Here you are, ready to make an appointment for that nagging pain in your…back, neck, shoulders, elbow (you get the picture) to finally get some relief. As you start searching around for a massage center that will help you, you notice this other technique people keep talking about. Myofascial Release. Hmm. Didn’t they mention that stuff in the Olympics last year? If it’s good enough for athletes, then it must be good for me, right?
Well, you are definitely onto something. But before you take the leap, you might want to know what to expect from a Myofascial treatment plan v. your typical massage. Having been a Licensed Massage Therapist for over ten years and now a Myofascial Therapist for 6 years, I want to take a moment to explain a few key differences between Massage and Myofascial Release that will hopefully help you decide what you need. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you the differences, what our clients say and how to get started.
MASSAGE FEELS GOOD RIGHT AWAY
Massaging your body gets the blood flowing and also the elastic component of your tissue to release right away. Its what gives you that awesome glowy feeling right after you get up. The only problem is, elastic bounces back and your tissue is made up of 20% elastic and 80% collagenous. The collagenous tissue is the part that gets all dried out and stuck and starts giving you problems. With Myofascial Release, your therapist sinks deeply into that collagenous tightness and waits. And waits. And waits. Until it starts to release that extra 80%.
MYOFASCIAL RELEASE GETS AT THE DEEPER ROOT OF THE PROBLEM
If you think about it, since 80% of our tissue is collagenous, it makes sense that it takes a lot more time to start to make lasting and effective change within your body. When you have a one hour Myofascial Session, you may feel relaxed and amazing, but you also might feel a little irritated, too. That’s because what we are doing, is making a change to the root cause of your issues, rather than just addressing the top part of it. Myofascial Release reaches deep into your body to get at the root cause. So as Myofascial Therapists, we are looking for ANY type of change, whether that is a decrease in pain, or an increased range of motion, or even an increase in irritation, or pain. This tells us we are starting to help you on a deeper level.
This is the biggest difference between Massage and Myofascial Release. Massage will help relieve sore muscles quickly but will keep you returning over and over for the same issue, while Myofascial Release starts unraveling the restrictions in your body that are creating the pain in the first place. Both help, just depends if you are interested in long lasting relief or a quick fix for now. Or, maybe you are interested in both. There is great benefit to creating plan that includes Myofascial treatments with Massage. If you’d like to learn more, or are interested in booking your Massage or Myofascial Session at Skin to Soul, feel free to call us or book online now.
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