Self-Myofascial Release

2014-12-01

Jogging becomes very popular this few tears. It arouses people’s concern about the importance of exercise. The public is more willing to try doing exercise as it trendy and zealously encouraging each other to maintain this habit. Public knowledge nowadays on running safety not only limited to overweight, lack of training and lower limb problems. They also understand gentle progress and sound training won’t increase the risk of injuries. Supplementary muscle training is no longer limited to lower limb but also upper limbs and the core. In the aspect of soft and connective tissues, one should warn up not only before stretching but also cool down after exercise. Recently, myofascial is under the spotlight and the most concerned one is IT Band Syndrome.

The iliotibial (IT) band is a kind of fascia. Fasciae surround over the whole body around internal organs forming a 3-dimensioinal structure. It likes a Glad Wrap protect the body by primarily dispersed the force from impact through its viscoelasticity. The fascia is under a pre-tension oven when we’re resting which was the resting myofascial tone. It helps provides a low-level stabilizing component to maintain proper postures and perform daily movement unconsciously.

In fact, there are myofibroasts on the fascia which like fiber cells facilitating the contrition of smooth muscle. So it makes fascia a dynamic structure. In addition, there are mechanoreceptors, believed to react in response to extremal pull. Then communicate with the nervous system to initiate fascial contraction. As a result, it could remodel itself along the direction of movement so that it becomes stronger to deal with the stress. At the same time, it will become stiffer and harder upon repetitive stress likes other soft tissues, resulting in limited range of mothing of the surrounding joints and even pain. Poor tissue condition eventually makes it hard to perform simple daily activities.

Applying pressure at some trigger or acupressure points will stimulate these receptors to relax the fascia and it is one way to alleviate joint problems. This technique is self-myofascial release (SMR) which has been using by many Chinese doctors and therapists. Effective SMR combines pressure and movement. A very popular trading area is the plantar fascia. The previous method is often done with a tennis, golf or lacrosse ball which placed under the feet and roll on different directions. It stimulates the pain points to relax the fascia. Recently, more people use should cheek rollers at different parts of the body. But before SMR, one should check whether there are wounds, skin problems, swelling, or experiencing inflammatory phase of and bruise on the target tissues. One should also be aware if taking any blood-thinning medications. Roller with appropriate firmness should be carefully selected. It is never better with more pain. The key is applying just enough pressure at a required depth, so the muscle remains pliable, especially at bones of the rib cage and spine. Movements are slow and controlled. Otherwise the myofascial would not relax but be further tightened due to the irritating feeling. Pre-stretching and massaging the surrounding muscle help loosened up the target area.

Nevertheless, many SMR techniques demonstrated in the media involve resting a section of the body, mostly trunk and lower body, on the roller and very often using the upper body to pull those parts across it. The works fine for people with strong upper bodies, good core strength, adequate wrist flexibility and good shoulder stability but it is not a viable option for many inactive adults. So one should try a more comfortable technique. For example, using handheld roller to work on the target area, placing roller or ball between the body and wall whine standing and pressing the body against the wall. Last but not least, these techniques require one to push or pull and exert force on the target area which is actually strengthening-liked and will increase blood pressure. So it’s very important to keep breathing throughout the movement. Besides, general warm up and flexibility should be done beforehand and it’s common sense to do stretching afterwards.

**This works fine for people with strong upper bodies, good core strength, adequate wrist flexibility and good shoulder stability

330 Tips provided by:  Dr. Forrest Yau  (Health/ Fitness Specialist, Centre for Nutritional Studies, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, CUHK)