by Dr. Michael Harbison
(Health Secrets) Are you suffering from chronic back pain? For the longest time it was thought there were only 8 major organ systems of the human body. But with recent findings in research and the overwhelming evidence of the fascial planes’ effects on the entire body, the fascia has been deemed by the majority of researchers as potentially the 9th major organ system of the body. Previous thoughts were that the muscles of the body directly applied their force into the tendons and ligaments to facilitate movement and daily operations. Now it is being discovered that the muscles distribute a large portion of their force onto the fascial sheets of the body to get the desired movement. This knowledge adds a new dimension to the treatment of chronic back pain.
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A fascia is a structure of connective tissue that surround muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, binding some structures together while permitting others to slide smoothly over each other. Like tendons and ligaments, the fascia are dense connective tissues which contain closely packed bundles of collagen fibers oriented in a wavy pattern parallel to the direction of pull. As a result, fascia are flexible and able to resist a good amount of directional force, to the point where the wavy pattern of fibers has been straightened out by that force.
Fascial sheets not only cover the entire body, but connect everything together as well. Some of the major sheets go from the bottom of the foot to the hip and then cross over the body and attach to the opposite shoulder and the base of the skull. So you can imagine that if your lower back is out of alignment, or fixated in any manner, it can impede the function of these fascial sheets, not allowing them to distribute force and movement properly or efficiently. This can lead to pain and dysfunction in other parts of the body, as well as to chronic back pain.
Within the fascial planes there is a layer of lymphatic fluid that freely flows to lubricate and provide nutrients to the body. When there is dysfunction present, whether in the spine or the fascial plane, this lymphatic fluid gets trapped in the adhesions of the fascia. When this occurs, it creates a pocket of inflammation, and since the inflammation cannot get out, it turns into a stagnant pool. This stagnant pool starts to let toxins accumulate around the muscle tissue, nerves, and joints. The body is fantastic at compensating, so in a lot of cases this whole process may take some years to develop and get to the point where it is actually sending pain signals to your brain. It is when you get to this point that you suddenly feel something is wrong and come into the chiropractor’s office. Although to you it may seem an acute sudden injury, what your are now noticing has actually been a longstanding issue within the system.