#fascia – The Fascial Effect

Don’t Just Sit There!

Sitting is something we all do without thinking about it, we sit relaxing on the sofa, we sit at our desks, we sit in cafes and restaurants, we sit on public transport or in our cars, but sitting can be bad for our bodies if we don’t sit in the right position.

Hunched over a keyboard, slumped on the sofa, bent over a mobile phone or e-reader, driving on a long journey, even watching TV, we twist and bend into positions our bodies weren’t designed to maintain for any length of time. These activities involve:

Holding your neck in an awkward position for long periods of time
Hunching your shoulders forward
Leaning more into one side of your body

When your head is positioned in a forward posture for hours at a time it puts extra pressure on the discs in the neck and spine, which causes increased compression and can lead to chronic neck and shoulder pain and severe headaches. So, stress headaches may not be about too much going on in your head, but how you’re holding it.

The average human head weighs around 10 to 12lbs and all that is balanced on just 7 vertebrae in your neck and supported by around 20 muscles that are responsible for moving your head around and keeping that weight in place.

The relationship between the head, neck and torso affects the whole body. When the head sits properly on the neck and both are properly aligned with the back, the whole body follows with natural posture. However getting our heavy head to sit in correct alignment after the back, neck and spine is a difficult task.

The partial solution to this is getting the neck and shoulders as right as possible at first and the head alignment will follow. Also, these pains can usually be treated with a course of gentle myofascial release therapy, which identifies the points or triggers where things have tightened up and got stuck, loosens the muscles of neck, releases trapped nerves and increases your range of movement.

That will work to release some of the tension, but if you just go back to your old habits, all that good work can be reversed. However, you can practise good self-care after treatment and prevent this happening again.

My Neck and Shoulder Fascia Release workshop is designed to get you started with basic movement therapy to do that – and it’s online, so it doesn’t matter where you are you can participate. The results are often life-changing and patients find they not only have more mobility, less (or no) pain, but also sleep better and feel generally better in themselves.

To book a Neck and Shoulder Fascia Release Workshop click here

If your current symptoms are very uncomfortable an initial assessment is advisable. It may be necessary to have a manual treatment to release some of the tension first to get the most out of the workshop.

Nutrition

Twinge and Whinge

Despite the unseasonably warm November, the weather is getting colder and wetter. That’s British weather – the days get shorter and the temperature drops.

If you suffer from arthritis – whether rheumatoid (where your joints get inflamed) or osteo (also known as ‘wear and tear’) – you probably get more painful twinges and aches when it gets colder and dampness also affects them. Cold weather is uncomfortable and many people report feeling stiffer, moving more slowly and every move causes twinges and aches in their joints.

But why?

Cold muscles don’t stretch as well as warm ones, which is why your personal trainer will strongly recommend you warm up before a workout to ensure you don’t get any injuries. This tension reduces mobility and flexibility in your joints.

There are even studies that have linked changes in the barometric pressure to changes in the way joints move.

What you can do

A good diet will help; eating seasonally fresh and nourishing foods should be your first step. But what about supplements to support your body’s functioning?

Here are a few supplements that support bone health:

Curcumin is the principal active component of Turmeric and gives the spice its bright yellow colour. In South Asia, turmeric is considered to be a warming spice; I feel warm just looking at the vibrant yellow powder! Curcumin has anti-inflammatory properties, making it a potential treatment for a number of health conditions, including reduced joint pain and increased ease of movement. Some studies have shown that the reduction in joint inflammation can act in an almost self-healing fashion, allowing regeneration of cartilage leading to true joint healing – rather than simply managing the condition so get out your recipe books and see how you can add Turmeric to your recipes.

We can’t talk about joints without mentioning the often recommended Glucosamine Sulphate, which helps to lubricate the joints and support the formation of cartilage, reducing wear and tear i.e. osteoarthritis.

Winter months are not good for sunbathing in the UK, but sunlight generates Vitamin D, which contributes to strong bones. That means that for around 6 months of the year a Vitamin D3 supplement is advisable. Vitamin D facilitates Calcium absorption in the body, which promotes bone and joint health.

It is essential to take Vitamin D3 with Vitamin K2 which will make sure that the calcium ends up in the bones and not become deposits where it shouldn’t be, like in your arteries.

Add safe doses of curcumin, glucosamine, Vitamins D3 and K2 to Black Cumin Seed Oil to reduce inflammation, Pumpkin Seed Oil – packed full of essential fatty acids, which act as lubricants for joints, and Milled Flaxseed – also high in Omega Fats, Vitamins and Minerals. If that sounds too complicated to put together every day then you might find that a sachet of BEND, daily, will give you all the concentrated, natural ingredients designed to support healthy bones and joints that you need.

