Myofascial Release Therapy - The Body as a Tensegrity Structure

Myofascial Tissue and Tensegrity: An Updated Perspective on the Biomechanics of Movement

In the world of bodywork and biomechanics, a relatively new concept is slowly but surely taking over, reshaping our understanding of the human body: the idea of the body as a tensegrity structure, with the myofascial tissue at the core of it.

The purpose of this blog post is elaborating on this concept and its implications on a practical level in our daily lives.

Understanding Myofascial Tissue

Myofascial tissue or fascia, is a continuous spider web-like connective tissue in our body that envelops muscle, bones, organs, blood vessels and nerves, including the brain (the meninges are fascia)

Once thought to be a passive wrapping with no major purpose in our body, it used to be discarded in the dissection room; today, it has become the focus of study and the hype in different fields like, athletic performance/conditioning ,soft tissue therapy and rehabilitation between others.

Far from being just a passive wrapping the fascia is dynamic and extremely sensitive and adaptable to changes in the body. The fascia is a key element of our body’s wellbeing, structure, function and movement.

The Myofascial tissue has many qualities that individually already make it a key element in our body, let alone all together.

Some of these qualities are:

Continuity: Fascia forms a continuous network throughout the body, connecting all structures in one single piece of fabric.
Adaptability: Dynamic. It can change its structure in response to mechanical and chemical stimuli.
Contractibility: It has the ability to contract (similar to muscle)
Sensory function: With more nerve endings than the skin, fascia plays a crucial role in proprioception.
Interoception: Not only it plays a role in proprioception but also interoception (how our body feels). This quality is especially important to understand the connection between our body and our mind, our body and our emotions.
Piezoelectricity: Fascia exhibits piezoelectric properties, generating electrical signals in response to mechanical stress. This characteristic plays a role in tissue repair and adaptation. This piezoelectric property of fascia contributes to its dynamic nature, allowing it to respond to physical stimuli and potentially influencing cellular behaviour and tissue healing processes.
Light transmission: Fascia has been found to conduct light signals (biophotons or ultraweak photon emissions); these light signals travel much faster than the speed nerve signals are travel at, reaching their destination almost instantly and potentially playing a role in cellular communication and regulation this way. This property suggests that fascia might act as a body-wide signalling network, influencing various physiological processes. This light-conducting ability of fascia adds another layer to its complex role in the body, potentially influencing everything from cellular metabolism to overall health. It opens up new avenues for research in biofield science and energy medicine.

The Concept of Tensegrity

Tensegrity, a term coined by Buckminster Fuller, combines “tension” and “integrity.” In architectural terms, it refers to structures that maintain their integrity through a balance of tension and compression forces. When applied to the human body, this concept suggests that our musculoskeletal system “floats” within the tension of the myofascial network.

This concept of out body as a tensegrity structure it’s miles away from the old stablished view of our musculoskeletal system (in which the current medical system is still stuck at together with most conventional medical professions, that need to catch up with new science research)

The traditional view sees the body as a collection of separate parts, with bones as the primary support structure and muscles acting on them like levers. This model, often compared to a machine, suggests that forces are transmitted linearly through the body.

In contrast, the tensegrity model presents a more integrated and dynamic view:

Interconnectedness: Unlike the old model’s focus on isolated parts, tensegrity emphasises the interconnected nature of all body systems. The “part” affects the “whole” always.
Continuous tension: Rather than relying solely on compression (as in the old bone-centric model), tensegrity highlights the importance of continuous tension throughout the fascial network. “Bones must also be considered as compartmental specialisations of fascia (mineralised but still flexible)” (Bordoni and Lagana 2019, Levin 2018)
Adaptability: The tensegrity model better explains the body’s ability to adapt to various stresses and maintain stability in different positions.
Force distribution: Instead of linear force transmission, tensegrity allows for a more even distribution of forces throughout the entire structure.

