Pain is a message. But, it's hard to listen to when you've been suffering for a long time and no one has quite diagnosed the reason. Whatever the cause, chronic pain impacts your quality of life, your emotional well-being, and the lives of those around you. What can you do? Where can you go for help? For many people, the answer is a treatment they've never even heard of: myofascial release.

But myofascial therapy is more than just a treatment option—it's like a mind and body transformation. As an integrated treatment with other forms of therapy, it's an amazing process that brings your mind and body into a place of alignment, where they can do the healing that needs to be done. You feel calmer and more confident. You discover new insights about the ways you've been living your life.

Mind-Body Science
Myofascial release is a hands-on form of therapy that releases restrictions in the body's fascial system. Fascia comprises a system of connective tissue that surrounds every muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel and organ of the body—all the way down to cellular level. Any kind of restriction on the fascial tissue—trauma, asymmetric posture or inflammation—can create a binding of the fascia, resulting in pressure on nerves, muscles, bones or organs.

Myofascial release involves gentle, sustained pressure to the restricted connective tissue. Used to eliminate pain and restore mobility, myofascial therapy also includes education in proper body mechanics and movement, and enhancement of posture, flexibility and strength. The focus of this therapy is on the cause of the injury or trauma, not the symptoms.

Therapists use a hands-on approach, constantly evaluating and adjusting treatment based on where you are in the process. This micro-adjustment strategy ensures that treatment is customized just for you. Where you are and how you are feeling changes from day to day, and therapists take this into account, keeping a detailed history of your healing path.

Myofascial release can alleviate a wide range of problems, including acute and chronic pain, movement restriction, headaches, TMJ, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, sports injuries, neurological dysfunction, and depression. Because every part of the body is connected to fascia, every part of the body can be affected by a constriction in it.

Babies with torticollis, gait (walking) abnormalities, swallowing or suckling difficulties, colic, stomach reflux, and much more are relieved with myofascial release. Children with ADD, ADHD, or LD may have myofascial restrictions elsewhere in the body which may impact the central nervous system. The earlier the restriction is addressed, the easier and more rapid the release.

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Trigger-point therapy is an aspect of myofascial release that treats pain in the muscles and connective tissue through the hypersensitive spots—or trigger points—that cause referred pain in response to stress. Other hands-on therapy includes acupressure, craniosacral therapy, Feldenkraise^®, manual therapy and visceral manipulation.