Fashion Your Fascia

Did you know that fascia is the main cause of ageing! Well dense fascia that is. It is the buzz word lately in Yoga and Pilates classes so lets find out what it is... Fascia is a crystalline structure that runs all over our bodies over and around muscles, joints and ligaments. Think of it like a tight wetsuit encasing your whole body. It can also be visualized as the white pith of a mandarin or orange that is around all the segments. When it hardens and thickens (as our fascia does with ageing) it makes everything less fluidly mobile and can cause pain. It is like crystal in structure this very hard. Those crunchy bits of tension in your shoulders and neck... that's it. It starts in our twenties! (or may even as young as our teens)

So how do we prevent this laying down of dense fascia and thus stay forever youthful? One would think stretching would help. It does! However, overstretching can actually cause our joints to lay down thick bands of fascia. This is if we do not support our joints and are over flexible. The correct way to stretch is to tense and then stretch the muscles and thus protect the joints. It is called resistance stretching and if you have ever been to a physiotherapist you will have done this kind of work. Make sure that any Yoga or Pilates class you attend encourages you to stretch in this responsible way. The good news is we are no longer trying to get into the splits or get our foot behind our heads. Even the lotus pose is too much for most of us and hurts knees and ankles. (No wonder Yoga has had a bad name for encouraging over-flexibility and this injuries). "I am too inflexible for yoga" is an excuse heard countless times. It is NOT about that. Balancing strength and flexibility is key to building a healthy body and it will look different for each person. One person may feel a strong stretch just reaching down to their knees and that is their limit.

So we can fashion our fascia by incorporating resistance stretching into our exercise regime. Also moving our bodies regularly is just as important. Sitting or standing in one position for too long also causes this laying down of dense fascia. So move regularly. In fact sitting for one hour is too much! Get up a few times and allow your circulation to improve. Tense and then release your muscles. Get massages, hot epsom salt baths feed our muscles with the magnesium needed to relax. Also stay well oiled in all your cells by taking Omega 3 supplements. I have tried Flaxseed oil capsules now - they are the best as no aftertaste and no more creaky knee! Dosage is up to 5000mg a day if you have tight muscles or joint pain.

One more tip for inflammation in the joints: Turmeric! You can of course buy expensive supplements or... buy the spice in bulk and take a teaspoon everyday with a little black pepper. This apparently helps it to be absorbed in the body.

Keep moving in moderation as too much physical work or exercise will also lay the down dense fascia in your muscles and joints. So find your balance between work and rest. Then you will not even need to worry about fashion - you will look good in a brown sack. The blissful, relaxed feeling will be written all over your fa...scia!