Osteopathic Considerations of Fascia and Connective Tissue Continuity

The fascia has become hugely popular across different manual therapy disciplines in the past decade, supported by an increasing amount of basic science and clinical research. In the osteopathic profession it has been integrated in practice through different theoretical frameworks starting with the philosophical curiosity of the professions founder in the late 19th century.

The aim of this and objective of this course is to combine the osteopathic tradition with the progression from research to provide a neuroreflexive and fluid-viscoelastic model of understanding fascia and connective tissue continuity through anatomy and physiology as a rationale for assessment and treatment of it.

The first part of the course will focus on the discussion on what “fascia” is and is not, moving from embryology, histology and anatomy to the complexity of the connective tissue architecture represented through a soft-tissue skeleton, a hydrodynamic skeleton, and a sensory skeleton. This will provide an understanding of fascia as a body-wide three-dimensional viscoelastic tensegrous matrix important for both neural and fluid physiology.

The second part of the course will outline various assessment strategies for the fascia and the connective tissue physiology, before treatment techniques and approaches for the different body regions will be systematically demonstrated.

The course is both theoretical and practical, with the objective of providing the participants with an integrated understanding of the subject for use in clinical practice. There will be discussions on opportunities and limitations in this area, as well as a clinical overview spanning almost 150 years of osteopathic tradition.

Programme

• What is fascia? Different viewpoints in anatomy
• Fascia: from Andrew Taylor Still to modern research
• The histology of fascia
• The organization of the fascia: the “fascial being”
• The fascia as complementary skeletons of the human organism
• Soft-tissue skeleton (ectoskeleton): the biomechanical fascia
• Viscoelastic skeleton: the fluid fascia
• Neuroskeleton: the sensory fascia
• The functions of the fascia
• A deeper dive into defining the fascia and why
• The extracellular matrix and the interstitium: a body-wide biological playground
• Do we need to change how we think about working with the fascia?
• Not a glitch in the matrix: cells, nerves and cellular / neural mediated responses
• Fascia, holographics and fractals
• Internal respiration and circulation
• Life is a highway: the interstitial superhighway of the body
• Fascia and immunology
• Fascia and chronic diseases
• Clinical assessment of the fascia: various screening exams for clinical practice

Osteopathic treatment of the fascia

• Osteopathic approaches to the fascia: an overview
• Myofascial release concepts: bridging Drs. Ward, Peckham and Chila
• Fascial patterns and the Neidner techniques
• Inherent tissue motion and the fascia: the body as a fascial membrane by Becker

Concluding the course