How Fascia Is Affected By Trauma
- Oct 2, 2024
- 6 min read
Veronica is a Holistic Trauma Specialist. She is a qualified BodyTalk Practitioner, qualified TRE Provider and utilises quantum field talk therapy to help her clients address and understand trauma, and how it manifests in their body (physically, mentally and emotionally).
Fascia is a very thin connective tissue that encases and holds every organ, bone, blood vessel, nerve fiber and muscle. These tissues not only offer support to the area they are encasing, but they have massive neural networks, which makes fascia sensitive to touch, as well as sensitive to the physical and emotional environment as well.
As with our entire body, what happens in one area has an effect on another area. We are constantly in communication with our environment and the electromagnetic field around us. This is especially true when it comes to our fascia as our fascia is the electrical network of our bodies.
Fascial structure
Let’s start with understanding the fascial structure and what it does.
1. What is the fascial structure, physically?
Fascia is made up of multiple layers of tissue that surround a variety of body parts and connect nearly every structure in our body. It is white and string like in appearance and is made up of mostly collagen (which provides strength and flexibility). It is the largest sensory organ in the body, which has over 250 million nerve endings.
2. What does the fascial structure do, physically?
Fascia provides support to the body parts and tissues much like an elastic sheath. It is soft and flexible, made up of many layers, and is designed to stretch and move with the movement of whichever body part it is encasing.
3. How is our fascia affected?
Common physical symptoms of compromised fascia include the following: weak muscles, tender muscles, limited range of motion, small bumps within the muscle fiber that worsen over time, and muscles that are tight and stiff or too weak and limp.
4. What affects our fascia?
Fascia can be affected in numerous ways. Physically one can damage their fascia by things such as surgery. Insufficient physical activity can lead to dried out fascia. Considering fascia is made up of primarily collagen it is noteworthy to ensure our collagen network is strong and healthy. Another thing that affects fascia is trauma. Unresolved trauma affects not only the tightness in the muscles and surrounding areas but the electrical currents that run through the fascia.
5. The electrical component of our fascia
In short, fascia is made up of collagen, which creates an electrical charge with mechanical weight. Our bodies are in a constant state of experiencing mechanical weight from gravity, movement and exercise. Therefore, our bodies are constantly creating an electrical charge, and the highway through which this charge travels is the fascia.
This is by no means new information. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the fascial planes line up directly with the acupuncture channels, through which Qi flows.
Fascia as a means of communication
As mentioned, collagen is primarily what fascia is made up of, and collagen has a very important role to play in generating electricity. In effect, fascia is an electrical conduit. Collagen has interesting conducting properties and the fluid that lies between the fascial surfaces conducts electricity very well. Why is this important? The body has an unseen network of energy that connects all parts, which energy (and the information it holds) travels through the fascia. There are three times more sensory neurons than motor neurons in the fascia, meaning that the fascia has a primary role in communicating information about what the body is experiencing and sending this information to the brain. When something is wrong, our nervous system picks up the message. We need to be humble and connected enough to listen before this is expressed as pain in the body. This is one way in which the body communicates with our conscious mind. Bringing unconscious trauma patterns to the conscious mind allows us to address what has been buried and to ultimately release it.
Trauma’s effect on fascia
What does trauma (big or small) do to the body? We should rephrase this (and every other trauma question) to the following: How did my body respond to this traumatic incident? Peter Levine has a great definition of trauma: “Psychological trauma can happen to anyone when they perceive a situation as a threat and are unable to complete a satisfactory fight, flight or freeze response”.
Again, the body is designed to self-protect. It will hold memories and information in the subconscious mind as a protective mechanism. The body will store an image of our body’s physical sensation, coupled with the emotions we are feeling at the time of the incident (such as guilt, anger, fear, etc.). The body takes a snapshot of this and it is held in our body mind complex in the following places (3 most common although there are more)
Our electromagnetic field
One or more organs, body parts, etc.
Our fascia
Fascia is fascinating – Trauma affects it in the following ways
Fascia is often referred to as the “handle of consciousness.” When an incident is too traumatic for our body to absorb, our consciousness actually leaves our body and the traumas are absorbed by the fascial tissues. Thoughts that are too rigid, extreme, critical or judgment aligned restrict our movement in life, and this is reflected in our tight fascial tissue too.
Fascia is meant to flow and bend so it can contract and expand in accordance with what the body requires. When we experience trauma, our bodies go into a state of shock, this absorption of shock halts the movement in our bodies, and we tense up. Our emotions are, in effect, stuck in the body tissues. Emotions (energy in motion), are no longer in motion (fear, shock etc. has comprised the flow of energy).
Fascia, being an electrical conduit, has our life force running through it. The fascia is like the software system of our body. Energy (and information) runs through the fascial network all over our body. Remember it encompasses nearly every body part. When our fascia is compromised the life force cannot run smoothly, easily and with flexibility through our bodies. Think of it like a part of your software that is not working. This affects, of course, that immediate aspect of the software (the same way it affects that immediate body part in which the compromised fascia is running, though), but it also affects how the entire body operates.
How to tend to your fascia
As discussed, our fascia is exceptionally important. It really does not get the attention it deserves. The healthier it is, the better we can absorb life’s inevitable impacts on it. Remember the fascia absorbs trauma to keep you safe, it is on your side not against you.
Be aware of environmental factors that can negatively impact your fascia and, where possible, reduce exposure to them. These are factors such as: excess alcohol, smoking, artificial flavorings/sweeteners, GMO products, toxins such as fluoride, artificial light at night and lack of sleep.
Move your body. Keep your fascia moving, flexible and in flow.
Eat nutritious food that supports collagen production; foods that are rich in magnesium, Zinc, vitamin C, and A.
Address trauma patterns, whether it be from your personal experiences, generationally inherited, or absorbed from societal, religious, or cultural conditioning. These trauma patterns are absorbed and held within the physical body and the body mind complex. Delve deep and make the unconscious conscious. It is not always pretty, but it is always worth it.
When emotional, mental, physical and spiritual trauma has been too overwhelming, it gets trapped within our fascia, and our movement is physically restricted. Our bodies are a representation of our inner emotional, psychological and spiritual worlds. And our bodies are always in communication with us. The key is to listen; how do we listen? We remove the patterns that we have accumulated over life (almost always unconsciously, and always to self-protect) that fall in our way of listening to what it is really telling us. In short, we make the unconscious conscious, hold space for ourselves and let our bodies address what it needs to. The body knows what to do to heal itself, we just have to get out the way. Couple that with ensuring to the best of our ability that we have supported the health of our body, physically.
Read more from Veronica di Muro Merchak
Veronica di Muro Merchak, Holistic Trauma Specialist
Veronica has a unique approach to trauma as Holistic Trauma Specialist. She combines her personal experience, her academic qualifications, her professional experience, and her in depth intuitive understanding of people to help them navigate their individual situations. An important focus of hers, is to empower her clients so they understand how trauma was received by their individual body and above all; how it is possible to move forward, in an unapologetic and gracefully powerful way.
