Back pain, plantar fasciitis, neck pain, iliotibial band syndrome — these are all common enough conditions that are likely related to your fascia. In fact, 30% to 85% of patients who present with musculoskeletal pain have some degree of myofascial pain syndrome.
Because this issue is so widespread, Dr. Rajiv Sood and the team here at Spine & Orthopedic Center thought it would be a good idea to step back and take a closer look at your fascia — what role it plays and why it might be the source of your pain. Let’s take a look.
If you’ve ever worked with raw meat, you probably already know what fascia is — that silvery/white tissue that’s threaded throughout your chicken or steak that can be awfully tough to cut through.
Well, your body contains those same tissues, and they’re called fascia. Made of collagen, this stringy connective tissue runs throughout your entire body and wraps around and supports every structure — from connective tissues like your muscles, tendons, and ligaments to your nerves, bones, and organs.
In reality, your fascia creates an interconnected web throughout your body, creating a network that supplies form and function to every single part of your body.
As we’ve discussed, your fascia is a continuous tissue that winds throughout your entire body, connecting everything it touches. So, if there’s an issue in one area of your fascia, the effects can be widespread.
In many cases, trigger points (which we also refer to as knots) can develop in your fascia if there’s inflammation, stress, or damage to the tissue. This knot is a tense spasm in the fascia that pulls on the entire network.
As a result, a trigger point in one area of your body can lead to pain in another seemingly unrelated area. For example, a knot in the fascia in your neck can lead to pain that extends down into your shoulder. Or, a trigger point in your lower back can lead to discomfort that extends down into your hip.
If we find that your fascia is behind your musculoskeletal pain, we can remedy the issue through myofascial release and/or trigger point therapy. Both of these treatments are designed to release the tension in your fascia so that these little knots dissipate and release their hold on the tissues in your body.
In addition to these therapies, we highly recommend targeted physical therapy, during which we can work on keeping your fascia healthy, stretched out, and flexible.
Paying close attention to your fascia is an excellent way to prevent and remedy general musculoskeletal pain, and we’re here to help achieve that goal.
For expert care of your fascia or to determine whether it is causing your discomfort, please contact our office in Jonesboro, Georgia, to set up a consultation.