Are you someone who is looking for help with chronic pain, to improve your recovery after exercise, or to improve your flexibility? If yes, then Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST) is for you! 

With its current popularity, I'm sure you've heard of stretch therapy, but what does 'fascial' mean? What is the 'fascia' in Fascial Stretch Therapy? 

In this blog post, we will explore fascia and how it functions in the body and impacts movement. Then, we will proceed with a brief history of Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST), the benefits of FST, who it can help, and what to expect from a session. 

What is Fascia?

Fascia is a "spider web-like" elastic connective tissue that connects and surrounds muscles, joints, nerve fibers, organs, blood vessels, and bone. It is part of a system-wide network that gives form and function to every part of your body. It's also a continuous layer of flexible tissue that can respond to tension.

What Role Does Fascia Play in Our Body?

• Fascia holds the organs together and suspends them within the body. 

• Provides joint stability: the fascia fixes ligaments/tendons to the bone structure.

• Adapts to constraints: the more it is under tension, the more it stiffens. 

• Allows movement: present between each muscle, they form sliding planes and enable the muscles to move/slide in relation to each other.

• Transmits tensions: Since it’s a continuous layer of flexible tissue, if part of this chain is impaired, we may find dysfunctions distant from the original restriction site. 

• It also plays a role in pain and body perception: It has many sensory nerves and receptors that relay information about the body's movement to the nervous system. 

Healthy Versus Restricted Fascia

When your fascia is healthy, it’s slippery and smooth, almost fluid. Healthy fascia facilitates the body systems to move and work smoothly together, but more globally, the fascia moves with you as you move your body. 

But if the fascia loses some extensibility, the fascial layers can tighten around your muscles and other tissues. This loss in extensibility can lead to pain and limited mobility. 

Reasons your fascia may become more stiff include:

• A lifestyle of limited physical activity and too little movement day after day. 

• Repetitive movement that overworks one part of the body.

• Trauma such as surgery or injury. 

Fascia may become stiff due to a build-up of collagen fibers in certain areas, making movement more difficult and possibly painful. Due to fascia's "continuous" nature, a restriction in one area may result in another restriction or tightness elsewhere.  

How to Keep Fascia Healthy

So now that you know about fascia, how do you keep it healthy?

Maintaining a healthy fascia allows you to:

• move more easily

• have a better range of motion

• and potentially experience less pain.

If you want to prevent problems with your fascia, there are a few things you can do. 

Move more: Besides exercise, ensure you're getting up and moving throughout your day, especially if you have a sedentary job. 

Stretch regularly: Stretching and maintaining flexibility has benefits not only for your health and function but also for your fascia; this is a way Fascial Stretch Therapy can help keep your fascia healthy. 

Check your posture: Do you have rounded shoulders while you sit all day or have a "text neck" from staring at your phone? Be more mindful of your posture throughout the day.  

Now that we have discussed fascia, we can move on to Fascial Stretch Therapy and how this technique can help a broad range of people with pain, flexibility, and much more. 

We'll briefly examine the history of Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST), the benefits of FST, who can benefit from FST, what a session is like, and how to find a practitioner. 

A Brief History of Fascial Stretch Therapy

The journey of creating Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST) began in the summer of 1995 with Ann Frederick, who treated athletes' flexibility and mobility concerns. She developed FST by taking a holistic view of the body and targeting fascial lines versus individual muscles. She used a combination of traction, oscillation, and circumduction in her system to achieve results. Later, she partnered with her husband, Chris Frederick, a physical therapist. They further developed the system to help a broader range of individuals wanting to reduce pain or improve their flexibility. They teach the Fascial Stretch Therapy technique at their Stretch to Win Institute in Chandler, Arizona. 

What Are Some Benefits of Fascial Stretch Therapy?

• Pain reduction: Stiff or restricted fascia can contribute to musculoskeletal pain and discomfort due to a build-up of collagen fibers in certain areas, making movement more difficult or painful. 

• Improved flexibility: Fascia, which can become tight and restrictive due to injury, overuse, or a sedentary lifestyle, can decrease movement. By targeting the fascia and the joint capsule, individuals may experience an increased range of motion and improved flexibility.

• Injury prevention: Overuse injuries occur when repetitive movements or excessive strain on tissues lead to injury. Tight fascia can exacerbate overuse injuries by limiting movement and affecting tissue recovery. Fascial stretch therapy helps prevent overuse injuries by promoting tissue elasticity, decreasing restrictions in the fascia, and improving circulation to facilitate tissue repair and recovery.

• Improved recovery time from workouts or training: Fascial Stretch Therapy facilitates muscle recovery by promoting circulation, reducing inflammation, and decreasing muscle tension. 

• Improved joint health: Fascial Stretch Therapy uses traction and oscillation to target the joint capsule, increasing the space and mobility of the joint and reducing stiffness.  

• Increased relaxation and decreased stress: Like many forms of bodywork, Fascial Stretch Therapy can facilitate relaxation and reduce stress through the pain-free stretch technique. 

Who Can Benefit From Fascial Stretch Therapy?

While FST started out for athletes, fascial stretch therapy can benefit numerous populations and types of individuals. 

FST may help you if you are:

• Sedentary or sitting too much

• Exercise or train regularly

• Have chronic pain

• Have arthritis 

• Have poor posture

• Rehabbing an injury 

• Stressed 

• or need help with stretching  

What is a Fascial Stretch Therapy session like?

Fascial Stretch Therapy is a type of assisted stretching performed on a massage table by a fascial stretch therapy practitioner. The table traditionally has two straps. These straps help stabilize one limb while the other is moved around and stretched. 

An FST practitioner takes you through a series of stretches tailored to your concerns and your presentation, following an assessment. By targeting the joint space, fascia, and muscles, these movements help unlock tension in the deepest layers of tissues. The goal is to ease fascia restrictions, relax the nervous system, and improve joint space. 

Clients should wear stretchy, comfortable clothing, such as yoga leggings, shorts, sweatpants, t-shirts, or a tank top. If your shorts are baggy, you should wear tights under them. 

Finding a Certified Fascial Stretch Therapy Practitioner

You can visit the Stretch to Win Institute’s directory here to find a certified practitioner.

Fascial Stretch Therapy Near Me

If Fascial Stretch Therapy sounds like something that would benefit you and you're in the Houston, Texas area, you can make an appointment online with Optimize Therapeutic Bodywork. My services are mobile, and I can stretch you in the comfort of your home.