PASSIVACTIVE TECHNIQUE IN MYOFASCIAL DETACHMENT: LOWER LIMBS - 6TH PART - - MASSAGE-TECHNIQUES

Home / massage-techniques / 2021

Passivactive technique in myofascial detachment: lower limbs

After years of working on athletes from different sports, I believe that this practice is now updated with the dynamism of the passive technique, be of great help if synergistic with the various athletic training jobs - flexibility, elasticity -for obtaining and optimizing the best Range of Motion musculo-articular. The muscles belonging to a specific myofascial group - eg those of the thigh - must be able to freely contract / decontract independently, while remaining synergistic, antagonistic or recruited during the biomechanics of an athletic gesture.

The detachment and separation for adjacent muscles is also effective in counteracting myofascial retraction, effectively lowering the risk of injury. Restrictions and adhesions are one of the main causes of dysfunctions as, by exercising traction and twisting on related muscles, fascia and joints, they cause impediments and pain during exercise. Failure to slide between adjacent muscles -one of the causes are exudates, lactic acid and metabolic waste which increase the interstitial grip fascia - muscle - fascia - results in a loss of independence during the excursion phase lengthening-shortening and, consequently, in the delivery of muscle strength. This turns out to be true gap for the physiological myotendinous excursion -ROM - during the contraction / decontraction phase, especially during a sporting performance. It follows that with work overloads or with the repetition of specific gestures typical of intensive workouts one way, we go to increase the natural process of myofascial retraction, with the well known trouble at the muscular-articular level which, if not treated early, can lead the athlete to forced postural compensations, thus significantly affecting the performance. We know well that the muscles subjected to overwork can exceed their range of motion, but if this action is particularly repeated, it will cause a swelling - hypertone - and muscle stiffness - stiffness - with possible consequent inflammation. This hypertone reduces the interstitial space muscle-fascia-muscle limiting blood circulation for tissue nourishment and lymphatic circulation for cleaning waste, causing discomfort detected by various receptor corpuscles present - proprioceptors, mechanoreceptors, chemoreceptors - that informing the Central Nervous System is transformed into myofascial pain.

"... a well-stretched muscle, in fact, is able to perform wider movements with less stress for its joint. Studies on joint mobility confirm that performing exercises of stretching at the end of workout, accelerates recovery ... "(M. Scudero, massage therapist) in complete agreement I would like to state, as mentioned above, that to follow the word detachment when we talk about elongation / strethcing it can be decidedly appropriate and synergistic. "Furthermore, these adhesions exert both lateral traction forces, destabilizing for the associated myofascial compartment, and forces capable of establishing axial torsion on the muscles themselves" (A. Riggs). Myofascial adhesions can lead to an imbalance of the forces acting in tensegrity on a joint compartment. This imbalance generally causes postural adaptations, inflammation and pain, conditions that are detrimental to sports performance and in the most serious cases prevents the athlete from training. An example is the "gluing of the Tensor Muscle of the Fascia Lata (TFL), Ileotibial tract, with the Vasto Lateral (fig. 2).
The latter subjected to the lateral traction action exerted by the TFL, can be the cause of a knee resentment and, as some studies show, be responsible or contributing to these compartment pains as in the patellofemoral syndrome. The same TFL is capable of traction by gluing the myotendinous insertion of the biceps femoris especially during the squat phase, which can contribute to the onset of pain in the knee area due to lack of stability. In this regard it is possible to find ample documentation. in the various studies published on various Sports & Med sites, of how the detachment of the thigh and leg muscles has resolved pain and limitations for the knee joint that presented with the typical symptoms of the most common compartment syndromes such as those shown in fig. 3.

This is to explain how to have set free the muscles glued from the adhesions has thus normalized the tension imbalance of the forces acting for the stabilization of the knee. We know well how even minimal tractions due to contractures, trigger points, scars etc., are able to unbalance not only a joint, but the tensegrity of the body by changing its posture. Another usefulness found in the use of the passive technique of detachment for preventive purposes especially for the leg muscles is to counter the "onset of muscle cramp." Regardless of the real cause that induces the muscle cramp (several theories are in vogue), it seems instead established that the pain is due to the " intense stimulation of mechanoreceptors due to "excessive muscle contraction" (E. Sproviero). It is agreed that by eliminating the myofascial adhesions, better muscle tone will be obtained, which is one of the optimal conditions for avoiding the onset of cramps. This denotes once again that intervening with a "preventive detachment action to separate the adjacent muscles from each other becomes a necessity for competitive athletes and for those who dedicate themselves to fitness with a" high weekly frequency.