FASCIA PAIN: the role of fascia in pain, pain relief, re-wiring your brain & human optimization

// 2023 CHANNEL UPDATE //

I’ve moved on from Mobility Mastery (self fascia release) in order to focus on teaching Kinetix, my method of root cause discovery for pain and dis-ease that involves partner fascia release as a “diagnostics” (and regeneration) tool. Kinetix is a complete scientific methodology that I teach to friends, partners and professionals alike inside The Kinetix Academy.

My other primary focus will be the launch and growth of a new podcast and Substack community called The Human Freedom Project.

// NEW CONTENT ON YOUTUBE //

Sometime in 2023 I will return to YouTube with HFP podcast episodes and content created to help you know and understand yourself as a whole organism made of body, soul and spirit. This content will feature the Kinetix methodology, pain science, fascia secrets I’ve learned from 15+ years in private practice, neuroscience and evolving beyond the brain, trauma and the body, and more! I’m excited to go on this new adventure with you.

*********** // VIDEO DESCRIPTION // **********

Imagine for a moment that the clothes you’re wearing right now shrunk 5 sizes. You’d be pretty unhappy right? I mean - it would be hard to breathe, move or do ANYTHING well.

If you’re walking around right now feeling achy, heavy, like a lead weight, OR if you’re in pain or recovering from an injury, then chances are your fascia - the connective tissue webbing that wraps everything in our bodies - is dehydrated, stuck to itself in knots and too small for you to move and live efficiently; not unlike how YOU would feel if your clothes suddenly shrunk.

What the heck is fascia?

Fascia wraps every nerve ending in the body, every muscle fibril, muscle fiber and muscle bundle and all that fascia turns into your tendons and ligaments; it wraps our bones and our organs…it’s EVERYWHERE.

Fascia is crucial for proper nerve communication, and because of its close relationship to the nervous system - fascia takes on the PHYSICAL SHAPE of our EMOTIONS, SENSATIONS and SUBCONSCIOUS feelings and patterns. This means we can re-wire the brain by changing the fascia, which requires recruiting the nervous system and clearing out of our past traumas, memories, tension and anything that got stuck in our bodies on even an emotional level but certainly physical.

We’re all born with fluid, healthy, supple fascia. This is why kids can fall so much, get injured and recover so fast (and that’s why we all ignore our bodies as we enter adulthood, until we get smacked in the head with pain, amiright?!)

When we’re kids, we’re SHAPING our soft tissue with our physical, mental and emotional habits. Those myelin sheaths are getting laid down and our fascial system is getting molded by the way we sit, stand, run and what we think and feel on a daily basis.

As we age - everything from overuse, underuse, trauma, stress, anxiety etc can creates a BUILD UP of tension within the fascial system that accumulates and eventually - this tension creates DYSFUNCTION.

When fascia is supple, fluid and elastic it acts like a giant spring, or SHOCK ABSORBER for our entire body. We SHOULD be able to jump, run, and do whatever we want and feel light and buoyant as we do.

Healthy fascia won’t hurt AT ALL when compression is applied. For example, I could put my FULL body weight on your IT BAND and it would not hurt. I pinky swear.

Unhealthy fascia HURTS when compression is applied, to varying degrees. If you get on a foam roller or someone steps on you, like me, and it hurts? That means the fascia is unhealthy.

What does fascia NEED to get or stay healthy?

SPACE. And nutrient rich blood. Space allows blood to flow. Blood nourishes every cell in our body, so our fascia, muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, organs etc stay healthy.

Fascia needs to be hydrated to allow our muscle fibers to GLIDE like they need to when we ask our bodies to move.

When we build up fascial adhesions or restriction, these knots and areas of density can stop blood from flowing, irritate a joint that’s no longer getting fresh blood to renew the bursa, pull on bones or joints, compress nerves and cause all kinds of pain and alignment issues.

Most pain in the body can be significantly relieved and often completely eliminated in as little as a few minutes with the right methods, and even decades of pain can be reversed in a matter of several hours or weeks by looking to the fascial and nervous systems to create change from the inside out.

Keywords: fascia pain, myofascial pain syndrome, soft tissue pain, muscle pain, aching muscles

[ElishaCeleste]

What was your favorite part of the video, did you learn anything new? Share below! I'd also LOVE to hear how you're using effective fascial release to not only get yourself out of pain, but optimize your body so you can live an unstoppable life (whatever that means for you). If you've used MY methods - tell me about it! There's NO better feeling in the world to me than helping people get pain-free and find their freedom. For me, freedom means being able to climb mountains, hike, go trail running and being fit to do the activities I love until I leave this world. You?

