I teach that fascia is important. If you break it, you suffer greatly, so follow instructions.
Student asks,
"Can you do things with the fascia? Can you fight with the fascia, can you feel the fascia? etc"
I answer,
"Everything you do relies on the fascia, but you can't manipulate it directly. Besides, the indirect experience of the fascia doesn't feel anything like how the anatomy looks."
Here's an excerpt from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10135675/
"...2. Role of Fascial Tissue and Pathological Reactions Fascia is widely distributed from head to toe; it encases and permeates muscles, bones, blood vessels, nerves, and internal organs, constitutes various layers of different depths [25], and is a connective tissue composed of irregularly arranged collagen fibers, clearly different from the regularly arranged collagen fibers found in tendons, ligaments, or periosteal sheets [26]. Additionally, it supports important functions of the human body, such as posture, movement, and homeostasis [25,26,27,28], and also contains various sensory receptors for proprioception, nociception, and even hormones [28]. Structurally, fascial tissues are composed of various cell types (fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, myofascial cells, and telocytes), as well as fibrous (type I and type III collagen fibers, elastin, fibrillin), aqueous (a complex mixture of water and glycosaminoglycans) components, and neural elements (free nerve endings and mechanoreceptors) [29,30]. The fact that the fascia can transmit tension far is the basis of the “biotensegrity” framework [31,32]. Biotensegrity is the application of the principle of tensegrity to the understanding of human movement, where tensegrity is an architectural principle according to which a structure (or tensegrity system) is stabilized by continuous tension with discontinuous compression and functions as a single structure [32]. As the tension in the fascia increases, the connective tissue can disperse the force around it and propagate it along the fascial system [31,32,33,34]. Forces passively imposed on the muscle by stretching are distributed throughout the tissue via the intramuscular connective tissue [33,34]. Fascia transmits tension, influences other muscles, plays a role in the proper coordination of body movements, and can reflect the direction of force vectors. Fascia can actively contract, and changes in tension are caused by contractile cells [35]. Myofibroblasts are present in developing and normal adult tissues and are responsible for altering tissue tension [35]. Normal fibroblasts are highly sensitive to physical stimuli. The transition from fibroblast to myofibroblast is influenced by mechanical stress. Upon mechanical tension, fibroblasts differentiate into proto-myofibroblasts, which contain actin stress fibers in their cytoplasm that terminate in a fiber bundle adhesion complex [25,36,37]. The adhesion complex bridges the internal cytoskeleton and integrins of myofibroblasts with extracellular matrix (ECM) fibronectin fibers. Thus, this allowed contractile forces to be generated in the nearby ECM when traction is applied; moreover, forces within the ECM are maintained over time and are further enhanced by remodeling and collagen deposition [37]. In addition, chronic strain, such as sitting or overuse of muscles [38,39,40], infection and inflammation [40], and immobilization of the limb by trauma, fracture, or casting [28,29,30], can produce further contraction of myofibroblast smooth muscle actin fibers and contribute to joint contractures. These environments make it difficult to maintain a relaxed state, resulting in decreased mechanical tension, and consequently, myofibroblasts either dedifferentiate or undergo apoptosis [37]. The tipping point between exercise and rest is unknown; however, multiple repetitions of the contraction cycle may result in graded and irreversible tissue contraction [37]..."
- Response to Mechanical Properties and Physiological Challenges of Fascia: Diagnosis and Rehabilitative Therapeutic Intervention for Myofascial System Disorders - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10135675/