JENT ‘Back End’ Flicks
Module B of JENT Directed Neuro-Myo-Fascial Release (NMFR) builds upon the previous JENT correction techniques focussing on the patterns found on the back and hindquarters.
The body of research regarding Neuro-Myo-Fascia is an exciting field.
Here are excerpts and quotes from two prominent Researchers and Bodywork practitioners. Please remember that the physiology of mammals is essentially the same on a cellular level and any research done in the laboratory concerning humans is immediately transferable to horses.
Prominent Research:
The following excerpts are from the foreword to: Schleip, Chaitow, Findley, Huijing (eds.): “Fascia – the tensional network of the human body” Elsevier, Edinburgh, 2012. Article available upon request.
“A more encompassing definition of the term fascia was recently proposed as a basis for the first Fascia Research Congress (Findley & Schleip 2007) and was further developed (Huijing & Langevin 2009) for the following congresses. The term fascia here describes is ‘the soft tissue component of the connective tissue system that permeates the human body’.
The complete fascial net then includes not only dense planar tissue sheets (like septa, joint capsules, organ capsules, or retinacula), which may also be called “proper fascia”, but it also encompasses local densifications of this global network in the form of ligaments and tendons.
Additionally it includes softer collagenous connective tissues like the superficial fascia or the innermost intramuscular layer of the endomysium. The cutis, a derivative of the ectoderm, as well as cartilage and bones are not included as parts of the fascial tensional network. However, the term fascia now includes the Dura mater, the periosteum, perineurium, the fibrous capsular layer of vertebral discs, organ capsules as well as bronchial connective tissue and the mesentery of the abdomen. Fascial tissues differ in terms of their density and directional alignment of collagen fibres. Depending on local loading history, proper fasciae can express a two-directional or multi-directional arrangement.
As indicated, there are substantial overlaps areas in which a clear tissue category will be difficult or arbitrary. Not shown here are retinacula and joint capsules, whose local properties may vary between those of ligaments, aponeuroses and proper fasciae.
We therefore suggest including twelve additional specifying terms wherever possible, into the detailed description of a fascial tissue. These specifying terms were proposed by Huijing & Langevin (2009)”:
- Dense connective tissue
- Areolar connective tissue
- Superficial fascia
- Deep fascia
- Intermuscular septa
- Interosseal membrane
- Periostium
- Neurovascular tract
- Epimysium
- Intramuscular
- Extramuscular
- Aponeurosis
Prominent Researcher Quotes:
Retrieved from: http://www.anatomytrains.com/fascia/
“Our fascial fabric constitutes one single biomechanical regulatory system – we benefit from seeing it, training it, and treating it that way” (Myers 2013).
“It turns out that it really is all one net with no separation from top to toe, from skin to core or from birth to death” (Shultz & Feitis 1996).
“The body—and the fascial net in particular—is a single connected unity in which the muscles and bones float” (Myers 2013).
“Every cell in your body is hooked into—and responds to—the tensional environment of the fascia” (Ingber 1998).
“Alter your mechanics, and cells can change their function” (Horwitz 1997).
“Given the facts, many would prefer the term neuromyofascial web to the fascia-dissing musculoskeletal system” (Schleip 2003).
“As accustomed as we are to identifying individual structures within the fascial web—plantar fascia, Achilles tendon, iliotibial band, thoracolumbar aponeurosis, nuchal ligament and so on—these are just convenient labels for areas within the singular fascial web. They might qualify as ZIP codes, but they are not separate structures. For example, you can talk about the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Mediterranean oceans, but there is really only one interconnected ocean in the world. Fascia is the same. We talk about individual nerves, but we know the nervous system reacts as a whole. So, how can the fascia webbing function as a differentiated system? It cannot!” (Myers 2013).