This shift in perspective from a mechanical to a tensegrity model has profound implications for how we understand movement, treat injuries, and approach overall health and wellness.

Myofascial Tissue as a Tensegrity Structure

The myofascial system acts as a tensegrity structure:

Continuous Tension: The fascia maintains a constant tension throughout the body, providing balance.
Distributed Stress: Unlike a rigid structure, tensegrity allows for a balanced distribution of stress across the entire system.
Flexibility and Resilience: This structure allows for flexibility while maintaining overall integrity, allowing our bodies can move and adapt without losing structural stability.

Implications for Health, Wellbeing and Sports performance

Understanding the body as a tensegrity structure:

Holistic Approach to Treatment: An issue in one area can affect the entire system, necessitating a whole-body approach to therapy. This characteristic not only applies to the musculoskeletal system but to all body systems due to the interconnected and interaction properties of the fascia with all systems.
Importance of Myofascial Release: Techniques like myofascial release help restore optimal tension and balance throughout the body.
Enhanced Performance: Proper fascial health can lead to improved physical performance and reduced risk of injury. This means change in the way we train our body, moving towards functional training that respects the interconnected properties of our musculoskeletal system and away from the conventional training of isolated structures.

Myofascial Release treatment

The wide array of properties of this fascinating tissue mean that its treatment is also varied. There are different techniques, all effective, that approach the tissue slightly differently. At our clinic INSIDE we choose to combine different techniques in order to increase the effectiveness of the treatment.

*You can read more about how myofascial release works on this other blog post.

What’s clear is that as the concept of the fascia and Myofascial release spreads and becomes more mainstream, our understanding of what a treatment should feel and look like also needs to change. Generalising, we also need to catch up in this area.

We’re used to painful treatments, with therapists’ elbows fighting the tension in our tissues, aiming to “break down” the knots. If it hurts, it means it’ll work. Today we know that that’s not how it works. All of that needs to go. Chuck it!

As we’ve seen in this blog post the Myofascial tissue is way more complex than what we thought, it’s extremely sensitive and reactive; it’s sophisticated. Effective treatment of this tissue doesn’t involve brutal force and more often than not when working with the fascia “less is more”, slow, steady and mindful, rather than fast and forceful.

Gentle (even when firm), focused and steady techniques that respect the body are far more effective in promoting healing and restoring balance.

Conclusion

Viewing the body as a tensegrity structure and understanding the role of the myofascial tissue offers an exciting new view on human biomechanics that makes much more sense than the old views.

Understanding the interconnectedness of our body systems opens up new avenues for research, treatment and optimisation of our health.

As research in this field continues to evolve, it’s clear that understanding and working with the myofascial system as a tensegrity structure will play an increasingly important role in areas like sports conditioning/performance and rehabilitation, injury prevention or mental health between others.

For further reading on this topic, you may find the following resources helpful:

[BOOK] Fascia: the tensional network of the human body: the science and clinical applications in manual and movement therapy

References:

Schleip, R. (2012). Fascia : the tensional network of the human body : the science and clinical applications in manual and movement therapy. Edinburgh ; New York: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.

Fairweather, R. and Mari, M.S. (2015). Massage fusion : the Jing method for the treatment of chronic pain. Edinburgh: Handspring Publishing.

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About the author

Rocio Santiago

MA in Nursing, Dip. Soft Tissue Therapy

Ro initially began her career as a nurse. Following this and after a difficult time in her life that resulted in a career change, Ro went on to train at one of the leading soft tissue therapy schools in Europe, completing a 3 year degree level course and specialising in effective soft tissue manipulation for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.

The treatment method Ro uses consists of a combined approach using different specialised techniques, myofascial release and trigger point work among others, with the intention and focus on providing effective results in the least possible amount of time.

Combining her training, science background and life experience, her treatment method is based in science and built using a whole body approach, where mind and body are addressed as one.

Ro has been seeing clients as a soft tissue therapist for 8 years, successfully treating a wide range of conditions.