Fascia is the body’s intricate web of connective tissue. It wraps around and weaves through everything—muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels, even your organs. Think of it like the cling wrap that holds your whole body together. When it’s healthy, fascia helps you move freely, stay flexible, recover quickly, and enables all your other bodily systems (like lymphatic, digestive, circulatory, etc) function optimally. When it’s restricted, things start to hurt, tighten, and feel “off.”

Because until recently, fascia was completely overlooked in anatomy and medical training. Researchers would literally cut it away and throw it in the trash just to study the muscles or nerves underneath.

Thankfully, that’s changing—there are now more and more studies (even The New York Times has covered it) showing how fascia impacts health, pain, and movement. The problem: is most standard treatments still haven’t caught up.

Doctors, trainers, and therapists were taught to think only in terms of muscles, bones, and joints. Now we know fascia is full of pain receptors, stores stress, and plays a massive role in how we move. It’s the missing link for understanding so many cases of stubborn pain and tension.

Yes! Fascia is packed with nerve endings—pain receptors, pressure sensors, and proprioceptors (the ones that tell your brain where your body is in space). In fact, fascia has more receptors than any other tissue in the body—making it our most highly sensitive organ. That means your body awareness, coordination, pain sensations, and even stress responses come from fascia.

Yes and no. Massage definitely influences fascia—especially the myofascia (the fascia around muscles) and even the lymphatic system, which sits closer to the skin. Since fascia is everywhere, any massage is going to touch it in some way.

The catch? Most traditional massage misses the key ingredients for lasting change. To truly reset fascia, you need active movement to interrupt old patterns, and you have to look beyond the spot that hurts—because pain is rarely the actual problem.

That’s why many people feel amazing after a massage… but only for a little while. Without movement and the right type of pressure, fascia tends to snap back to its old, sticky patterns once the “feel-good” effect wears off.

Yes! Fascia isn’t just a physical tissue—it’s deeply connected to your nervous system and even communicates within itself. Stress, trauma, and even daily anxiety can cause your body to brace, tighten, and hold tension without you realizing it. Over time, that “holding pattern” gets stored in the fascia, almost like your body is wearing emotional armor.

That’s why people often describe feeling like stress is stuck in their body, or why emotions sometimes come up during a release session. Your fascia and nervous system work hand-in-hand, so when fascia is restricted, your body can stay locked in fight-or-flight mode.

The good news? When we release fascia in the right way, we’re not just freeing up movement—we’re also sending powerful safety signals to the nervous system, helping your body (and mind) relax, reset, and heal.

Completely. Muscles contract and relax, but fascia doesn’t work the same way—it’s more like a cling wrap or spiderweb that can stick to itself and surrounding tissues. Releasing fascia isn’t about forcing a muscle to relax—it’s about restoring glide, hydration, and communication so muscles, nerves, and joints can do their jobs properly.

Flexibility isn’t really the best marker of health or athletic ability. What actually matters is mobility—the ability of your joints to glide fully and freely through their range of motion. When your joints are mobile, flexibility tends to come naturally.

Here’s where fascia comes in: fascia is a three-dimensional structure. If we want to change it, we have to work it in a three-dimensional way. Most traditional stretching only pulls tissue in one direction, which doesn’t address fascial tension or adhesions. That’s why stretching often feels good for a moment but doesn’t create lasting change.

By working directly with fascia, you’re improving mobility, athletic performance, and the overall “looseness” and freedom in your body. So yes, fascia release supports flexibility—but what we’re really after is full-body mobility and functional movement, not just being bendy.

Fascia is often the hidden culprit behind back pain. When fascia in your hips, legs, or even shoulders gets tight, it can tug on your spine and create imbalances that show up as pain. On top of that, the fascia in your lower back has one of the highest concentrations of pain receptors in the entire body, which makes it extra sensitive and quick to send those “warning signals.”

Here’s the key: the spot that hurts usually isn’t the real problem. That’s why you can stretch your back, get massages on your back, or even have spine adjustments—and the pain still comes back. The fastest path to lasting relief is releasing fascia in the right areas to restore balance through the whole chain.

The truth is, almost every ache, pain, or issue in the body has a fascial component.

Here’s a list of ailments that unhealthy fascia contributes to:

Tendonitis

• Tendonitis

• Arthritis and joint pain

• Chronic pain and inflammation

• Plantar fasciitis and foot pain

• Low back pain and herniated discs

• Knee pain

• Neck pain and headaches

• Plateaus in athletic performance

• Slow recovery times

• Pulled muscles

• Upper back pain and rib pain

• Shoulder pain, shoulder mobility issues, frozen shoulder

• Exercise induced aches, pains, and stiffness

• Chronic dehydration

• Carpal tunnel and wrist pain

• Numbness and tingling in extremities (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome)

• Pinched nerves, nerve pain, Sciatica

• Hip pain and SI pain

• Overuse injuries (such as Golfer’s or Tennis Elbow, Runner’s Knee, shin splints, etc)

• Limited range of motion and chronic stiffness

• Aches and pains from pregnancy or postpartum

• Poor sleep

• Poor posture

• Accelerated aging

• Compromised immune function

• Difficulty breathing fully/deeply through the diaphragm

• Poor stress response/Anxiety

• Chronic fatigue

• Poor immune system function

  (While research is still limited, there may also be a fascial component to autoimmune conditions and digestive issues)

Absolutely. Migraines, tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis are all conditions where fascia plays a big role. By restoring glide, improving fluid flow, and reducing tension, fascia release often relieves the root cause instead of just masking symptoms. It’s not an overnight fix, but for many people it’s the missing piece that finally makes lasting change possible.

In a recent 2024 survey of 85 clients from The Fascia Remedy practice, 34% felt a significant difference in just one session, and another 56% felt a difference in 2-5 sessions. That’s a total of 91% percent who felt significant relief in less than 5 sessions. This same survey also logged a 92% success rate.

When done consistently, most people feel a difference with the Fascia Remedy self release techniques in 2 weeks or less.