Myofascial release is a specialised manual therapy technique that focuses on addressing the fascia, simple as that.

The fascia (this is where it gets complicated!) is the fibrous soft tissue component of the connective tissue system, a whole body continuous three-dimensional web that supports muscles, bones, organs and nerve fibres throughout the body, including the brain.

I know! If you’re like me you left the room somewhere halfway through that sentence.

Let’s break that definition down,

Fibrous soft tissue component of the connective tissue; even though all fascia is connective tissue, not all connective tissue is fascia.

Blood, for example, is also a connective tissue and is not fascia. So fascia is the fibrous soft tissue component of connective tissue in our body and it’s responsible for providing structural support (between other functions).

Another example is adipose (fat) tissue, while being a type of connective tissue, is not considered fascia.

What makes them all connective tissues is that they have the same “ingredients” (cells, fibres and ground substance); but the recipe is different… and their function is different as well, of course.

For example, Adipose (fat) tissue would have mostly cells (adipocytes), while Tendons (considered to be fascia) would have way more fibres than cells. Adipose tissue’s function is to store energy and tendon’s have a structural function within the fascia web.

It’s a whole body continuous three-dimensional web; meaning it’s a single “piece of fabric”, it doesn’t divide, it’s one! Like a spider web. An easy way to understand fascia would be imagining that if we could magically remove everything else but fascia from a person’s body, we would be left with a super detailed 3D representation of that body.

When we understand this, we can understand how strain in one part of the system may cause pain, restricted range of motion, or another dysfunction elsewhere in a domino-like effect.

Supports

Today we see the fascia system as a biotensegrity structure that plays a crucial role in providing structural integrity and support throughout the body.

A system that achieves balance through the tensional – compressional forces of its elements all the way down to the cellular level.

Our traditional view of the human skeleton sees the human body as a hard structure (imagine a wall of bricks) where bones stack on top of each other and where cables (muscles) that pass over a joint cause a movement. The fascia just fills in the gap, without a major role and when the bricks get misaligned they can be pushed back into place with a quick intervention.

Dr Stephen Levin though, came up with a new updated version of the human skeleton that leaves little room for discussion.

In Levin’s model, the body behaves as a tensegrity structure.

A tensegrity structure is an architectural and engineering concept where the structural integrity is maintained through a balance of tension and compression forces. Imagine a structure held together by a continuous network of tensioned cables with rigid elements that don’t touch each other but are suspended within this network.

Think of it like a spider web with floating sticks – the web’s tension holds everything in perfect balance. In our body, the myofascial tissue acts like these tensioned cables, while our bones float within this tensional network, never actually directly pressing against each other.

Levin argues that without the tension of the connective tissue (myofascial tissue) the skeleton (unable to stand up for itself) would be a pile of bones on the floor.

In this model the myofascial system plays a huge structural role in the body and it is easy to understand how a stressors in one area of the system would affect the whole balance.

Muscles, bones, organs and nerve fibres throughout the body, including the brain. Ligaments, tendons, the wrapping around the brain (meninges), nerves (epineurium), bones (periosteum), muscle fibres (endomysium) and bundles of muscles (myofasciae) can all be considered to be fascia.