John F. Barnes' BLOG & Therapeutic Insight Article
Massage Magazine, a national and well respected publication recently performed a survey to discover who their readers most wanted to learn from and the topics they wanted. John F. Barnes, PT and Myofascial Release were at the top of their list.
MFR BLOG
View additional postings by John F. Barnes, PT on his MFR BLOG at Massage Magazine. Have a specific question for John? Visit www.massagemag.com
Inflammation II
February 3, 2010
Hi John,
I’m very interested in this previous thread on inflammation. I’ve been reading about chronic inflammation and how many now agree that this process is behind many diseases.
It leads me to wonder if the chronic, systemic inflammation caused by a diet high in processed foods leads to widespread gumming up and restricting of the fascial system, in turn affecting cellular respiration and degeneration.
I usually think of the inflammatory processes that lead to myofascial restrictions as being caused by the primary inflammatory processes associated with injury.
Do you think that the process causing chronic inflammation to manifest disease is born out by changes in the fascial system?
Testing this hypothesis, I turned to Dr. Dean Ornish’s book on reversing heart disease. He talks mostly about poor diet diminishing blood flow to the heart through plaque build-up, etc. I get how fascia is involved in hardening of the arteries but not in plaque build-up.
I know this is only one disease of many to consider.
I’d be very interested if you can offer even more insight than you’ve already offered into the subject of inflammation.
Thanks,
Owen Dodge
Hi Owen,
Thanks for your question. I recently had a well known Pathologist from San Francisco as a patient. He was very disappointed at the resistance of his medical colleagues to his and others new ideas. For many years as he dissected recently deceased humans, he saw the roughness of the inside of the blood vessels.
His years of experience and a multitude of recent research has shown that as the fascia on the inside of blood vessels becomes rough and solidified, it can trap the cholesterol. This can cause a thickening and/or blockage within the circulatory system leading to serious consequences. Fascia has a profound effect on the functioning and health of the entire circulatory and lymphatic systems.
This article discusses how my approach to myofascial release treats the biomechanical aspect but also uses different fluid dynamic principles that address our fluidity, which tends to solidify from trauma or thwarted inflammation processes. This article also talks about how a Myofascial Release therapist uses their genius by engaging the power of their intuition, instinct, and rational mind. This total engagement allows the patient to access their wisdom for authentic healing.
Have a good week.
Sincerely,
John
John F. Barnes, PT, LMT, NCTMB is the President of the Myofascial Release Treatment Centers and International Myofascial Release Seminars. For more information call 1-800-FASCIAL (327-2425) or visit www.myofascialrelease.com.
Therapeutic Insight
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Shock! by John F. Barnes, PT
I am sure that you have heard of or experienced the flight or fight response, but have you ever heard of the freeze response?
For years, I have taught that one of the many benefits of Myofascial Release and Myofascial Unwinding is the release of the holding or bracing patterns of the mind/body complex. It seems that during times of trauma the subconscious develops a protective pattern that becomes locked into the mind/body complex like a "frozen moment in time." I believe that it is these "holding patterns" that have frustrated therapists using massage and traditional therapy techniques in their efforts to help their clients have a speedy and complete resolution of their problems.
In his informative book "Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma," Peter Levine, Ph.D., develops an intriguing model that may explain the effectiveness of Myofascial Release.
“The behaviors of fleeing, fighting, and freezing are so primitive that they are thought to predate the reptilian brain. These survival tools are found in all species from spiders and cockroaches to primates and human beings. When neither flight nor fight will ensure the animals safety, there is another line of defense; immobility (freezing), which is just as universal and basic to survival. No animal, not even the human, has conscious control over whether or not it freezes in response to threat.” 1
When an animal or human is traumatized, it will enter the freeze response as a survival strategy. This state of shock and immobility is beyond conscious control and becomes a vicious cycle maintaining physiological high levels of activity of both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. In humans, trauma occurs as a result of the initiation of the instinctual cycle that is rarely allowed to finish.
“The duration of the immobility (freeze) response is normally time-limited; animals go into it and they come out. If the animal is not killed and when threat is over, the animal then discharges an enormous amount of energy in the form of shaking, profuse sweating and deep breathing. It then returns to a state of calm alertness. The human “freeze” response does not easily resolve itself because the supercharged energy locked in the nervous system is imprisoned by the emotions of fear and trauma. The result is that a vicious cycle of fear and immobility takes over, preventing the response from completing naturally. When not allowed to complete, these responses form the symptoms of trauma.”1
Myofascial Release allows for a completion of this instinctive cycle in a safe, natural and effective manner. Working in reverse, Myofascial Release and Myofascial Unwinding start with present day restrictions and compensations. The release of fascial restrictions alters the habitual muscular "holding patterns." With Myofascial Unwinding, the therapist eliminates gravity from the system. This unloading of the structure allows the body's righting reflexes and protective responses to temporarily suspend their influence. The body, guided by the therapist, can move into positions of past trauma, which allow for a release of the instinctual "freeze" response in a safe, gentle and natural manner. As this occurs, Myofascial Release techniques are utilized to eliminate structural compensations for a resolution of the client’s long-standing symptoms.
The goal of Myofascial Release is to return the client to a pain free, active lifestyle.
Sincerely,
John
John F. Barnes, P.T., L.M.T., N.C.T.M.B., is an international lecturer, author, and acknowledged expert in the area of Myofascial Release. He has instructed over 50,000 therapists worldwide in his Myofascial Release approach, and he is the author of Myofascial Release: the Search for Excellence (Rehabilitation Services, Inc., 1990) and Healing Ancient Wounds: the Renegade’s Wisdom (Myofascial Release Treatment Centers & Seminars, 2000). He is on the counsel of Advisors of the American Back Society; he is also on Massage Magazine's Editorial Advisory Board; and is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association.
For more information about Myofascial Release, you can now view two separate excerpts from the Fireside Chat with John F. Barnes, PT DVD:
Part 1
Part 2
Reference:
1. Levine, Peter. Waking the Tiger Healing Trauma, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA 1997.
