There is a role of the 'fuzz', these web-like fascial connections between sliding planes of tissue such as muscles. Current understanding indicates that these fascial interconnections are important for proprioception. They help link the muscular system with the nervous system and assist with coordinating complex and efficient movement patterns. So, the 'fuzz' is not bad or pathological, and Gil Hedley was not trying to indicate that it is. But it can become too densified and restrictive (for reasons described in the video). And this can disrupt the proprioceptive role of these fascial attachments, leading to inefficient movement, reduced range of motion, and pain.
Fig. 1: Image from The Science of Stretch, by Helene Langevin. the link to this article is in the paragraph to the left. |
When doing dissection, many times you are cutting through this fuzz as you separate one structure from the next. This is frequently how you navigate through the structures, as the body's compartments are organized through the fascia. Without these cleavage planes, it is often difficult to know exactly where you are (cadaver specimens are not nearly as clear as an illustration). Imagine using a scalpel to separate a section of an orange. If you veer into the pulp, it is easy to get lost. Like the membrane that contains and separates the orange section, this is one of the roles of fascia; it compartmentalizes the body.
A colleague that studied with another fascial anatomist, Todd Garcia, quoted him as saying 'the truth is in the bucket'. Meaning, in dissection, you are often cutting away this tissue, which contains so much proprioceptive information and is increasingly understood to have so much function, and discarding it. You do this to get to the 'good stuff'. Or, at least, to see the units of the body and better understand its organization. But, in doing so, much of the tissue which can explain the mechanism through which holistic practices such as acupuncture and myofascial release work is discarded.
Still having the same thoughts on that subject.
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