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Why Is My Body Stiff?
I get this question a lot in my therapy spa. Most people have no idea what is the root cause of their limited mobility. And most have no idea that it will keep getting worse as they age if they do not do anything about it!
I am going to talk about a word that most of you have probably never heard of and that word is called “Fascia”.
I will explain what this is and how it is the root cause of most body aches, injuries, joint pain, and all-around stiffness, then I will tell you what you can do about it!
What is Fascia?
Fascia is a band or sheet of connective fibrous tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches and surrounds muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. It also stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs which allows some to slide smoothly over each other within movement and others to restrict movement to protect your joints from injury.
There are different types of fascia:
- Deep Fascia– which is mostly associated with muscles, bones, blood vessels, and nerves
- Superficial fascia– is mostly associated with the skin
- Visceral(or Sub-serious) fascia- mostly associated with internal organs.
Basically, if you didn’t have fascia, your muscles and organs would not stay intact or attached to the bone in your body, which also would not allow you to walk upright. Your skin is not strong enough to keep your muscles intact, but fascia is. Not much has been written or known about this material but thankfully a lot of new studies are being done and we are now learning a lot more about it and what it does. Some studies have been done that say fascia is the body’s brain. They are finding that it can send signals to the brain about how the body is doing, this allows the body and brain to collect data together and offer solutions to help heal an injury, help heal an organ, or help protect an unstable movement, or even where to compartmentalize emotional stress, but the longer that emotion is kept in the body the harder and dehydrated it gets.
Why Does My Body Feel Older Than It Should?
The main reason is sticky dehydrated fascia. When fascia gets dehydrated from either lack of use or excessive movement (meaning overuse, for example, a repetitive motion at a job or in a sport), physical trauma (like a car accident or surgery), or even stored emotional trauma, yes emotion. We are emotional beings that vibrate at different frequencies, some tissue can vibrate at lower frequencies as well, and that is what we call stuck emotions or stored trauma in the body.
Chances are sticky dehydrated fascia could be the culprit of your body stiffness, joint pain, and or lack of mobility. Just think of fascia as a layer of saran wrapped around your muscles and when it gets sticky think of layers of saran wrap wrapping around the muscles getting tighter and tighter eventually the mobility will be limited. Inflamed fascia can cause a lot of restriction in movement, poor posture, and muscle imbalances can cause your body to be stiff and cause more layers of sticky fascia as well.
How Do I Know If I Have Dehydrated Fascia?
- Does your body hurt when you sleep?
- Do you have a hard time doing normal daily movements , like bending down, kneeling, squatting, or crossing your legs while sitting on the ground?
- Does your back hurt?
- Have you had any injuries or breaks?
- Have you had any sprains or strains?
- Have you pulled a muscle?
- Do you feel stiff?
- Have you had emotional trauma in your life?
- Are you stressed?
- Are you active and or play a sport?
- Do you lift weights?
- Do you sit for hours at a time?
- Do you stand for hours at a time?
- Do you do a repetitive motions at work?
- Do you sleep on your side?
If you answered yes to any of these, chances are you have fascia issues.
I know you are saying well everyone has or does most of, yes that is what I am saying so many have it and no one is talking about the root cause of why they feel older than they should in their bodies. Sticky dehydrated fascia could be the culprit and should be addressed as it gets more hydrated when we get older.
Here Are Some Ways Your Body Will Benefit By Having Hydrated Fascia
- Improved body alignment and symmetry
- Increase blood flow
- Faster recovery from exercise
- Reduces the appearance cellulite, stretch marks and uneven skin texture
- breakdowns Scar tissue
- Reduces the risk of injury
- Reduces pain
- Improves sports performance
- Better mobility
- Faster muscle growth
How Do I Hydrate My Fascia?
Well, you can never get rid of it but you can release it by hydrating it! And how do you hydrate it you might ask? By stimulating blood flow to allow it to become lubricated again.
You can do this with many forms:
Deep Tissue Massage
- Scraping
- Cupping
- Percussion/vibration
- Foam rolling
- Movement
- Assisted Stretching or self-stretching
- Heat/ hot showers/bath
- Acupuncture
- Releasing emotional trauma
- Having less stress in your life
- Positive thoughts
- Detoxing your body
- Getting your chakras aligned so emotions can flow through easily
Here at Body Therapy Spa, we focus on the range of motion assessments to tell us where the fascia is sticky in the body, we apply all types of fascia release techniques for all types of individual needs. From traction of the spine to scraping of the feet and body, to full-body Assisted Stretching, we do it all here!
If you are in pain, come see us at our Florida St. Petersburg location.