[kellypowell]

I was in a car accident and come to find out I had no magnesium or potassium in my muscles. I was dehydrated, severely dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea because of past pain issues and the pain medicine. I was both unable to fill my prescriptions and come to find out people were breaking in my house and stealing a week supply out of my month supply!
This caused me all sorts of problems but I think the worst issue was that during the accident all of my muscles tightened up for the impact and they locked down and stayed tight especially in my abdomen. All of the abdomen muscles and deep inside along my spine around my belly button the muscles were tight and stayed tight after the accident. It took me a long time to realize that I was in a dehydrated state for a very long time plus no magnesium or potassium. I was taking magnesium but I only started to get better after adding the potassium.
I really appreciate what you're saying because I believe my fascia also locked up during this car accident because of being in a dehydrated state. I have been hydrating myself for quite some time now drinking or trying to drink half my body weight in ounces a day.
I also found a therapist that gave me specific stretches that helped released the fascia around my chest! It was really bad where I had restricted breathing as in it was hard to take a deep breath. Also the chiropractor's were unable to get my back to adjust at all. If it did adjust a little bit you could tell just by the sound how tight everything was. This therapist really helped and the stretches while doing deep breathing helped release a lot of different muscles as you put them into a stretched position where they start to hurt. Hold that position and then breathe deep very slowly but not too slow and then out. She told me to do this three times and raise it up to six times and it has helped tremendously!
I believe I have also learned that if your body and your core is in a weakens state that these muscles and fascia will tighten back up because it's trying to hold your body up. The muscles are not strong enough to keep you upright then this fascia and other muscles and tendons will tighten much easier. Weak muscles tend to get tight and stay tight until their strengthened. This has been a vicious circle for me and when you're in a super weakened state it's very hard to build strength but as I stay faithful to walking 30 minutes a day and being gentle with myself as I do light strength exercises and slowly increase the weight I can tell things are improving. Also doing planks and things to strengthen your core has helped me tremendously. I hope this helps someone out there because when your core is in a weak state then it's easier to overdo and then your body will crash for days. Also events and people will affect you emotionally way more with a weakened core...

[rb]

I have been working on facia release for 10 months because I started paying attention to the gift of pain . Night and day difference in every aspect of my life. I don't think anyone really understands where the rabbit hole goes with this knowledge. This is probably the most important video anyone ever watched.Thank you for sharing.

[chrisbinder]

Very good video I’m a certified fascia resistance stretcher (the genius of flexibility)and everything she says is accurate. I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I cannot begin to tell you how many amazing things I’ve seen in my line of work!

[spreadingrumors]

I discovered the miracle of fascia release after a horrific fall I took off my beach cruiser. I damaged nearly every part of my body, from my shoulder all the way down to my ankle when the heavy bike crushed my left leg and my right leg slammed down like a clam shell on the opposite side of the frame. The bike seat jammed up into my groin and pinched it against the pavement. Luckily I didn't break anything. The pain was horrible.

So, i started researching pain, and what causes it? I've noticed that most therapists like yourself talk about pain, but don't really explain what causes it? Yes, the fascia shrinks when it's damaged and pulls up and down on the kinetic chain causing pain. What I learned (at least I think I learned) is that the pain is caused by a build up of calcium deposits and lactic acid that the body lays down to fix muscle fiber tears. The way I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong) it that the calcium grinds against your nerves, thus causing pain. Not only do you need to stretch out those fascia fibers, but you also need to release the calcium from scarred tissue. Taking 500 mg of magnesium per day has REALLY helped remove the calcium that I am releasing when I work on my fascia and muscle fibers.

Also, what I discovered while trying to repair the newer bike accident injuries, was the 'old' sports and work related damage I didn't even know I had. For example; I was a paper boy for 2 years when I was 12 years of age. Carrying a 50 lb sack of newspapers around my neck completely threw my shoulder girdle off and thus my posture has been horrible for years (I'm 66 now). Once I discovered this amazing technique of removing the calcium deposits and stretching out the fascia, I was able to bring back perfect posture. I no longer have pain in my shoulders or back. It's amazing.

I've spent 10 months working on my bike accident injuries which opened up all sorts of past roller-blading spills where I landed on my backside which messed up my pelvis tilt. What a journey this has been! Now, I'm almost finished a total recondition. It's like restoring an old car. I can swim laps for an hour. Ride 30 miles on my bicycle and walk for miles, nearly pain free. Truly, I feel like 30 again, but with better posture!! ;)

Now, the only way I could have managed to achieve this is with the help of an electric 'percussion' massager. You can buy it on Amazon for about $30. One of the best investments I've ever made. This two headed hand held machine basically tenderizes the fascia and muscle tissue so you can dig in with your hands and tennis balls to ultimately release all the scar tissue. It's almost like sanding an old car to remove rust. It takes a lot of time, depending how much damage you've accumulated. But it works.

