3 Reasons Releasing Fascia Can Make You Feel Young Again

I still remember a quote from a client of mine who I worked with six years ago. After releasing the fascia throughout the lower body of this active, 42 year old lady she said:

“Whoa! My legs feel like they are 16 years old again!”

This was not the first or last time I heard a comment like this, but this is the one that got me thinking: is that scientifically possible? Can releasing fascia do more than relieve pain or help fix poor mobility? Can it actually be rewinding the clock on your body?

Raise your hand if you have felt stiff or achy and let the phrase, “I guess I’m just getting old!” slip carelessly out of your mouth. I’ll own up to saying that more than a few times myself. When you wake up feeling sore from simply sleeping, that can’t be good, right?  

We live by the principle that as we get older, we should just accept that we will have pain, less mobility, and we won’t be able to do the activities we love. Personally, I’ve come to believe that we set our own limitations and can learn the tools to keep our bodies healthy and mobile. But is it also possible that even scientifically speaking, this principle is false? What if the secret to feeling young lies within your fascia? 

Let’s begin with pinpointing what it is that makes us feel young. I’ve spent many years thinking about this and have come up with these top 3 things:

• Ease of movement
• Little to no pain 
• A light, buoyant, and springy feeling

As it turns out, your fascial system aids in all of these feelings!

Maintaining the health of your fascia might just be the secret fountain of youth. Here are my top 3 reasons why fascia, and taking the time to release your fascia, can help your body feel younger, lighter, and limitless.

1.Hydration (The Literal Part of “Fountain” of Youth) 

Your fascial system is made up of three different components: elastin fibers, collagen fibers, and a gel-like fluid called the Extracellular Matrix (ECM). While collagen and elastin fibers support your structure and your movements, the ECM provides your body with vital hydration.

The ECM carries food for your cells so they can continually be nourished, healthy, and regenerate. The ability of your cells to regenerate is essential for your body to grow, repair, and recover. (On the flip side, a lack of regeneration contributes to tissue degeneration and malfunction (1)). Extracellular fluid ideally makes up 70% of your fascial system and gives you that young, buoyant feeling (2). 

Extracellular fluid also gives your body the ability to absorb shock and impact. The mechanical stress of running, jumping, or doing a “high impact” sport should be easily distributed throughout the water of the ECM if your fascia is well hydrated (2). Your body can act like a giant spring and keep you feeling light and resilient. 

As time passes, it’s normal to have the fibers within your fascial system begin to stick together. When enough fibers adhere to themselves, it pushes most of the extracellular fluid out of that area. The area then becomes dehydrated, brittle, and stiff. It is no longer easily absorbing shock or regenerating quickly for recovery. This can be a huge contributor to pain (especially near the joints). 

Of course, staying hydrated by consuming lots of high quality water is important. That water will help all the areas that still have extracellular fluid in them to stay hydrated. For the areas that are stuck together, however, breaking up those adhesions (aka releasing the fascia) is the most important step to restoring the ECM back into that spot.

My top ways to release fascia are compression/shearing method foam rolling (see end of this blog for more on this) or going to see a fascia release practitioner.

2. Hyaluronic Acid and Collagen Production (Your Youth Building Blocks)

If you’ve been paying attention to any “anti aging” product campaigns, you’ve probably heard the buzz words collagen and hyaluronic acid (HA).

Collagen is a fibrous, supportive protein and is one of the components of your fascia. Collagen fibers are very strong and are most abundant in your tendons and ligaments. They firmly attach your ligaments and tendons to bones and hold your structure in place. 

On the surface, collagen also helps skin cells adhere to one another, giving the skin strength and elasticity. Collagen production can decrease with age, contributing to skin wrinkling and sagging (3).

Collagen is produced by cells called fibroblasts (cells within your fascia). Without going too deep into the science, stretching fibroblasts helps stimulate the production of collagen (4). You can stretch your fibroblasts through mechanical stress such as strength training, movement, and even foam rolling. Moving your body and releasing fascia can help keep your collagen production high and help your structure stay strong!

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is also found within your fascial system, specifically within the extracellular matrix. This gel-like substance is imperative in wound healing and an excellent lubricator for your joints, muscle fibers, and deep fascial layers to glide smoothly and easily. 

HA is made up of molecules that can hold 1,000 their weight in water! You can think of the HA as a water container system. As you drink water, HA imbibes that water to help you hydrate completely on a cellular level (5). If you do not have much HA in your system, although you are drinking tons of water, you may not be fully absorbing or utilizing that water to keep your body or cells hydrated!

HA is made in your fascial system. It is synthesized by fasciacytes, a type of cell within your fascia. Fasciacytes are a recently discovered cell and it has been found that stimulation of this cell is what helps you produce more HA.

How do we “stimulate” fasciacytes into creating more HA? By compressing or loading your fascial fibers and then shearing, or cross-fibering, those fibers. This is not the same thing as simply pinning and stretching. Shearing happens when you go across fascial fibers perpendicular to the way they run. You can accomplish this through very precise foam rolling techniques and through Kinetix fascia release. 

Maintaining healthy fascia will help create an abundance of collagen and HA. These building blocks are key for staying hydrated, strong, mobile, and pain free.

3. Restored Space (Space=More Movement, Less Pain) 

Think of your fascia like layers and layers of plastic wrap that go around and through everything in your body. When fascia is healthy, it’s like there is oil between all those layers and they glide over each other with ease. 

Over time, or if you want to think about it as “with age”, your fascia tends to stick together, adhere to itself, and become dehydrated. It can become like a crinkled ball of plastic wrap instead! The main causes of this are:

• Time
• Overuse
• Underuse
• Trauma (physical or emotional)
• Stress

The more crinkled and stuck together these areas of plastic wrap become, the less you are able to stretch and move freely. You are losing much needed space in those areas, and that tension is also pulling and overstretching other areas as well. Both a lack of space and an overstretching of tissues can cause pain!

The great news is that fascia can be released and space can be restored. Again, effective fascia release through the right kind of foam rolling or with the help of a practitioner is a great start. 

Whew! I know that was a lot of science and information, but here’s the gist: your fascia provides critical space, support, and hydration your body needs to move easily, completely, and without pain. Your fascia is also made up of such building blocks as collagen, HA, and the ECM that keep you feeling strong, shock absorbent, and buoyant. If you keep your fascia healthy, the science is there to support you feeling lighter, looser, and younger! 

Want to get started? Check out Pain Liberation Academy! This virtual academy gives you simple, follow along programs for plantar fasciitis, low back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, sciatica, and more that guarantees you'll feel a significant difference in your pain in as little 30 days.

I would love to help you on your healing journey to move forward and move freely.

Resources

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4632807

2 healthmatters.org

3 europepmc.org

4 https://mobilitymastery.com/new-science-fascia-fasciacytes-hyaluronic-acid-and-cellular-hydration/