These are heady times for anatomy nerds. The onset of 3D visualizations of anatomy, and the presence of imaging techniques that don’t require dissection, has allowed us to ask new questions about the way human tissues develop and maintain their architecture.
Next month I (and hopefully some friends) are heading out to the Fourth International Fascia Congress, being held in Washington, D.C. on September 19th and 20th. For me, it will be a non-stop scribble, a hang-out with friends & colleagues, and an experience of the tremendous thrill of a new scientific field being born.
Some findings and assertions at this conference will be nothing more than interesting side channels of science. Little investigations into the beautiful and myriad ways to visualize and conceptualize fascia’s role in the body. But I have a prediction: Some things presented at this conference will end up being pivotal in guiding future medical practice.
The problem is, no one is quite agreed which findings are salient, useless, robust, or flimsy.
Does fascia science really matter? Does it affect what I visualize, or what decisions I make in practice, or what I intend when I work? How might a regular manual therapist / bodyworker incorporate these concepts into practice?
Here’s a table-side chat from my treatment room using the “IT Band” or “Iliotibial Tract” to illustrate some disparate aspects of fascia science. Sorry for the noise and the wobble.
Hope you enjoy it, and see you jokers at the Congress! ~M