Finally, when I want to work on a particular muscle group, I heat it up with a electric heating pad. Get it toasty. Then I apply my percussion massager and 'sand' it all out while stretching the muscle. Be warned, the release of lactic acid will make you feel sick. So drink a lot of water. Also, I do heavy dossing of Vitamin C to help rebuild the collagen fiber that new muscle tissue is comprised of. Remember, you're going to have to rebuild and develop your muscles/tendons/ligaments once you clean them out. But they redevelop quickly once the new tissue fibers are laid down (muscle memory). Seriously, I feel like 30 again!

Sorry for the essay, but it's sooo well worth doing if you have the time and determination.

Thank you for this awesome explanation of what, much to my delight, I discovered on my own - because I didn't have insurance to cover physical therapy ;)

p.s. your tight clothing analogy to describe fascia pain is the very best I've run across.

[MichaelMiller-fqxg]

You have explained the pain that I am going through. Thank you! Now I know what to address and work with it. GOD BLESS YOU

[kshuller]

As a diabetic I developed an electrolyte imbalance that caused a lot of fascia spasms. You could watch the twitching in my aching legs. I added a sugar free electrolyte drink and in one day it stopped. This was not something my doctor warned me about. Better control of my blood sugar helped with the dehydration you are referring to, but until I replaced the potassium that was causing the spasms it did not improve,

[themaggattack]

Wow! Decades ago, I had my then boyfriend stand on my thighs just like this. He thought I was crazy, he couldn't believe I needed so much pressure in a massage. He was worried he was going to hurt me but It just felt incredibly relieving for him to just stand on me. I thought it was my muscles that were so tight, but now I know it was my fascia.

[opossumdreams]

I have had balance issues all my life. This woman is the real deal and I can stand on my tiptoes for the first time since I was 12. I’m 50+ years old and have a mild form of muscular dystrophy.
Thank you. ♥️♥️♥️

[MaryCooper-py]

I've just started watching about 3 days ago, and I started with quads, adductors and IT band. After working with foam roller this morning my legs felt lighter. I then hiked and I felt light on my feet.
I was most influenced when you said, "healthy fascia wouldn't hurt when applying pressure". I've got some work to do. 64 years of fascia neglect 😮. THANK YOU. I'm committed.

[webds]

I just started craniosacral therapy a few months ago and it is the only thing that has relieved the extreme body armor I have had since I was a teenager from cptsd and a back injury. My fascia and muscles were so tight for the last 45 years that any type of massage or self therapy was painful. I am now soft enough to be able to utilize these and it is such a relief! I also have had the chronic knee & hip pain you speak of as well as upper body pain especially in the neck and shoulders. Thank you for your work to help others ❤

[michellebabian]

Ok I"m ready at 72 and want to keep facia fluid, flexible, aligned.

[Gkuljian]

This is what brought me to your channel. I've waited years for you to return to this subject. Yay! In the meanwhile, I've gone from horrible fascia pain all the way to functional. The suffering I put myself through has been the most difficult thing I've ever done. But I knew it would result in a better body. It worked. My knee tendonitis is gone. The tightness throughout my back and calves and everything is gone. It was literally torture. But now I'm 62 and young. Thanks.

[VMarieAuletti]

I am just now finding you. I can not be more thankful for these videos. My pec minor thanks you.

[Kathleensophiacitrine]

Wow this is just incredible information. The connection between nervous system and fascia and fibro/pain and trauma makes so much sense. Thank you so much. This affirms the path of healing I've been nudged to pursue. This is a miracle. 💛💛💛

[dudemannxs]

Learned about this a few weeks ago when I read the book, "The Permanent Pain Cure" after suffering horrible hip pain for years. Great video!

[terryrwyatt]

My favorite part is you explaining my pain. I've spent so much time and money on myself. Whole body pain.

[ursulabutler]

I would love to learn more about this! I am a 75yr old lady in chronic pain daily, have already had one hip replacement and now a number of issues with back and hip pain. Pleases send me your videos on these movements . Thank you so much for your lovely informative video 😊

[symmetrytechniquemyofascia]

You have insight that not many others do.
I'm a myofascial trainer for the past 20 years. I've made much great gains and changes, especially postural doing this type of work as opposed to "muscle" training

[joshuachaffin]

Ugh… I want to feel better. I have pain all over my body all the time. ALL THE TIME. Thanks for this video I’m so happy to be on this journey.