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What is Myofascial Therapy?

Why Myofascial works and not just a quick fix:

Fascia is a tough connective tissue that spreads throughout the body like a three-dimensional web. It is that tissue that gives movement and mobility as it connects from head to toe and becomes part of muscle fiber, and other vital tissue in the body. Injury to our bodies or posture issues can cause the fascia tissue to tighten and create pressure in our body on the blood vessels, nerves, muscle, and even organs. When the fascia tissue is restricted it can exert up to approximately 2,000
pounds per square inch of crushing pressure down to the cellular level creating inflammation and pain.

John Barnes Myofascial Release Approach consists of gentle sustained pressure into the tissues, training consists of learning how to feel the restrictions waiting for the release, releases under the Therapists hands feels like butter melting or taffy pulling, the trained Therapist then learns how to elongate the tissue, or go deeper and release restrictions in muscle tissue and where the muscles insert into the bones. Besides learning the specific hand-holds, there are to other techniques including rebounding and unwinding. These two combined with the sustained pressure help to bring fluidity and movement into places that are restricted creating long lasting effects.

John Barnes, a Physical Therapist has two clinics one in Sedona called “Therapy on the Rocks” and one in Malvern, PA called The Sanctuary. John continues to teach Myofascial Release Techniques to an international audience. He has been teaching these principals for 40 years and now Science is catching up, recently scientists specializing in mechanobiology at Harvard University are studying the body’s physical forces and the impact on disease and dysfunction. It is a study that reveals the sustained pressure on the fascia tissue can bring chemical changes into the body that promote structural changes. John Barnes’ Myofascial Release Approach does this and it is this approach that is different than all other therapies and modalities. The therapist’s hand-holds take time, it takes 5 minutes of sustained pressure to get the piezoelectric phenomenon (pressure energy) to allow for a fascia to elongate and release the pressure and holds that are binding on the body creating pain and dysfunction.

Each person is different and each has their own unique restrictions so the therapist is trained to look at each individual, treat that individual and not the diagnosis.