Off The Record

9 Things You Need To Know About Fascia, So-Called The ‘Invisible Second Skin’

Published on December 22, 2017

Fascia is basically a fibrous layer present in our body that manages to hold our bones, muscles, nerves and essential organs in place. Had it not been present, our body would not be so upright and the tissues would have fallen apart. Even though we cannot see this with our own eyes, this forms a very essential part of our bodies. Although much has not been researched about this ‘layer’ of human anatomy, this is gaining widespread mentions in the world of personal trainers, massage therapists etc.

Here are 9 facts you need to know about fascia:

1. Think of it as a sponge

Simply drinking more water will not keep our entire fascia hydrated; parts of it may still remain dry. Like a sponge, we need to squeeze and cleanse it through ways like yoga, foam rolling, body work and exercise.

2. Fascia is formed by collagen

Collagen, made of amino acids, is a highly important and talked about protein in the world. It is the building blocks of fascia.

3. Fascia attaches to your muscles and is informed by them

Despite not being a muscle itself, this tissue remains closely associated to the muscles. Therefore, our body movements help to determine its shape.

Must read: 10 Medicinal Plants Native Americans Used To Cure Everything (From Joint Pain To Cancer)

4. Modifying fascia can alter our skin

Although this is not the primary function of the fascia, it is an essential property. Rolfing or massaging this subdermal layer can indeed change the fat distribution of our body and make the skin look different. It is wise to consult a professional to know more about this.

5. Our body comprises 12 myofascial lines

These follow along the lines of acupuncture running along patterns up and down, front and back and left and right diagonally. These pathways may also help us understand why pain occurring in one part of the body causes sensations in another part.

6. The nature of fascia is thixotropic

This can be explained with reference to the law of motion that says that every action is reciprocated by an action of the same magnitude. Hence we must relax that part of our body that we want to stretch; otherwise there may be injuries as the fascia gets stiffer.

7. It’s a mix of pink, white, and yellow in color

If we looked at a fascia without the human body, it would be an amalgamation of pink, white and yellow colors – almost like the coverings of Egyptian mummies!

8. Fascia makes our body ‘One’

As it has already been mentioned, fascia helps to keep our body rigid and upright. It plays a great role of holding all parts of our body together. Fascia even looks like a human shaped glove! This keeps all our differentiated nerves, organs and muscles together and intact; not an inch is left out by it. But it has very few places that are actually ‘connected’ to individual tissues.

9. An emotional release is possible with myofascial body work

We still have not been able to research properly as to how the fascia is related to our emotional processes occurring inside the brains. Often we see that reliving someone of pain by massaging can make them more emotionally stable and help them with emotional releases. But we can’t assure such impacts without proper research. Hopefully someday we will have the answer to this.

So, these are 9 interesting facts about a very less talked about component of our bodies. The human body never ceases to amaze us!