Articles

MYOFASCIAL RELEASE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESENCE


Michael Rende and I went to Bangalore, India in February’09. We spent a month in The Art of Living International Ashram and had the privilege of sharing our practice of Myofascial Release ( MFR) with the International Visitors, local “Ashramites” and both Allopathic and Ayurvedic Physicians. There were some subtle differences in introducing MFR to our clients in India that produced surprising and profound differences in the outcome of our sessions and directly influenced our experience in treatment. When treating in our practice at Hands on Physical Therapy, we generally initiate treatment with a lengthy evaluation which includes looking at a complete patient medical history followed by an interview and objective tests designed to gather objective data. This objective data is the basis for the plan of care that is outlined and sent to the physician for approval and kept as a baseline for comparison for future assessments. In contrast, the only information that was necessary to initiate treatment for our clients in India was a brief explanation of the symptoms that they were having and how it was affecting their life and daily activities. Because of the cultural differences, language barrier, and verbal communication (which is a big part of our Western culture), was cut short. At first, I considered this a disadvantage. I didn’t always have the correct words in their language to explain MFR, what I was doing or what they may be feeling. This is typically a big part of the first meeting with new clients. Instead, we went right to work. We did not have to document objective data and validate our treatment. Functional goals did not have to be generated. All of the time could be spent connecting with the client in treatment mode. Inherent within their culture is the practice of meditation or quieting the mind to listen. We didn’t have to coach them into quieting down once they laid on the treatment table. They did it naturally. Consequently, there was no need for us to explain anything else, they felt it. As a result we experienced excellent treatment results, usually from the first treatment with fewer sessions required. This led me to my query about “Presence”. What is “Presence” and why does “presence” or conversely the “lack of presence” influence pain patterns and healing in the body?

I asked all of my colleagues at Hands on Physical Therapy to give me their definition of “Presence”. There was an amazing similarity to all of the answers. Here are some of the examples:

“Being fully aware in the present moment”
“Accepting the moment exactly as it is”
“Not examining our past, not anticipating our future: being exactly where we are, at this moment, on this day”
“Coming into this moment”

Sounds good and simple right? Being right here, right now and responding to events in the present moment without any of our past tapes or impressions. The truth is how many of us have a crowd in our head at any given time. We are thinking about what we did earlier, what we have to do later, what we said to this one, what that one said to us and on and on.
How many times are we really listening when someone else is talking to us? It’s difficult for many of us to get to sleep at night because we are constantly recounting the day’s events in our head. In fact, our mental gymnastics have a tendency to overshadow and block out the much more important information of what our body is attempting to relate to us if we would only quiet down and listen. In order to understand why presence is important and why our typical adopted behavior patterns affect our innate ability to heal, it is important to have a basic understanding of the fascial system. Fascia is a tough, connective tissue that spreads three dimensionally throughout the body from head to toe without interruption. Every system in our body (skin, nervous system, digestive system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, skeletal system) is composed of connective tissue. Science has now given us proof of what we have been feeling with our hands and addressing in many forms of body work, especially Myofascial Release. There is an amazing DVD called “Strolling Under the Skin” which represents over 20 years of research on the fascial system by Dr. Jean Claude Guimberteau. This DVD shows living fascia. It shows how the tissue fibers are meant to slide on each other creating a mobile tissue environment. It also explains the concept of “tensegrity” which explains how forces are applied and transmitted throughout the living structure. There is another incredible scientific resource called “Energy Medicine” by James Oshman PhD. He also explains the concept of tensegrity. Tensegrity explains the ability of the body to absorb impact without being damaged. Mechanical energy flows away from the site of impact through this fascial network. The more balanced and flexible the communication network, the better the ability to absorb shock. In the body, the bones act as discontinuous compression elements and the muscles, tendons and ligaments act as a continuous tensional system. This permits the body to change shape, lift and move objects. Most of the injuries and pain patterns that we deal with in the therapeutic setting and in our daily lives are either a result of falls or repeated, habitual movement patterns in our day to day lives that strain our tissues. Gravity is a part of our immediate environment and affects everything around us. Our body alignment is affected by gravity. Good body alignment is essential to proper wear and stress on our tissues. It also effects how our organs function. We can take this a step further to acknowledge how stress patterns and emotional trauma affects the alignment of our body. Take a moment and think about a stressful event in your life. You may feel an immediate contraction of certain parts of your body.

Conversely, if you recount a very happy event in your life, you will likely feel an expansion or uplifting feel in your body. When we are stressed, we may be more stooped forward. These repeated postures over time affect this tensile network of our body creating a sensory amnesia. We forget what normal is and adapt to our abnormal, compensated posture. We block out the signals that our body gives via pain thereby numbing the acuity of our own presence. Emotional patterns are reflected in the body structure. Fear, grief, anger, happiness and joy each have a characteristic pose and pattern of movement. This is referred to as “body language”. The negative emotional patterns cause a contraction of the body structure which moves away from structural balance. Once this happens, gravity takes over and pulls the body downward making the body shorter. If an individual continues to replay an emotional situation, the physical body becomes set into a psychological pattern. This shortening of the body in an emotional pattern causes compression on the surrounding structures. The body responds to this continued shortening of the structure by laying down collagen which further reduces the normal space and decreases the flexibility. This pattern can be reversed and collagen actually reabsorbed into the body by a lengthening of the body and reorganization of the fiber pattern. Scientific research has also shown how the body will retain a memory of specific emotional incidents or traumas within that shortened tissue. As the shortened tissue is lengthened, the energy of that incident is released and the individual will often recall the memory or emotion associated with that trauma. This lengthening of the shortened tissues affects the whole body which begins to bring the body back to equilibrium. This brings us back to the concept of “Presence”. The body has these innate healing capabilities beautifully built into its self healing mechanism. However, in order to access them, we need to be able to feel and respond in the present moment. Movement is a sensory motor experience. If we don’t bring our awareness and presence into the lengthened area, the body can revert back to the abnormal compensated pattern of which it is most familiar. Myofascial Release is the core of our treatment program at Hands on Physical Therapy because of its ability to facilitate the lengthening of shortened tissues thereby restoring the tensile integrity back to the system. We have the opportunity to come back into our body and remember how to respond to the signals that our body is giving us in the present moment restoring presence and restoring optimal functioning of our body.

Jody Hendryx PT, LMT