Fascial Manipulation is a manual therapy method that has been developed over the last 40 years in collaboration with the Anatomy Faculties of the René Descartes University, Paris, France and the University of Padova in Italy.
This manual therapy technique identifies a limited or painful movement with a specific localised area of the fascia. Once a limited or painful movement is identified, then a specific point on the fascia is implicated and, through the appropriate manipulation of this precise part of the fascia, pain can be reduced and movement can be restored.
Fascia is richly innervated by nerve endings and is maintained in an optimum resting state of tension. Due to this optimal resting state, the free nerve endings and receptors within the fascial tissue are primed to perceive any variation in tension and, therefore, any movement of the body. Any change in the tension or the gliding of the fascia creates tension on adjacent pain-sensitive structures further along the fascial line resulting in restricted movement or pain, other structures such as bones & joints become pulled out of alignment, and abnormal pressure is exerted on nerves, blood and lymphatic vessels.
The fascia is very extensive and so it would be difficult and time consuming to work over the entire area, and it is important to focus our attention on the cause of pain, tracing back to the origin of the changes in tension. The localisation of precise points or key areas can make treatment much more effective, and this method allows therapists to work at a distance from the actual site of pain, which is often inflamed and painful.