Can you feel fascial release?

Considering fascia is a bit of a buzzword, fascial release is all the rage these days. But are you actually feeling the fascia “release”?

It’s important to note at the beginning that “release” is a difficult term to define, since the experience of release is so subjective. For the purposes of this conversation we’re going to define it as the sensation of more “space” or more “ease” coming from the application of some kind of manual technique.

Space and ease could be further interpreted as your range of motion (ROM) and the ability to explore that range of motion with less perceived restriction. Specifically in this context, we’re talking about feeling this in fascia (which is also a broad topic but lets purposefully narrow that to only talking about areolar connective tissue).

Is it possible to FEEL that release of fascia?

It’s highly unlikely. As both the practitioner and the client. On either end of that situation, the likelihood that we feel the fascia adapt to manual technique is very low.

That’s not to say that you’re not feeling a release, or some benefit of manual therapy. It’s also not to say that fascia doesn’t undergo release.

Instead that’s to specifically say that you’re probably not feeling those changes as a result of the response of the fascia.

What then, are you feeling?

Most of the data coming out these days about massage and manual therapies are highlighting that the majority of both the benefits and the sensations of massage are neural in nature.

Most likely then, what you’re feeling when you experience a release from either stretching, foam rolling, massage and other modalities of manual release, is actually a nervous system response to that input.

How do we know?

Principally, because it appears as though fascial adaptation takes longer periods of time than what we experience with the sensation of release. Usually when you feel a release, it’s reasonably instantaneous – you walk out of a massage appointment and you already feel that release. That’s too fast for the adaptations we’ve observed in fascia/areolar connective tissue to date. We’re looking at hours to days for adaptations.

And then secondly, even if some fascial reorganization is occurring during the manual session (which has a reasonable likelihood IF you take things slowly), it’s still most likely that what you’re feeling primarily is the nervous system adapting, as it is the primary “barrier” you run up against in movement.

The only time it might be possible to be feeling the release of fascia…

Is, as the client, in that 1-2 days after a massage session where you keep feeling a little bit more range and ease. It’s also probably still a combined sensation of the nervous system too, but this is the space where you might actually also be partially feeling the fascia release.

Does this render the term useless?

No, because it’s still possible that fascia can release, it’s just not what you’re experiencing. Instead a “nervous system release” is really what you’re feeling.