MYO-FASCIAL STRETCHING
The human body has over 600 muscles. Generally speaking, muscles are designed for movement by contracting (shortening) and relaxing (lengthening). It is this process of contraction and relaxation which enables us to manage our internal environment and survive in our external environment.
The working demands, adaptations and trama placed upon the muscles during the course of a lifetime can and do cause changes in their resting and working lengths and tensions. These changes (imbalances) not only have a dramatic influence on the functioning of the affected muscles but will also have a global effect on the whole body as it tries to adapt.
Stretching helps to resolve these imbalances by working at returning the muscles back to their normal lengths and tensions.
Conventional stretching techniques typically involves stretching a muscle in isolation i.e. hamstring toe-touches. This approach for the most part is ineffective since it disregards the fact that muscles work in groups or chains. If muscles did not function this way, we would not have the ability to cordinate movement i.e. to walk. Since muscles work together in chains, it also goes that if one muscle within a chain has an imbalance, then it will adversely influence the functioning and length-tension relationships of other muscles within that chain.
In order to effectively stretch a muscle, you must stretch it along with the other muscles within the chain. This form of stretching is called Myo-Fascial Stretching.
Myo-Fascial Stretching
Myo-Fascial Stretching (MFS) resolves the issue of stretching a muscle in isolation. MFS is the stretching of a muscle within a muscular chain within a fascia chain. Similar to the concepts presented in ELDOA to decoaptate a specific segment of your spine, in many of the MFS you are essentially using the whole body to stretch a specific muscle. A good example of the global solicitation of the body to stretch a specific muscle is in the case of the ilio-psoas (hip flexor) muscle (demonstrated in the photo below).
The goal of Myo-Fascial Stretching is to gain freedom at the level of the articulation (joint). More freedom means less friction and tensions upon the joint and surrounding tissues resulting in increased range-of-motion.
Myo-Fascial Stretching is an excellent compliment to the ELDOA exercises.