Fascial lines

fascia is the thin see through layer between skin, bone, muscles, nerves, tendons etc etc, and it surrounds everything in our body even the smallest cells. (if you look at raw chicken breast you can see it easy its the slimy film that surrounds it).

Although it is unbroken, it does have specific lines.
All these Fascial lines have a function.
A lady called Kelly Clancy from Seattle came over to Brisbane to do a course called Bowen, Tensegrity and the Fascial Lines.
I attended the course and she taught us how we can test the Fascial lines to see which ones are tight and might be causing us to be in pain and how to treat accordingly.
It was one of the best courses I have been to I loved, loved, loved it.
Now I just have to practice it a lot to get good at it.
Practice makes perfect they say, and only the best is good enough for my clients.

When the fascia is dry it restricts our movement.
Just look at it this way, if a door creaks you put oil on it and it stops creaking until the oil dries up again.
Bowen helps the body hydrate so therefore it results in less restriction, which means less or no pain.

There are 7 Fascial lines.

#1 The Front Functional Line

We use it in general movement and it gives strength to op-positional limbs by linking them together. It also counter balances us while walking. Problems with the Front Functional line can cause shoulder Pain, thoracic (chest) pain, lower back pain, hip pain, and respiratory issues.













#2 The Back Functional Line

This is practically the same as the front functional line, but then on the back, it's also used while we move and links the opposite limbs together and helps us keep our balance while moving.
Both functional lines are the most superficial
lines which means they are the lines closed to the skin, the others lay underneath these.

Most of the basic bowen moves are done over the Back Functional Line, when there is a problem within the fascia in this line it can cause respiratory problems, shoulder problems, chest problems, lower back problems, hip and leg problems.
As you can see the problems in both lines are the same.
This is because both lines work together and if the one has a problem the other is affected by it as well.





#3 Superficial Back line
It goes from the bottom of the toes (plantar surface) all the way up to the eyebrow line on our forehead.
As you can tell by it's name it connects the whole back of our body.
It creates extension and resists flexion
It's job is to keep us up right.
Problems within this fascia line can cause neck, chest, lower back pain, problems in the hamstrings, calf and ankles and pain in the foot.

Whilst doing some forward stretching tests we found problems in the
neck, although after some further testing of the hamstrings we found
those problems weren't located in the neck, but caused by the hamstrings.
After treating the hamstrings the range of motion and problem in the
neck got much better.




#4 Superficial Front line

It connect the whole front of our body from the top of our feet to either side of the skull.

It balances the Superficial Back Line, again these two lines work together.

The overall movement function of this line is bending forward from trunk and hips (flexion), bend our knees (extension) and bring our foot up (dorsiflexion). It also allows a complex set of movements at the level of the neck.

Problems within this line are the same as in the Superficial Back Line.

To be continued.
I'm not finished writing this blog so please keep an eye out for the rest if your interested.
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photos from Thomas Myers, Anatomy trains, 2th edition
information taken out of the course and Thomas Myers, Anatomy trains, 2th edition