Structural Integration and Bodywork by Jess Fowler, LMT

Finally Finally Finally!! My heart is full and I’m so grateful to everyone that was a part of this journey and those that supported me along the way! My only regret is not doing this much much sooner in life!!

What is cupping? How does it work? Why are there marks left behind? What’s normal?

https://www.cuppingtherapy.org/pages/discolorations.htm

Explanation of Cupping Therapy Discolorations Post Treatment The most common misunderstanding regarding one of the most powerful and beneficial after effects of Cupping, is the marks that sometimes result.

I’ve had a few clients ask about it. So sharing here....

HerScan Breast Ultrasound Screening Coming Direct to You! Affordable, easy and convenient

https://vimeo.com/448336972

The Diaphragm Made by Christel Hendriks, student of Anatomy Trains Structural Integration, assignment for ATSI Part 3

Fascia & The Mystery of Chronic Pain | Dana Sterling | LIFE TALK From the Life 360 Health and Wellness Summit 2018by Dana Sterling Founder of Sterling Structural Therapyhttps://sterlingstructuraltherapy.com/sterling-method...

What is Fascia?
Fascia is tough connective tissue that creates a 3-dimensional web extending without interruption from head to toe. Fascia surrounds and infuses every muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel, and organ, all the way down to the cellular level.

The fascial system affects every system and function in your body- musculoskeletal, neurological, metabolic, etc. The white, glistening fibers you see when you pull a piece of meat apart or when you pull chicken skin away is fascia.

What is Fascia made of ?
Fascia consists of a complex which has three parts:
1. Elastin fibers - This is the elastic and stretchable part of the complex.

2. Collagen fibers - These fibers are extremely tough and give support to the
structure.

3. Ground substance/matrix: A gelatinous like substance that transports metabolic
material throughout the body

What does fascia do?
The fascial system generally supports, stabilizes, and cushions. Fascia creates separation between vessels, organs, bones, and muscles. It creates space through which delicate nerves, blood vessels, and fluids can pass.

What are Fascial Restrictions?
In a healthy state, the collagen fibers wrap around the elastic fibers in a relaxed, wavy configuration. Trauma, repetitive motion, inflammation, or poor posture can cause the fascia to become solidified and shortened. These thickened areas are referred to as a fascial restriction. Fascial restrictions have the capacity of creating up to 2,000 pounds of pressure per square inch in a restricted area. That crushing pressure can compromise any physiological system in the body resulting in pain and dysfunction.

The fascia throughout the body is all interconnected like the yarn in a sweater or a complex spider web. A restriction in one area of the body creates tension throughout this web pulling on other distant structures. This explains why some people may have pain that appears unrelated to their original injury. Furthermore, myofascial restrictions do not show up on common standardized tests such as x-rays, MRI, CAT scans, etc.

Fascial restrictions can pull the body out of its normal alignment, compressing joint surfaces and bulging disks, resulting in pain, loss of motion, and weakness.

Info collected from Spine - Health, Mayo Clinic, NIH & Medterms
Art by Dan Beckemeyer

🔈 DEEP FASCIA OF FOOT

A. The skin and subcutaneous tissue have been removed to demonstrate the deep fascia of the leg and dorsum of the foot.

B. The deep plantar fascia consists of the thick plantar aponeurosis and the thinner medial and lateral plantar fascia. Thinner parts of the plantar fascia have been removed, revealing the plantar digital vessels and nerves.

C. The bones and muscles of the foot are surrounded by the deep dorsal and plantar fascia. A large central and smaller medial and lateral compartments of the sole are created by intermuscular septa that extend deeply from the plantar aponeurosis.

https://www.tuneupfitness.com/blog/understanding-respiratory-diaphragm/

Respiratory Diaphragm Function: Understanding the Muscle that Powers Breath The diaphragm may be our muscle of respiration, but it’s more than breath affecting posture, circulation, immune function, digestion, and emotional regulation. Learn more about what some consider the most important muscle of the body.

