“Smashing,” “rolling,” and “breaking up scar tissue” are all common ways that athletes refer to the practice of self myofascial release. Foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and PVC pipes are more common than ever inside strength and conditioning facilities. More and more, athletes use these tools to take a swing at treating their own pain and dysfunction.

So let’s take a deeper dive into understanding how we can use tools more precisely to stave off the aches and pains of training, find better positions, and feel better, lift more, and go faster.

A Bit About Fascia and Collagen

Before we get into the treatment aspect of myofascial release, we have to understand the tissue we are trying to target with these techniques and tools.

Fascia is the basic term used to describe the connective tissues of the body. It’s the shiny stuff that covers and divides your new grass fed T-bone into those little compartments before you cook it. This tissue is an amazing creation of nature that fulfills many structural and chemical functions of mammals and is largely responsible for the huge freedom of movement possessed by human beings in particular.

“As light as it is, collagen is proportionally stronger than steel cable. This is part of the reason ‘stretching’ and ‘rolling’ do not actually affect it.”

Collagen is the primary structural component of fascia. This resilient and ubiquitous protein has many functions as it travels uninterrupted through the body. Collagen protein is designed to primarily resist tensile stress and is the stuff of skin, tendons, and ligaments, as well as the coverings of muscle tissues and their different constituent parts.

This amazing material changes fiber density and arrangement based on structural stress, genetic make up, and tissue memory. That’s right, memory. Fibroblasts (cells that make collagen) actually exhibit the propensity to remember their function.

This dense tissue is arranged in a way that allows maximum distribution of load with minimal framework. As light as it is, collagen is proportionally stronger than steel cable. This is part of the reason “stretching” and “rolling” do not actually affect it.

“Fibroblasts (cells that make collagen) actually exhibit the propensity to remember their function.”

In a healthy musculoskeletal system the fascia supports free movement of our muscles and bones through the huge variety of shapes that we see in sport, performance art, and life. When this tissue becomes dysfunctional it is a force to be reckoned with and can be a great cause of movement restriction and pain.

How Do I Know My Fascia Is Broken?

Many times dysfunctional areas of fascia are referred to as knots, ropes, gristle, adhesions, and scar tissue. There aren’t actually knots and ropes under your skin. Instead, what we have is mal-alignment of tissue due to trauma and injury, poor motor patterns, and emotional distress. Releasing these tissues is simply creating a biochemical and mechanical change that will give us an opportunity to create more efficient movement patterns in the future.

Here are some things to look for when trying to discover tissue that requires attention:

Pain

Defined as unpleasant sensation accompanied by the tendency to withdraw and/or a reactive regional tension. These tensions can sometimes express themselves as trigger points. Trigger points are defined as an area of dysfunction refers sensation to another area of the body. This often happens in predictable patterns, but not always. Drs. Janet Travell and David Simons were the first to map these patterns with accuracy in their now well-known manual Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. Many trigger point therapies attempt to shut down these signals with sustained pressure to the areas, which can offer fast relief from pain. This can be valuable but is by no means the complete picture. It’s kind of like cutting the wire to the check engine light. The annoying sound you hear while driving is gone but the engine problem still exists.

Inability of skin (epidermis) to slide over subcutaneous tissues

Not only can this cause a disruption of long-term chemical processes in the area, but restriction like this can contribute immensely to inefficient gross movement patterns and cause joints to move off axis and contractile tissues to work much harder to attain the ranges of motion crucial to sport. Many times this leads to inflammatory responses in tissues that are over stressed, and if left unchecked can result in excessive calcium and fat deposits.

Dense areas of tissue

These prevent full expression of range of motion and keep neighboring tissues from sliding past one another. When dysfunctional these areas are often gristly, hard, and do not move well. But just because an area has dense tissue does not mean it’s dysfunctional. Squat often? Guess what? Your IT bands will be dense and stiff from transmitting force from your hips into the ground. Are you an athlete who has big-ass bread loaves living next to your spine? Yeah, that’s from doing work and it doesn’t mean you’re messed up.

Most athletes are going to find they have at least one of these issues if not more. Don’t be discouraged if you find them yourself. Training and sport put our soft tissues under tremendous tension and stiffness is often part of the game. There are simple solutions that can alleviate most soft tissue restrictions with some diligence.

Fascia Release Tools and Techniques

Pressure Wave/Slow Burn

When we are trying to affect a local relationship between tissues one way to deal with the tissue stiffness is by applying pressure in the direction of restriction and waiting. This can sometimes take thirty seconds or more to begin releasing so be patient. If you’re just rolling around you’re not doing what you think you’re doing. When change is actually being made there may be a burning sensation in the tissue. Don’t quit at that point. This is a chemical change taking place and the beginning of release.

Tack and Stretch

Tack and stretch can be used along with the pressure wave in order to encourage broad motion to deep layers of tissue. Once we have a good bite on the tissue, we move through the range motion that is restricted and encourage new range through repetition, not force. Remember fascia is designed to transmit force so applying too much force can bypass the area you’re targeting. Don’t move so far through range that you lose your bite on the tissue. If the restriction stops you from achieving the full movement pattern you’re working on, then stop at the point of restriction and repeat.

Note: Both pressure wave and tack and stretch are primarily post workout/non-training tools and are generally not recommended prior to training.

VooDoo Floss Band

The VooDoo Floss band allows for athletes to tack down stiff tissues like the tack and floss but here we’re able to move through full-range movement patterns and use fewer correlates. For example, while the tack and floss technique will only allow us to bend and extend the knee in isolation, performing a full range-of-motion squat is possible with the band. Therefore, we can practice the exact (or closer to the exact) movement we are trying improve. This way we create a strong neurological relationship while simultaneously addressing tissue motion.

How Do I Know if It’s Working?