This doesn’t mean that a daily sachet of BEND will replace gentle exercise to keep your joints moving. You still need to move around as much as possible – the combination of a sachet of BEND and moderate exercise is better than either option alone. Protect and preserve your bones and joints to stay mobile and independent.

For more information call Jas on 07775633798

Ageing

Keep Your Skin Supple

After Menopause (sometimes called ‘the change’) one of the visible changes is often a more noticeable reduction in the plumpness of the skin, referred to as ‘volume’.  Collagen gives your face that smooth, youthful resilience and, as its production drops off, the result is more wrinkles, fine lines and sagging.  Not what you want when your confidence is probably not at an all-time high.

For those that can afford it, this is when they go to an aesthetician to get Botox or fillers – but this is a radical approach and not for everyone.

Alternatively, you may reach for the skin care products containing the latest ingredient that promises to be the answer to your problem. Hyaluronic acid, quite rightly, has recently received a lot of attention.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is undoubtedly one of the most popular ingredients in the anti-ageing skincare industry today. Its main task is to absorb and retain water so that the skin looks and feels plump and supple.

HA (also known as hyaluronan or hyaluronate) is an important component for fascia – the membrane that encloses all our organs. HA is produced naturally by our bodies, and its primary task is to retain water to keep our fascia well lubricated. This in turn helps the skin feel more hydrated and appear more youthful.

Like a thirsty sponge, HA is like a magnet for moisture and can hold up to 1000 times its weight in water. These hydrating properties are the reason it is so popular in moisturisers and serums.

As part of the research for my dissertation I developed a facial massage routine using myo-fascial techniques. The results were impressive! This product-free facial is anti-ageing because it encourages the skin to retain moisture, plumps out fine lines and wrinkles and improves firmness. It does this by stimulating the fascia beneath the skin to ‘wake up’ and start moving blood, lymph and energy and start synthesising what it needs to keep the skin healthy.

It’s a real alternative to chemical interventions and I’ve developed these techniques into a 90 minute online training session so you can learn a simple massage that you can do for yourself to combat the effects of menopause on your skin.

To book a Zoom Facial Workshop Click here

Body

Get things moving again

We all damage our bodies from time to time. Whether you’ve tripped while walking from the kitchen to the lounge and twisted something or overdone the jogging and developed a painful part, it’s easy to over-stretch, strain or tear your soft tissue.

The problem is that life goes on and, unless the injury is bad enough to require a visit to the doctor, we just tend to get on with it. Not only does it take time for soft tissues to heal, but the damage is compounded as your body tries to reduce the pain – usually by reducing the movement in the damaged part.

Your body is a highly sophisticated ‘machine’, all the parts are designed to move smoothly together, so when one part is damaged, everything around it is affected. That’s why we limp when we’ve strained an ankle or avoid gripping when there’s a wrist, arm or shoulder strain. Although I do know of a little girl who would limp even with a cut on her finger – but she was only four!

Instead of your soft tissues moving freely, the fascia – the membrane that wraps around all your organs, muscles and ligaments – gets stuck. This prevents movement and results in more pain.

Random aches and pains

Sometimes you end up with a pain that you can’t attribute to an injury or particular event. You’ve probably woken up occasionally with a stiff neck from sleeping in a position that’s caused soft tissues to get stuck. If you sit with your smartphone in one hand for an extended period you can find the muscles in your upper arm and shoulder ‘complain’ and, these days, we all know about the fallout from sitting hunched over a keyboard for hours.

Effectively this is the same as favouring an injured area – but without the injury! You’re in one position, perhaps with tensed muscles, and the result is pain.

If any of this sounds familiar, then you’ll know that these aches and pains sometimes go away on their own, but unless you change your habits, more often they’ll just get worse.

Release, relieve and restore

Typically people resort to heat creams, anti-inflammatory tablets and massage to relieve aches and pains, but all these are doing is dealing with the symptoms.

A more effective way to treat these kinds of injury is myo-fascial release (MFR), which works on releasing the soft tissues which have got stuck and restores a wider range of movement. It’s fine to use the anti-inflammatory treatments to help the tissues heal, but they won’t heal as quickly if everything is stuck.

If you are prone to aches and pains in particular areas then learning a series of moving stretches can also help to keep things moving.

Find out more about MFR for injuries, aches and pains.

