What is Fascia? Part 2 by Ashley Black

Fascia supports life.

The brilliant Dr. Yung describes fascia eloquently in his paper.¹ Fascia and the Primo Vascular system, he says, “ fascial anatomy switches anatomical study from the “dead” to the “living.” When the supporting-storing system wears out, the body will die. When the wax is depleted, the flame will extinguish, as with the human body”. This description is like an anthem for a Fasciologist, broadening the understanding of anatomy to two systems. The supporting structure, the fascia, and then everything else.

Fascia determines the shape and tightness of the skin.

Fascia is the collagen matrix that supports our skin and determines it’s basic shape. That is why FasciaBlasting is so effective for cellulite⁹ and wrinkles². But that is not the only way fascia interplays with skin. New research ² shows that youthful skin has more blood capillaries. Because fascia houses the blood and could potentially be a vascular system of blood plasma, healthy fascia allows our blood to reach the skin. (see above) Furthermore, researchers found that the skin contains “stem cell reservoirs” in the sebaceous glands that release into the skin using pressure. The pressure of the FaceBlaster tools and its ability to directly hit the sebaceous gland is why we believe it works so well for improving the skin. Skincare has “accidentally” become a focus of Ashley Black because there is no denying that the science supports many ways to impact the skin with the FasciaBlaster tools.

Fascia houses our blood.

Blood vessels are indeed found within the fascia, and you can see them in plain sight and better understand them under the microscope. In the amazing series “Strolling Beneath the Skin” by Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau, you can get an incredible visual of blood vessels in the fascia. But what is more exciting is the idea that fascia is a giant sponge soaking up the best parts of blood into its jelly mess and delivering it to cells, acting as a vascular system. Recent research findings “have led them {researchers} to consider primo vascular system another circulating system” ² How exciting, a second vascular system! New research is also emerging on the “liquid plasma” concept, which was previously thought to be more of a concept.  Still, it turns out that it is the way researchers are characterizing what we have been saying for years- that plasma oozes from the capillaries into the liquidy gel fascia as part of the vascular system, sending nutrition into the cells and sifting toxins back into the capillaries.⁴

Fascia houses our nerves.

It should be well known that fascia houses nerves; this is taught in traditional medical models, but there is still confusion in some literature. But fascia housing nerves is way less sexy than the idea that fascia is the primary communication system, as discussed above. Over a century ago, Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO and the founder of Osteopathic Medicine, stated, “‘No doubt nerves exist in the fascia …’ and recommended that all fascial tissues should be treated with the same degree of respect as if dealing with ‘the branch offices of the brain.” Then, the “observations of a rich presence of sensory nerves in fascial tissues were independently announced” by three teams from different countries in the first international Fascia Research Congress. When we look at Neurology as a medical field, fascia must be a consideration.

Fascia houses our lymphatic system.

The lymphatic system has been identified as housed in the fascia system, especially the superficial fascia. The lymphatic system is so important because it controls a large portion of our detoxification and immune system responses. In a study by NIH⁵, researchers aimed at bringing clarity to fascia related to detoxification identified the “presence of lymphatic vessels inside the superficial fascia.” This lends hope for fascia science and conditions such as Lipedema and other conditions related to the lymphatic system.

Fascia pulls our skeleton into dysfunctional positions.

Fascia is a continuously connected web, so the whole will react when one part responds. I love the TED talk on this: “Fascia and the Mystery of Chronic Pain” that uses a “fascia suit” to visualize this. I explain this concept in my book like a bed sheet that pulls if you grab it at any point. This is huge for Orthopedics and pain because the fascia twists knees compresses spines, pulls shoulders, etc. The pain* comes later when we live life this way.

Fascia separates our muscles.

Think of it like this: we don’t have 600 muscles; we have one muscle separated by fascia. This is the structural fascia, often referred to as a sheath or covering of the muscles. This sheath is formed by individual muscle fibers surrounded by fascia, connecting in these fabric-like membranes. The National Institute of Health explains it this way: “Fascia is considered to be any dense irregular connective tissue sheet in the human body, including aponeuroses, joint capsules, or muscular envelopes such as the endo-, peri-, and epimysium.”⁶ Ashley Black explains structural fascia and interstructural or myofascial in this video.

Fascia holds our organs in place.

Without fascia, the support system of the body, our “parts,” would drop to the ground like dropping a basket of balls. Its different properties range from stiff structural fascia to liquid, viscous Jello-like fascia; it holds every cell in place. Like a Jello mold holds the fruit, the fascia holds our “parts.” Fascia is the support, and our parts are the functional system. Like tennis balls in a bin, suspended by the space around them, this is how fascia works as a system for support.

Fascia determines the quality of muscle performance.

The fascia doesn’t just cover muscles in a sheath, as a general Google search would have you believe. Fascia surrounds each and every muscle fiber, which means it penetrates in a 3D web through the muscle, forming the layers known as the endomysium, perimysium, and epimysium. Ashley explains this here in an easy-to-understand way. When we traditionally think of the quality of the muscle, we think about how strong the muscle is, how easily we can access the muscle, how we can get a full range of motion contraction, and how hard we can contract the muscle. Fascia is the determining factor for all of these questions. Healthy, hydrated fascia allows for glide, while dysfunctional or tight fascia literally chokes muscles. Because fascia houses blood and nerves, it’s responsible for pump and biomechanics.

To Infinity and Beyond

This is for all my woo-woo people, and I am saving a complete theoretical explanation for What is Fascia Part 4. But in short, the 5th type of fascia, liquid and viscous in nature, can form exotic states of matter. We will discuss the fiber optic nature of fascia, Mohit’s Motif’s patterns, Fascia inside the mitochondria?.. and more. But to foreshadow a little, what is more profound is that some of the “stuff“ our fascia is made of is what ancients called our finer bodies or aura. And our aura is made up of the same “stuff.” If that is the case, which I believe it is, then our aura and matter outside our body is an extension of fascia. Another way to put it is that our fascia is an extension of the universe. And if that is the case, which I believe it is, and fascia has the ability to communicate and hold memory, then fascia could hold the key to the castle. Fascia could be the thread, or liquid viscous gel, that connects us to universal knowledge and collective consciousness, or at the least, be the road in which the information travels and is stored. 👽