Rolfing

 

  Myofascial Release

 

Rolfing - What Is The Fascia?

 

Fascia is the tissue located between the skin and the underlying structure of muscle and bone, and forms a seamless web covers and connects the muscles, organs, and skeletal structures in our body. The fascia is responsible for maintaining our body's structural integrity, supporting our posture, and acting as a shock absorber.

 

Myofascial refers collectively to the tissue and the myscle. Together, the muscle and fascia form the myofascial system. The myofascial system is a totally unified structure that is present throughout your posture without any interruption. Myofascial release is a Rolfing therapy targeted at the fascial system and posture.

 

Rolfing And The Fascia - Dr. Ida Rolf

 

Myofascial release is a form of soft tissue therapy in Rolfing that works on the fascial system to provide pain relief, increase your range of motion and balance your body for optimum posture.

 

Injuries, stress, inflammation, trauma, scoliosis, lordosis or poor posture can injure or restrict the fascia, causing myriad problems that lead many to Rolfing. The goal of Rolfing's myofascial release is to alleviate fascial restriction and restore the cohesion of the fascia. Rolfing incorporates myofascial release as part of its techniques, as it was Dr. Ida Rolf who discovered the importance of fascia and they myofascial system in the body, thus revolutionizing thinking about the body and its posture and propelling myofascial release to the fore. 

 

Dr. Ida Rolf earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Columbia University in 1916, and in the course of her scientific research she made a fundamental discovery about the body - "the same network of connective tissue which contains and links the muscle when it’s healthy can be used to reshape it when it’s been pulled out of proper order. Each muscle and (each muscle fiber) in enveloped in a connective tissue called fascia". Dr. Rolf’s view of the role of the fascia and myofascial system in posture lead to the theory of body geometry, influenced her understanding of posture and the importance of gravity in the body and led to her incorporation of myofascial release into Rolfing

 

Rolfing and Myofascial Release - How Myofascial Release Helps

 

Rolfers utilize myofascial release as the main technique to bring your posture in balance during your session. In a Rolfer's hands, Rolfing's myofascial release will relieve the pain of back strain, bad posture, chronic tension, scoliosis, myofascial pain dysfunction, lordosis, whiplash and many other posture problems, as all these arise from problems of the fascia.

 

myofascial release              fascia

 

Rolfing - An example of fascia underlying         Rolfing - Understanding the fascial and

 the body                                                        myofascial layers

                          

 

 

 

Myofascial Release