I get asked this question quite a lot and, unfortunately, there’s no real universal answer. In the grand scheme of things, our approach to health and wellness here in America is a bit backwards compared to many other parts of the world.

From a fireman’s perspective, we tend to concentrate more on the drama of putting out the flames that are engulfing our living room (or gallbladder) rather than focusing our attention on not playing with matches in the first place. To our credit, we in the Western world have some pretty amazing and inspiring ways of putting out fires when it comes to health. We are fortunate to have incredible life saving medications, surgeries and diagnostics at our fingertips, which are wonderful but can often be relied upon in ways that create a pretty unhealthy approach to health. And I get it, putting out fires is sexy, surgeons don’t spend 8-10 years in school and residencies so that they can tell you to eat more apples and go for a walk, they are in it for the love of the heroics behind the surgery.

In China, at least in the good ol days when Chinese Medicine was the only medicine; you paid your Acupuncturist when you were well. What a novel idea right? Imagine if we paid our physicians for keeping us well, for helping us avoid illness and disease rather than for saving us from the very thing that might have been prevented in the first place. Kind of crazy to wrap your mind around, isn’t it?

We don’t operate that way, most of us have grown into a society that waits until things are broken to fix it, rather than thinking about how we can prevent the break in the first place. I get it, we’re busy, we don’t always have time to eat right, work-out, meditate and visit our Acupuncturist, chiropractor or massage therapist regularly.

In my practice, I do quite a bit of putting out flames, but I always search for the underlying cause, the secret pyro that lit the fire in the first place. While we can often achieve results after one treatment, it usually takes 3-10 treatments to really resolve the issue. Because we are so used to taking a pill to mask our symptoms without ever addressing the underlying root cause, this approach can feel a bit daunting to some. Getting to the root takes time, and the longer you’ve been battling pain or disease, the longer it can take to unearth the underlying catalyst. Fortunately, I’m a pretty impatient Acupncturist, I like to see results and make them stick fast. Over my past 12 years of practice, i’ve discovered that the closer we can cluster those first 3-5 treatments, the more effective and efficient our results will be. Once we get you to a place where you feel human again, we can then stretch the time between treatments farther and farther apart until you are no longer in need of my services. At that point, you can switch to a more preventative approach to healing, by coming seasonally or at the very beginning stage of pain or illness, at the point where we can set you straight with just one or two treatments.

And why can't my health practitioners stop talking about it?

After years of flinging this mystical myofascial word around in the office and at the studio, it recently occurred to me that the majority of my clients have no idea where or what their myofascia is and why I can't shut up about it.  Therefore, I've decided to compose a series of newsletters detailing the different myofascial lines, how their imbalances can manifest in your body and how Acupuncture and yoga can help. So, fasten your seat belts folks, for numero uno in a series of 6 newsletters where we will tackle the big question, what is myofascia?

Were you aware that you have super powers?

 
Well, maybe not in the way that you're thinking, but underneath the skin, your entire body is held snuggly in what resembles a spiderman suit. This web of myofascia surrounds and supports all of your muscles in a flexible yet strong silk threaded sweater  that resides just beneath the skin.  This web of tissue comprises your very own spidey suit and forms as a highly intelligent and sensitive network of microscopic cords which connect every part of the body to each other via tensegrity.  This tensegrity or interconnectedness is what gets all of your health practitioners and body workers so excited.  It means that just Like a snag on a sweater, damage to a single area of your fascia can affect distant areas in the body, sometimes even after years.  

When fascia gets in a kink it can be a real drag

Healthy fascia is soft and supple, but prolonged sitting in cars, desk jobs, over exercise (without stretching) and physical trauma can cause the fascia to become inflamed and lose its pliability, turning our fishnet body sock into a tangled up superglue nightmare. Over time, the  result can be an endless feeling of stuckness and pain experienced in a variety of places, from headaches and neck pain to sciatica, tight or torn hamstrings, hip issues and plantar fasciitis with numbness and tingling, breathing difficulties, inflexibility and very poor posture.  
 

Tom Meyers and Ida Rolf

You can't talk about myofascia without sighting the brilliance of these two.  Dr. Ida Rolf, developed and introduced the therapy of Structural Integration as a way of correcting the health issues resulting from poor posture. She understood the importance of a neutral spine, core strength and the vital role supple fascia play in proper alignment.  Tom Meyers took things further, by outlining in great detail (details that make it difficult to keep your eyes opened when reading his manuals) the different pathways these myofascial trains take and their relationship to the body. 
 

The unsticking of you

Don't let you super hero underwear get into a bunch.  There are a variety of ways to help your fascia recover it's limber and sleek self.   Acupuncture can help rehydrate fascia by activating the trigger points (pulls in the sweater) that refer pain to other parts of the body.  I work with the myofascia every day in my office by releasing  muscle tension and increasing blood flow to the affected area.  I can also help by recommending diet and supplement prescriptions to aid in reducing inflammation.  There'll be no time for slouching either, as you'll be expected to take an active role in your recovery.  I'll give you insights into your own postural habits and strategies to rectify those imbalances with specific therapeutic yoga poses tailored to meet your needs.