Fascial Pain - Your Fascia Isn't Tight

We've been here for, but we're always good for a reminder.

Many of you have experienced fascial symptoms before, like the burning of plantar fasciitis or the discomfort through your IT band.

The first instinct is, of course, to rub it.

Now, a bit of self-massage is not a bad thing. All pain that we experience is neurological in nature and sent out by our brain, and by stimulating the painful area with some massage, we're overriding the pain with our own self-made busy signal.

But let's remember that that's about as far as the effect will go. Rubbing the sore spot out will absolutely not break down muscle, adhesions, or scar tissue. It's not a thing that can happen. Please don't argue the fact. In fact, fascia itself is a static and passive tissue that neither contracts nor lengthens (much like ligaments).

So how do we treat fascial pain in the long term if we can't physically "loosen" it up?

Well, as you know, everything in the body is interconnected, and so, logically, that sore fascia connects to something. Your IT band originates from your hip muscles. Your plantar fascia is an extension of your calf and achilles. Those areas can be treated in the long term.

But still not just with a lacrosse ball.

Changes occur in the body due to its mechanics. If any particular muscle is putting undue stress upon the fascia, then there's a change in the way it moves that's required to alleviate it. Sure, rub out your calves, but they're tight in the first place because the hip muscles aren't working enough and making the calves put in overtime. It's when we address the way those relationships are occurring that we can see some long-term relief.

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Why Do Muscles Get Tight?

Tight muscles? You gotta stretch!

Wait...

Ok, so maybe aggressive stretching isn't the answer to muscles being tight, and I've delved into some alternative methods for helping to increase flexibility in the past, but why do muscles get tight in the first place?

Does tightness occur simply due to high amount of use? True, muscles may become stiff when they become conditioned to high demand, such as your spinal muscles or the calves of runners, but let's make sure we realize that stiffness is one thing and that the sensation of a muscle being tight is another.

For the record, muscles require stiffness to function and that stiffness should not be a cause for discomfort. If you disagree, go ahead and try to loosen up your neck and come let me know how it's working for you if you achieve it.

For this reason, I try to avoid even using the word "tight" when in practice, as it sends the message that any tension and stiffness is a negative thing. But if we were loose all over, we'd be pretty useless meatsacks.

So when things DO feel tight, what's happening? Well, that is usually due to muscle tone.

We now understand that flexibility is a mechanism driven by the nervous system and has to do with the level of passive contraction that the muscle is holding when at rest. That level of contraction and tone will change based on the body's physical condition, work demand, and also simply by what it's trained to do.

"Tight" muscles occur when the nervous system is given a reason to hold an excessive amount of tone. These reasons can include acute injury, of course. However, they can also include the muscle simply not being strong enough to do it's job, resulting in increased tone to compensate. This being said, when I find a particularly tonic and tender muscle on a client, while I do treat it for that tension, my immediate next step is start exercising it. (Not stretching it!)

The sensation of tightness, I find, also occurs in those who specifically condition and train themselves to avoid stretching a muscle into certain ranges. The classic example is individuals who religiously avoid any spinal flexion, whether it be due to injury or training in the gym, resulting in the tense feeling through the back by the time they do happen to bend over.

If we can understand the messages that our bodies send us, then it helps us to remedy the discomfort that we are in much more effectively. Targeting the symptoms of tightness often gives us some relief, but mindfulness about addressing those root causes is equally or more important.

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Foam Roller Syndrome

Foam roller syndrome. Don't Google it, I made the term up. It's basically the name I give to chronic, self-(mis)treated instability. Here's why...

Foam rollers, lacrosse balls, tennis balls, Tiger Tails - they're all great tools. Without a doubt, self-massage and myofascial release are incredibly useful for working out tension and restrictions in the body. When you have pain and soreness from either injury or exercise, the aid to get through the recovery process is invaluable.

However (there is always a "however"), like most things that pop up in the health and fitness industry, self-myofascial release is being treated as another magic bullet. Foam roll your back before every workout. Dig the lacrosse ball into your shoulder blade to improve your range. Massage your calves out every night to prevent injury. Familiar, right?

Here's the question, though. Is chronic use of these tools necessary? Should the typical individual, whether they're an athlete, gym rat, or average Joe, feel the need to work through their erectors routinely in order to remain comfortable?

My answer is: probably not. To explain, let me just point out that pain and tension are not a dysfunction. They are symptoms. They are indicative OF a dysfunction. A muscle being tight and sore is, itself, not the problem. It is tight and sore because of its need to compensate for the postural or mechanical faults that are occurring elsewhere in the body.

Let's use the most common example of back pain. Again and again, I see people on the foam roller for 15 minutes every day to work through the tension in their erectors. The excuse is that they're stressed, or were on their feet all day, or that the way they workout requires it. Sure, maybe these factors are exacerbating the condition, but why not ask why the condition is there in the first place? Is there instability that causes stress-triggered spasm? Does the improper weight-bearing position of your hips make you unable to stand for long periods? Are your muscles firing in an improper pattern while you lift weights?

Foam rolling dependence highlights a neglect on the mechanical errors that cause us these types of dysfunctions. Like biweekly trips to the chiropractor or daily painkiller medications, relying on self-massage is just another way of covering up the symptoms while not actually coming to a long-term solution. Rolling still has its place, especially when dealing with acute injury or exertional stress, but myofascial release belongs side-by-side with a program to retrain and educate the body's function. While strengthening the core, then of course, you should roll the back to fasciliate the adjustment toward proper movement patterns, and as the dysfunction is trained away, then the need for the foam roller should as well. If you've noticed yourself needing to use it chronically, then it's probably time to reevaluate what you're doing.

You can bail the boat all day, but you're still sinking until you patch the hole.