Fascia in Motion

Fascia-focused movement for Pilates

Elizabeth Larkam

• Publisher: Handspring Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781912085248
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Physiotherapy, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

This beautifully illustrated volume provides a comprehensive guide to fascia-focused movement in original and contemporary Pilates mat, reformer, and studio applications. Each of the book's 14 chapters illustrates how each principle of fascia-focused movement is expressed in Pilates exercise. In addition to a comprehensive exercise compendium, Fascia in Motion includes chapters on specialized applications of fascia-focused movement in Pilates including:

• Pilates fascia-focused movement for aging well
• Pilatesfascia-focused movement for computer posture
• Pilates fascia-focused movement for osteoporosis
• Pilates fascia-focused movement for hip and knee replacement

The text is supplemented with links to video of Elizabeth Larkam demonstrating each of the exercises personally. A truly stunning achievement and the synthesis of a lifetime's dedication to the art and science of Pilates.

SECTION 1

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Theory and practice

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The neuromyofascial system, a whole-body organ of communication

Introduction

In Latin, fascia means “bundle, bandage, strap, unification, and binding together” (Oschman, 2016). “Fascia is the tensional, continuous fibrillar network within the body, extending from the surface of the skin to the nucleus of the cell. This global network is mobile, adaptable, fractal, and irregular; it constitutes the basic structural architecture of the human body” (Guimberteau & Armstrong, 2015). Fascia is part of the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and neurological systems. Fascia has not been studied thoroughly as a whole in terms of its purpose and integration with the entire body and different organ systems.

TABLE 1.1 Fascia types that comprise the whole-body neuromyofascial system
Fascia type	Anatomy	Neural properties	Depth	Load transmission
Superficial	Loosely packed, interwoven collagen fibers admixed with abundant elastic fibers	Pacini and Ruffini corpuscles and free-ending nerves	From a few mm below the skin to the middle of the hypodermis	Low effect
Deep	Well-organized dense, fibrous layers	Pacini and Ruffini corpuscles and free-ending nerves	Inferior to the hypodermis over the epimysium	High effect
Aponeurotic	Contains collagen fiber bundles aligned along the main axis of the limbs in longitudinal and oblique directions	Richly innervated with free and encapsulated nerve endings (including Ruffini and Pacini corpuscles)	Found in the thoracolumbar fascia	Functions like a tendon, allowing force transmission along the limbs. Adapts to volume variation of the underlying muscles during contraction
Epimysial	Fibrous laminae composed of Type I and III collagen fibers and elastic fibers	Relation with muscle spindles	Adheres tightly to underlying muscles via multiple fibrous septa. It is impossible to separate the functions and features of the epimysial fascia and underlying muscle	High effect in combination with the adherent muscle

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Fascia is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue system that permeates the human body [Table 1.1]; it interpenetrates and surrounds muscles, bones, organs, nerves, blood vessels and other structures. Fascia is an uninterrupted, three-dimensional web ...