Phones been ringing...I can hardly wait!!! See you soon!

Discussions are being had. This may end up being a requirement for sometime after the office opens back up...

I am missing you ALL!!! I hope you are all in good health, staying healthy and safe during this pandemic. As of Right now the reopening date is set for May 8th! 🙏

Here’s a little something to help you get through this time without massage! I did them this morning and I feel like a I got a nice little shoulder massage. I know it isn’t the same, but every little bit helps! 💗💗

See you soon.....
https://youtu.be/6C-wfV27bzI

How To Fix Forward Head Posture - 3 Easy Exercises (From a Chiropractor) Learn what forward head posture is and why it causes pain. Grab the PDF of 5 exercises to fix your fwd head posture now: https://goo.gl/CscGfh Dr. Oliver, Ch...

https://www.amtamassage.org/research/Massage-Therapy-Research-Roundup/Research-Roundup--Massage-Therapy-for-Pain-Can-Mitigate-the-Overuse-of-Opioids.html?fbclid=IwAR3XJ2k1-TK7uJnQaIJWIkxyCcn6ah-XFsxbR8uqGCDgvG1nT_PXpH1HZX4

Massage Therapy for Pain Can Mitigate the Overuse of Opioids Research shows massage therapy is an approach to pain management that can either replace or work in conjunction with medicine.

Take good care of yourself! 💗

Very interesting...

Bone, not adrenaline, drives fight or flight response When faced with a predator or sudden danger, the heart rate goes up, breathing becomes more rapid, and fuel in the form of glucose is pumped throughout the body to prepare an animal to fight or flee.

Fascia Is Able to Actively Contract and May Thereby Influence Musculoskeletal Dynamics: A Histochemical and Mechanographic Investigation Fascial tissues form a ubiquitous network throughout the whole body, which is usually regarded as a passive contributor to biomechanical behavior. We aimed to answer the question, whether fascia may possess the capacity for cellular contraction which, in turn, could play an active role in musculoske...

What is Fascia?!! An easy to understand simplified explanation!! 💗🙏

http://amygornall.com/2018/03/what-is-fascia/

What is Fascia? Visit the post for more.

TISSUE QUALITY

The concept of body tissues being “healthy” is often discussed in therapy and training practices. Is tissue quality determined by “macro” characteristics such as strength, flexibility, tension or fibrosis?

As these magnified fascia pictures help us see, micro dictates macro and the “tissue quality” is a by-product of the micro environment of its components.

These pictures show the fascia is a network of “water tubes”. The primary component of fascial tissue is WATER. The work of Dr. G. Pollack has shown us that water changes it’s fundamental composition when it lives inside our fascial tissues. In the fascia, water molecules undergo a constant transition from “free water” to “bound water”. Free water is what we commonly know as H2O and is in its most fluid state. But this is only one phase of water in the body, the other is when the water molecules bind with hydrophilic (water-loving) tissues such as collagen, another component of fascia. Once the water interacts with collagen, the water literally changes composition into H3O2 and becomes Gel-Water (bound water).

This is what Dr. Pollack calls the 4th Phase of Water and a major key to tissue quality. This Gel-water is more lubricating and behaves like a trampoline when compressed, making the tissues more viscoelastic and compliant to forces.

Exercise and manual techniques that influence hydrodynamics (fluid flow) can help stimulate this conversion at the deep tissue level and improve our tissue quality. Slow, long duration tissue stretching in manual therapy has been shown to stimulate these positive molecular-chemical changes in the tissue after 3 minutes of loading (Standley, Pollack).

Once established, the tissue can be more compliant to dynamic tissue loads such as those in athletics. One can’t have an optimal environment for healing or developing strength/mobility without this micro tissue quality!

Credit: Anatomy Links

Doing the sacred work... they say it’s a gift, I say,”It’s an honor.”

Massage vs. Inflammation Recently I have been putting a lot more emphasis in the role that inflammation plays when it comes to chronic pain in our bodies. Let's face it, pain is an infl