Healing Spark: Medical

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Ugly bags of mostly water. Have you heard that description of humans from the crystalline "microbrain" in a Star Trek:NTG episode? It is not an entirely accurate assessment. Bones and tissue don't really form a bag. And we're really only about 60% water. But they way all our gooey bits are held together is kind of like wrapping them in plastic wrap. This wrap is called fascia.

You can get someone's scalp and face to relax by working on their feet or hands and vice versa.

Fascia connects all the soft tissue in your body. It coats your muscles as a thin, fibrous membrane, and deep fascia even connects muscles to bones or each other (as an aponeurosis). What most people don't realize is that the fascia is rather interconnected through your whole body, not entirely independent to each muscle or organ that it's supporting and encasing.

While you may not be aware of it, the fascia interacts across your whole body. The sensation may not be very strong, but your organs and muscles are connected with this thin film. This connection is much more profound than you think. Tension and strain in one area transmits that to every other part of your body through this network of fibrous tissue. If your shoulder is tight, you may not feel it strongly, but it's making your calves tighter too.

Fortunately it works equally in reverse. Mary Cox, licensed massage therapist and instructor suggested this demonstration of how interconnected. Sit on the floor with your legs extended and knees straight, and then bend to reach your toes. Remember how far you were able to bend. Now bend your knees, and with one hand made into a fist, rub the bottom of your foot like you were kneading dough. Repeat with the other foot. Now straighten your knees again and lean forward to touch your toes. Notice how much farther you are able to bend than the first time.

You did nothing to directly stretch the tendons in the backs of your legs, nor your back, but somehow by rubbing your feet, you became more flexible and relaxed. What you did was massage and relax the fascia in your feet, which is connected to the fascia in your legs, which is connected to the fascia in your back, and so on. When one area is convinced to relax, that message is transmitted to all the connecting bits. It may not be dramatic, but it is noticeable when you measure it.

A massage therapist might use this knowledge to work with a person who doesn't like anyone touching their feet, or opposite, touching their face. You can get someone's scalp and face to relax by working on their feet or hands and vice versa. You can make use of this connection when you don't want to sit there rubbing your head or neck in a meeting. Slip off a shoe and work the tension out from your feet to relieve your neck.

Knowing how tension is transmitted gives you additional awareness of how you are affecting your body's organs when you clench your jaw or leave tight shoulders unattended. Physical stress is not confined to the area where you feel it. Clenching your jaw affects your stomach, your lungs, everything. It's all linked.

Many people say "I can't relax my ______." And I've been one of them. But this knowledge gives you another option. When you can't relax your shoulders, you can still do something else that will ease the tension being transmitted by your shoulders by loosening up your hands, rubbing your calves, or rolling your foot on a tennis ball. It's not just your shoulders you'll be helping; it's your pancreas, your lungs, your eyes, and the rest of your body too.

The next time you feel like an ugly bag of mostly water, don't stress about it. Every organ in your whole body can feel that furrowed brow. Take two minutes to massage the palm of your hand with your other thumb, and keep your insides from working themselves into a knot. You will feel a whole lot better.