I have completed the Myofascial Realese Massage ( MRM ) progrram with Howard Rontal, focusing on Myofascial Release for the both the Upper and Lower Body as well as Advanced Techniques and Postural Assessment/Treatment.
This work was developed to help decrease acute and chronic pain and increase ease and range of motion. Where there is chronic or acute pain, limited or difficult range of motion, ongoing stress and tension, there is almost always myofascial tissue which needs to be released and relaxed.
Fascia Overview
Myofascial tissue is continuous and omnipresent in the body. It interweaves and wraps muscles, and every division of tissue within the muscle. By weight, 40% of a muscle is actually fascial tissue.
Where there is chronic or acute pain, limited or difficult range of motion, ongoing stress and tension, there is almost always myofascial tissue which needs to be released and relaxed.
Using the Myofascial Release Massage technique we can often release constricted myofascial tissue faster and more completely than with traditional massage protocols.
How Does MRM Work?
Fascial tissue is a white membrane which wraps all muscles, all muscles bundles, muscle fascicles, and even every muscle fiber. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that there is almost as much fascial tissue in a muscle as there are muscle fibers. Modern medical science, however, has largely ignored fascial tissue in the body, not understanding (or at least appreciating) the important role it plays in bodily health. It serves many functions, but for a therapist its function as a lubricant is most important. It allows everything it wraps, from muscles to muscles fibers, to slide over whatever is next to it.
Fascial Tissue Can Become Inelastic
Over time, however, for reasons of physical and emotional trauma, habit patterns, disease, and the desiccation of tissue that can accompany the aging process, fascial tissue can get hard, rigid, short, gluey, and inelastic. In short, fascial tissue will change from a lubricant to an adhesive. This binding up of fascial tissue causes a great deal of what the patient experiences as stress, tension, and pain, and loss of ease and range of motion.