Fascial Stretch Therapy

As a personal trainer and athlete, I understand the wear and tear that intense physical activity can have on the body. Whether you’re training for a road race, or just beginning to exercise and find yourself working out stiffness and body aches, we need to take care of ourselves to safely recover from exercise.  This recovery can take many forms including: rest, static/dynamic stretching, foam rolling, massage, acupuncture and other therapeutic forms.  

I’ve long been a fan of stretching, foam rolling and acupuncture, but I’m also curious to learn more about the other available options for recovery.  Recently I’ve had the chance to explore Fascial Stretch Therapy - an assisted table-based stretching system that focuses on the fascia (the connective tissue of the muscles) as the key element in achieving optimal flexibility, strength, performance and pain relief.  

Basically, over time the fascia in our bodies can become tight, sore and inflamed which may lead to pain and compromised performance.  Stretching along the fascial lines of the body can help prevent this.  

I found these three illustrations useful in understanding where the fascia is in the body: 

I was curious about this methodology and wanted to try it out after a long season of running.  When I met Bethany Weir, my FST (Fascial Stretch Therapist), she greeted me warmly, made me feel comfortable and explained to me the stretching process.  She manipulated my arms and legs into deep stretching positions while I laid on the table and was guided gently, yet deeply, through the stretches. Basically the process helped to re-align, re-adjust, and manipulate my fascia back to it normal relaxed state so that my body, limbs and joints were more mobile. Afterward, I feel relaxed, more flexible and many general body aches were relieved. 

With regular treatment, this therapy can also assist with relief in other problem areas including: back pain, muscle spasms, joint capsules, circulation and blood flow, improving posture, hip replacement issues, depression, IT band syndrome and plantar fasciitis.  So if any of these health issues are a concern for you I recommend giving FST a try. Its a natural and drug free method to address these problems.  

If you’d like to learn more about FST, or would like to contact the Fascial Stretch Therapist I visited, I can highly recommend her - Bethany Weir.  Check out her website for more information on her practice, rates and contact info: http://stretchwithbeth.com/