily figure out what type of pain your body is experiencing. When it comes to treating Fascia, you may require more than one therapy. If home remedies, exercises, and stretches do not work, seek professional help.

An expert can advise you to go for two therapies a combination of heat and anti-inflammatory diet, yoga therapy, and guided imagery, which helps patients relax by visualizing themselves as pain-free.

If, after these therapies also, you are experiencing chronic pain, it is a sign of a serious health condition. If the pain is hovering over your lifestyle and causing discomfort while sleeping, it is time to consult a specialist and get things sorted.