3 Lies You've Been Told About Your Body...

1. “Your Body Has Compartments”

While many of us have been taught about the body in a compartmentalized way, both in school and in our professional training, the reality is that the body does not operate in compartments. In fact, your fascia, the connective tissue web that supports and surrounds every cell type (bone, brain, muscle, nerve, organs, blood vessel, skin, etc.) is completely continuous from head to toe.

We have been lead to believe that our body exists in compartments because that is how our care providers address issues with the “parts” of the body and how we have been taught to label them. However, there is no such thing as a knee…

I remember distinctly in my Grade 11 Exercise Science class being asked to create a model of a human knee. Unfortunately multiple structures that were considered part of the “knee”, were also part of the lower leg, the thigh, hip, ankle and so on. It was very difficult to decide which muscles/tendons, ligaments , blood vessels, and nerves belonged specifically to the knee.

Many rehabilitation professionals also assess and treat their clients according to compartments, and this is where treatment can fall short. If you can instead visualize the body as one continuous web of connective tissue sort of like a knitted sweater, then you can imagine that a pull or snag in the sweater (aka myofascial restriction) can create lines of strain and pull along multiple axes of the body to go on to create pain and dysfunction.

This is how Myofascial Release differs from conventional Physio, RMT, Chiro, etc.

Everything is connected

2. “Your Symptoms are Unrelated”

We see a lot of clients who come to us with so-called “unexplained pain” and with diagnoses like Myofascial Pain Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, or Chronic Migraines. They have seen every doctor, specialist and tried every medication and still find their pain continues. Or we have clients who have been struggling with dysfunction like Vertigo, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, IBS, or Infertility that doesn’t improve with medication or other changes to their lifestyle. These are all examples of diagnoses where the structural or fascial component of dysfunction has not been considered (outside of ruling out a cancerous lesion) and the focus has been strictly on the biochemistry.

Now that we know our Fascia is continuous from head to toe, a restriction created in one are of the body can create pain, strain and dysfunction in other areas of the body. So those weird symptoms people tend to brush off as coincidental or situational, may actually be very valuable in figuring out the root of dysfunction.

Here’s an example:

A healthy young woman gives birth via C-Section. As her incision heals it creates a scar and adhesions between all the levels of tissue between the skin and the uterine wall. It heals without complication but after some time she begins to notice pain in her low back, jaw, neck, and even starts to get headaches.

She assumes she slept funny, needs to get a new mattress or replace her pillow.

But then she begins to notice issues with her digestion, she often feels constipated and out of “nowhere” experiences urgency incontinence. She questions if this may be her diet?

She goes to her OB & Family Doctor just in case, they run some tests, do some imaging and tell her everything is completely normal and her incision has healed beautifully. They recommend painkillers and suggest adopting more healthy eating patterns.

So she listens to the professionals and eventually learns to live with it.

Sound Familiar???

No one has stopped to consider the sizeable Fascial Restriction that exists in her low abdomen post C-Section, creating constant tethering/pull of the front of body downwards to promote a slumped posture and weak core. Both of which are an excellent explanation for creation of pain/strain in the low back, head and neck. That same Fascial Restriction has created crushing pressure on the colon and pull through the bladder causing it to not be able to empty fully. The result; constipation and urinary urgency.

IT’S ALL RELATED! Every trauma, fall, car accident, dental procedure, minor surgery, fracture, and emotional breakdown create fascial restrictions in the body that over time create all kinds of dysfunction.

It’s all related

3. “Your Body Can Not Heal or Reverse Dysfunction Independently”

The good news? There is hope!

Many people who are labeled with chronic diagnoses such as “myofascial pain syndrome”, “arthritis”, or “IBS” for example, believe they have been given a life sentence. This is just how their body is, and they will have to deal with it until they die. People absorb it as part of their identity and shut down pathyways to healing because “that wouldn’t work, I have arthritis…”

When what they actually have is fascial restriction creating pain and dysfunction. And THAT can be resolved and reversed through sustained-pressure Myofascial Release.

Read that again: Your body can heal itself.

Let’s use Osteoarthritis of the knee as an example. “Arthritis” is considered inflammation and wear/tear of the articulating surface of the Tibio-femoral joint. How does this come about? The joint is designed to have space and cushioning between the articular surfaces, so why then would it start to narrow and wear away?

The answer most people are given is age. And yes living in gravity as a bi-pedal creature will create some wear/tear with age. But not enough to require a joint replacement surgery. So why then are individuals in their 40s and 50s who are not high-performance athletes getting this surgery?

Once again, the reason behind this dysfunctional joint ‘rubbing’ is Myofascial Restriction. It could be up the chain at the hip, or down the chain at the foot or completely on the opposite side of the body, but the restrictions create strain that alters our biomechanics and ultimately alters the normal/healthy articulation of the knee joint creating inflammation and wear/tear of the articulating surface.

Most people consider this to be “irreversible damage”. Myofascial Release therapists know it is not. When you remove the restriction and restore normal biomechanical function, you get less joint friction, less inflammation and in that kind of environment, healing can begin to occur. And at the very least pain will be dramatically reduced.

Your body can heal on it’s own

What I have discussed here is not meant to be taken as medical advice, but rather to encourage the reader to consider a different way to think about their body and what it is capable of. Chronic Pain does NOT have to stay chronic.

Join our FREE Masterclass to learn more about how your body actually works!