Always do a test and retest. Perform a movement prior to self-treating and then perform the exact same movement after. This we way we have a comparison to see if we are making real change. Some things to look for are:

• Pain reduction
• Feeling of ease and smoothness in motion
• Increased range of motion
• Reduced inflammation

Due Diligence

Dealing with fascial dysfunction can be a long-term issue and requires diligence to correct. However, the human body is incredibly adaptive and wants to move towards health. Keep at it!

It is important whenever we are deciding to use self myofascial release tools that we always maintain context and ask the important question why did this tissue become this way? Your body is a system of systems and there is no one cure-all answer to any problem. So, we can best support any mobility work we do by optimizing movement patterns and preventing problems from occurring in the first place.

More Like This:

• Your IT Band Is Not the Enemy (But Maybe Your Foam Roller Is)
• Does Foam Rolling Really Work?
• Foam Roller vs. PNF Purgatory: Which One Will Save You?
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Janet Travell and David Simons, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: A Manual. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1998.

2. Kelly Starrett and Glen Cordoza, Becoming a Supple Leopard. Victory Belt Publishing, 2013.

The post Foam Rollers Don’t Work: Understanding Myofascial Release appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Don’t let tight hips get between you and your athletic potential.

Optimal Movement

More and more athletes inside and outside of the CrossFit world are using a variety of mobility techniques to get into better positions so they can be better athletes and all around better, higher functioning human beings. This is in part due to the work of Dr. Kelly Starrett, his book Becoming a Supple Leopard, and his website MobilityWOD.

One of the most notorious mobilizations Starrett ever invented is the couch stretch. For those plagued with the effects of sedentary work and lifestyle, this stretch is a beast. At CrossFit Virginia Beach, we see more crying, sweating, and people tapping out on this one than any other mobilization we do.

It’s also one of the most poorly executed techniques I see in my sports orthopedic clinic and in the gym, as well. 

“This is only one, albeit potent, way to begin exploring missing ranges of motion that inhibit performance.”

Athletes come to me frustrated because they perform the couch stretch hoping to relieve some of the anterior chain tension associated with long-term sedentary positions. But often their results are limited due in part to the application of the technique.

Of course, there are many potential factors at play, but many times athletes are not getting as much from the couch stretch because of how they do it, not just because of how frequently they do it. The devil is in the details, after all.

So, by using the following sequence, we’ll learn to apply principals of good movement practice to the couch stretch so we, as athletes, can get the most bang for our buck when practicing this potent mobilization.

1. Midline First/Table Top

Bracing the spine first allows us to bias the lower body and emphasize the hip, knee, and ankle complex without creating an upstream compensation pattern that puts slack into the system. Because we’re are trying to create a better femuro-pelvic (read “hip”) relationship, we want to wed the pelvis and spine together before we load the system, just the same as any other movement we do. Weird, right?

2. Knee on the Wall, Find Your Anchor

Getting the knee joint as tucked into the corner of the wall or couch as it can be is important. It gives us a secure anchor to generate and control stable tension through the system.

Allowing the knee to move away from the wall can create a bleed of tension by moving the hip into flexion and potentially allowing a fault at the hip and/or spine. Also, avoiding this fault prevents putting direct pressure on the patella where we can cause unnecessary discomfort.

3. Support Leg Comes Up, Check Your Spine Again

Here we bring the other leg into a position that looks akin to a lunge. This leg should be positioned generally hip width apart with the heel under or in front of the knee. Some of us may have such overwhelming anterior chain discomfort at this point that we needn’t bring our leg up at all. It’s more important that the side we’re treating maintains position than it is to replicate some picture we have in our head: “Kelly looks like this on MobilityWOD, so I’m going for it!

So, bring your leg up only if you can maintain the other positions previously discussed and you aren’t displaying any autonomic nervous system responses. These include but are not limited to:

• Inability to control breathing
• Shaking
• Sweating like a whore in church
• Inability to keep both eyes open simultaneously
• Involuntary bowel evacuation
• Projectile vomiting

Seriously, though, if it seems like too much, it is. Put your ego in check and back off a notch. Slow and steady wins in the mobility game.

4. Add Tension, Move Towards Hip Extension

The operative word here is hip. So many times athletes miss this important distinction. Hip means femur and pelvis. This is where we most often fault to a locally overextended spinal position. What does that mean? Local extension in this case refers to segments of the lumbar spine overarching and creating compression and shear between vertebrae.

Additionally, in order to bias hip extension optimally, the hip needs to be moving toward internal rotation. It may be prudent in this position to use your stretched side arm to help support you.

Note: This is still an opportunity to practice good position. You’ll be able to support yourself much longer with the shoulder in an externally rotated, locked-elbow position instead of dumped out, forward-shoulder position. No need to sacrifice your shoulders at the altar of your hip.

5. Variations

Once you’ve developed some mastery of the basic couch stretch, it can get really spicy. Adding a plate under the front foot and closing your stance are fun ways to start free-styling and hitting new and unique corners. A word of caution, though – get the basics right first. These variations will do nothing but bring frustration if you haven’t cultivated the basic positions for this technique.

Body Systems and Performance

While powerful and low tech, the couch stretch is not designed to be a catchall. The human body is a system of systems. This is only one, albeit potent, way to begin exploring missing ranges of motion that inhibit performance. Be sure to explore tight corners in a variety of ways. Lastly, if you’re just stuck or something seems beyond your understanding, then go to a qualified health professional and get help.

Check out these related articles:

• 5 Habits That Are Hurting Stomach Sleeping
• Connecting the Shoulders, Hips, and Core
• Dear Willow: My F$%kin’ Hips!
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.

The post Couch Stretch: Small, But Important Ways You’re Doing It Wrong appeared first on Breaking Muscle.