Myofascial Release

• Myofascial release is a manual energetic therapy designed to treat the myofascia that surrounds every cell and tissue in the body.

• The fascia that surrounds each muscle fiber and fibril is inextricably interconnected with the muscle, and it is impossible to treat the muscle alone.

• Until the fascial barriers are released, the muscle, no matter how often stretched or contracted, will tend to resume its original shape.

• Intervention: Once tight tissue is located by palpation or observation, the slack is taken out of the tissue under the hands, and the therapist gently leans into his or her hands and waits for the tissue to respond. Within 90 to 120 seconds, a feeling of flow results, and the therapist then simply follows that twisting and deepening flow of tissue until it stops, when he or she again waits, maintaining slight tension until the tissue begins to flow again, and the therapist can follow the fascia, as it flows or releases, to the next collagenous barrier.

• Myofascial release, along with soft tissue mobilization, therapeutic exercise, and movement reeducation is an excellent wholistic therapeutic approach for musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, and integumentary disorders in function.

Source: Umphred, D.A. Neurological Rehabilitation. 4th Ed. U.S.A.: Mosby, Inc.