When working with patients with chronic pain, I can identify the biomechanics behind their pain. Those mechanics are featured in my books. But all too often, no matter how diligent my patients are, they cannot correct the strength or range of motion differences we’ve identified at the roots of their pain. Why not?

We have a pretty clear idea about how muscles contract and how they stretch. If we act according to those ideas, we should be able to improve strength and range of motion fairly easily. But you and I both know, it isn’t that simple. Often it takes days, weeks, months, or even years to get certain muscles stronger.

I’ve recently been exploring how our nervous system is used in movement. Also, I’ve been looking into our fascial system. Fascia is connective tissue of varying types that wraps around and connects every structure in the body. Turns out there are lines of fascia traveling through our body that can impact how our muscles function. There is a great book detailing these lines by Thomas Myers.

I’m also exploring Somatics which has been an interesting addition to the idea that we function in systems of movement rather than in isolation. I’ve come to believe that instead of just releasing patterns of muscles using this approach, we are also releasing these lines of fascia. In Somatics this is achieved by linking the brain to certain muscles.

Yet another neural and/or fascial approach I’ve been studying is Total Motion Release. This technique was discovered by Tom Dolanzo-Baker and is right up my alley of using movement to fix the body. His approach also targets systems of movement and seems to be affecting the neurofascial web within our bodies.

These systems seem to affect our biomechanics in terms of strength and range of motion. They also affect pain. The question is whether the pain is a result of the poor biomechanics or is separate from it. Could the biomechanical problems outlined in my books also be a symptom of poor neurofascial balance or performance? When I eliminate people’s pain by fixing their biomechanics, am I really affecting this deeper web in some way? There are more questions than answers. I’m not sure if we’ll ever know for sure. I’ll continue using these systems to help my chronic pain patients though.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…