Body

When waving ‘goodbye’ is painful …

If you get pain in your shoulder area when you raise your arm to wave goodbye to your friends and family, you may have a problem with your rotator cuff!

It may sound like some kind of garden machine, but it’s actually four muscles that work around your shoulder to allow you to move your arm up, down and forwards and backwards.

Many shoulder pain conditions are caused by injury to one or more of the rotator cuff muscles, or to the soft tissues around the shoulder joint.

So if you get pain in the neck and shoulder or find it difficult to complete movements such as:

Reaching up to get something off the top shelf
Reaching behind to hook up your bra or get your arms into a fitted coat or shirt
Pulling a cord starter on your motor boat or lawnmower
Reaching to pull your seatbelt into place
Installing ceiling tiles
Pulling a suitcase along

Or any similar movements; even sitting over a computer keyboard or driving for extended periods can cause problems. It can get particularly bad when there have been tears in the muscles fibres and the resulting scar tissue restricts movement in the shoulder further.

The solution is a course of Myofascial release (MFR) which works on the soft tissues, easing restrictions in the muscles and their encasing fascia around the shoulder joint, neck and upper chest. Trigger point therapy reduces pain and frees up the muscles range of movement. Some muscle stretching and contracting is included for improving flexibility and an increased range of motion in the shoulder.

For more information or to book an appointment call Jas on 07775633798

Body

Heavy handbag? It can weigh you down

As life gets busier we start carrying more and more around in our handbags – actually some of the bags that you see couldn’t be described as ‘handbags’ – they’re almost suitcases!

So if you’re carrying your life around with you be aware that you could develop all kinds of physical reactions. If you feel:

Pain around your neck or shoulder area
Numbness or pins and needles in your arm or hand
Persistent headaches
Tightness on one side of your neck

You need to take action.

Rest won’t necessarily fix the problem, if your soft tissues are strained or stuck, you’re going to need some expert help to release the tension and get things moving again. This might include:

Myofascial release to loosen your connective tissue
Hot stones to warm and hydrate muscles
Cupping to increase blood supply and release toxins
Trigger point therapy to release pain
Stretching to restore flexibility

Your pain may not be caused by lugging a handbag, it could be carrying a baby or toddler or lugging any heavy items around on a regular basis. Don’t compound the damage by doing nothing, get treatment to relieve the pain and restore normal movement again.

Call Jas on 07775 633798 to find out more

Body

Tension in the Jaw….don’t grin and bear it!

When you’re stressed or anxious you tighten your jaw, even when you’re asleep stress can manifest as teeth grinding.

Your head has several bones, but only one joint – where the mandible (lower jaw) connects to the main skull structure. It effectively operates to allow us to chew and to talk. It’s also a hotspot for physical stress to accumulate.

Today’s lifestyle doesn’t always make it easy for you to sit up straight while tucking your chin in for more than a few seconds at a time – so you generally adapt a head forward posture, with clenched jaw.

What to look for

Your jaw locks or clicks when you open your mouth
You suffer from a dry mouth
You get headaches focused on your forehead or temple
You suffer from pain in upper teeth and cheek (sometimes identified as sinus pain) or pain in the lower teeth and jaw
You have buzzing or ringing in the ears

Myofascial release techniques can help by reducing the effects of physical stress in your face, neck and jaw. This treatment will help to ease the restriction of your fascia (soft fibrous connective tissue) and stretch the muscles and reduce the pressure in and around your jaw, that’s causing the problem.

To enhance the effects suction cups will further relax the tissues and assist in draining away excess fluid and toxins. In severe cases, deeper pressure on your trigger points may be needed.

Not only will your jaw feel lighter, but you’ll also feel relaxed physically and de-stressed mentally.

Find out more – contact Jas on 07775 633798

Ageing

Is ‘The Change’ disrupting your life?

Menopause is often referred to as ‘The Change’, implying that your life will change to be different afterwards – but in reality it’s the actual process of menopause that is the biggest change. And it can disrupt not only the life of the woman who is experiencing it, but also those who live and work with her.

Menopause is a change in hormone balance that stops ovulation and the symptoms can include hot flushes, night sweats, brain fog, mood swings and depression to name few. In addition body fat accumulates mainly in the abdominal area as a result of oestrogen deficiency and blood pressure begins to rise adding to a greater risk of cardiovascular disorders later in life.

Some people can manage relatively mild symptoms, but the severity of the symptoms can almost be unbearable for others. Everyone is different.

A balanced diet high in plant foods alongside action taken to reduce stress and take moderate exercise can help cope with physical health and mental wellbeing during this time.

