Don’t let tight fascia hinder your fitness journey!
Starting from July 6th, every Thursday at 11:45am, Celeste and Alice will guide you through a series of four classes, designed to enhance your overall well-being and muscular health.
What is foam rolling?
Well, it’s all about the Myofascial release which is a soft tissue massage treatment. This can help reduce pain within muscular system and increase myofascial mobility.
What is fascia?
“Fascia” comes from a Latin term which translates to “bandage”. This is referring to our connective tissue that acts like a silken spider web interconnecting muscles, organs and bone to each other.
Imagine if fascia is like a silken body suit which covers you up from head to toe from superficial to deep structures. If we give one area a pull, we are going to see a ripple effect across the suit. This means that sometimes pain on your knee could be caused by tight surrounding muscles.
Your fascia can tighten due to limited exercise, injury, surgery and stress. Some symptoms will be deep aching pain in a muscle, a tender knot in a muscle also known as a trigger point and chronic pain.
What is a trigger point?
Occasionally, you can find stiff areas in your fascial tissue. They feel like small bumps, nodules or knots in your muscles. Keep gentle pressure on this point.
How do we keep our fascia healthy?
Staying physically active, this helps the fascia become more elastic preventing it from becoming stiff and tight. Long, slow stretches can also make an impact as it lengthens the tissue that is too short. Staying hydrated, this is due to the fascia having a good amount of collagen like your skin, so drinking lots of water keeps it healthier. Trying to maintain a good posture will help to keep muscles from tightening and becoming stiff. Foam rolling benefits the fascia as this relieves tension helping to reverse symptoms.
When should you foam roll?
This can be done after a workout before stretching or before workout as a warm up. Each muscle should be foam rolled for about a minute.
When rolling you should do it gently with sustained pressure in order to release the tensed fascia. If too much pressure you could end up making the muscles tense up more adding to the pain. When finished you should feel worked but not overly fatigued with a feeling of increased range of movement of the joints.
Why do we foam roll?
There are multiple benefits such as:
- Improved body symmetry and alignment
- Increased blood flow leading to faster recovery
- Reduce appearance of stretch marks and cellulite
- Scar tissue breakdown
- Reduce risk of injury
- Less day-to-day pain
- Improve sports performance
Do not
- Roll over bony prominences – repeated rolling could lead to inflammation around the area
- Rolling over joints – inflammation around the joint. Also avoid hyperextension of unsupported joints
- Avoid rolling lower back – hyperextension of the lower spine can lead to injury
- Avoid if you have osteoporosis
