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[dt_list_item image=””]JENT Directed Neuromyofascial Release[/dt_list_item]
[dt_list_item image=””]Undirected Myofascial Release[/dt_list_item]
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There has not been one horse that did not like the effect of the gentle, slow and flowing soft tissue therapy. Myo-Fascial Release (MFR) has been widely accepted because of its results – do not be deceived by its gentleness.
At first glance you may think that “Nothing is happening!”, and ‘How could this possibly work?’. But instead look at the horse to understand the profound changes occurring under the hands of the therapist as the neuro-myo-fascial tissues heat-up (melt), hydrate, become a more fluid, viscous and malleable biomass.
Every horse has a panniculus reflex muscle used for twitching-flicking-off flies. We do not have one. This is a flat, thin sheath of muscle lying sub-cutaneously throughout the majority of the torso. It accepts and magnifies the effects of the undirected MFR.
Also we have adopted the current term Neuromyofascia as it has been found that that the Fascia is 10 times more enervated than muscle tissue. This implications of this is that it really is a nerve rich substance.
First some terms must be understood:
Thixotropy – Process by which the connective tissue as a colloid substance in which the ground substance can be influenced by the application of energy – heat or mechanical pressure – to change its aggregate form from a more dense “gel” state to a more fluid ‘sol’ state; typical examples of this are common gelatine or butter, which get softer with heat or mechanical pressure.
Piezoelectricity – Connective tissue can be seen to behave like a ‘liquid crystal’. Thus the cells that produce and digest collagen produce electric charges; to put it simply: pressure from the outside creates a distortion of the crystalline shape of the collagen, creating polarity and a consequent higher electric charge, which stimulates the fibroblasts to alter their metabolic activity in that area.
Plasma Extravasation – The extrusion of plasma from blood vessels into the interstitial fluid matrix after a strong mechanical stimulation; commonly called ‘hydrating’ the fascia.
By the ‘laying on of hands’, and just waiting the tissue environment is prepared by the resting pressure and warmth of our hands and arms. This creates a thixotic change in the fascia; it softens and hydrates; within that more fluid environment, taut, twisted fascia unwinds itself!
This method is always accepted by horses that don’t usually invite touch; who are wary, unreceptive for whatever reason, and will sometimes even go to sleep as the tissue unwinds and releases its ‘drag’ tension from their musculature.
They relax in a way that lets them readily accept the changes.