But what if you are not able to step off the treadmill of life just yet and want to keep living life to the full without the constant challenges of coping with the menopause? What if the small changes you make to your lifestyle are helping, but they are not improving the quality of your life as much as you would like? There are pharmaceutical treatments like HRT, but not everyone wants to commit to taking that for an unspecified number of years. However, there are natural alternatives.

I came across the Rain seed nutritional products at precisely this time and have never looked back. It’s all about getting back to basics – if a diet high in plant foods is good for you, the seed-based product is three times more nutritious, because it contains the fuel and genetic material to grow the plant in the first place i.e. everything is in the seed; vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and plentiful Omega 3, 6 and 9.

The seeds used in these supplements cannot, as a rule, be added to your muesli! That’s why these products are brilliant, no chewing is required as the seed coat is ground and the oils are extracted in a cold press process so as not to damage any precious nutrition. This densely nutritious product is added to a solution to make it palatable and convenient to take.

SOUL is the product I started taking and most certainly the one I would recommend for symptoms caused by hormonal issues.

Menopause, peri-menopause and pre-menstrual tension are all hormonal imbalances and the symptoms are amplified by inflammation. Any anti-inflammatory agent can lessen the associated discomforts and optimize healthy endocrine function. All of the seeds in SOUL are known for their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.

For information on the ingredients view the PDF SOUL

If you would like to know how SOUL can help you then email me on jas@thefascialeffect.co.uk to arrange a consultation.

Body

Posture can tell the story of our life

Every one of us is born with inherited genes from our parents. Our structure is inherited and then life continues to further shape us with:

Physical trauma such as accidents injuries and surgery
Psychological trauma – stress, anxiety and moods
Movement patterns – overuse or lifestyle habits

All of these influence the fascia framework; a 3-dimensional connective tissue which connects by weaving a continuous web around the body from head to toe, from front to back and from interior to exterior. In a perfect structure the fascia would be well laid out and organised, but because life happens, it can become stuck, stretched and bunched! Many times this leads to pain and dysfunction.

If symptoms such as pain, tightness and a restricted range of movement are ignored, we become increasingly locked in a structural/postural pattern from within.

The English Dictionary definition of posture is ‘the position or way in which someone stands or walks’. However, posture is more than simply standing, walking or sitting up straight – it is the driving force of all movement and activities and has a profound effect on our health and wellbeing.

If we develop poor posture by constantly sitting in a chair that doesn’t provide the right support for our body or walk with a hunched back, it’s no wonder our body starts to complain. It wasn’t designed for the position we’ve been forcing it to adopt and that’s why we develop aches and pains.

The motivation to change or improve posture is usually pain or restricted movement. Efforts to change are quite often frustratingly ineffective because we focus on changing the outside structure. Overzealous activity can even cause injury and further restrictions.

While people talk about sports injuries, things like tennis elbow can develop even if you’ve never picked up a tennis racquet. It’s simply the result of a frequently repeated movement that irritates a muscle or tendon until it becomes sore. Then the fascia tries to protect it and needs to be released for healing to take place.

If we want to continue moving well, an inner awareness of our body and making gentle subtle changes to posture is the way forward to long-term health and wellbeing.

For more information call 0775633798

Body

Scarred!

Scars have the potential to create both a physiological and psychological impact. Scars are associated not only with cuts, surgery and wounds, but also by tears from injury or trauma. Pain-related conditions such as lower back pain, plantar fasciitis, shoulder pain and headaches can quite often be traced back to a scar.

Effectively a scar is an injury to the fascia, or soft tissue that wraps around all your organs, muscles, ligaments, etc. Scar tissue impedes the free gliding action of fascia inhibiting normal healing and movement processes.

Imagine a busy motorway; while traffic is free flowing there are no problems. When there is a blockage across the carriageways the flow of traffic will slow down or stop. There may be diversions to enable people to get from A to B, but it will take longer and cause disruption, stress and anxiety for the occupants of all the vehicles until the roadblock is cleared.

Now imagine a deep cut that penetrates the surface of the skin through to the deeper layers of the body. The body will immediately respond with an inflammatory response, which includes laying down collagen to reconstruct the injured fascia and close the wound.

The scar is visible on the surface, but the underlying repair job can act as a roadblock to the free flow of the essential body processes. This creates deficiencies in one area and excess in another area. For some it can mean long term pain and restricted movement.

Fortunately, there is treatment that can relieve the pain and help to remove the roadblock.

For more information or to book an appointment with Jas call 07775633798