Fascial Counterstrain

What is Fascial Counterstrain?

Fascial Counterstrain (FCS) is a cutting edge, advanced manual therapy technique that effectively decreases pain and symptoms and enables successful return to function. FCS is based on applied anatomy and gently removes painful, reflexive tissue contractions from the body.

Fascial Counterstrain targets the fascia, the "Sensory Blanket" that encases every organ, artery, vein, lymphatic vessel, nerve, muscle, ligament, tendon, and cartilaginous structure. Trauma, postural strain, overuse and repetitive strain, viral infections, inflammatory diseases (Lyme, Crohn's), inflammatory foods, food sensitivities, stress and emotional/psychological distress can all trigger a fascial response that is initially protective but can cause long-term problems and, over time, causes dysfunction and pain. The FCS practitioner gently positions the body and manipulates the tissue to unload and decompress the strained structure. FCS maximizes the body's intrinsic healing capacity by normalizing blood flow, muscular tension, vascular drainage, and neural input. This alleviates the primary source of symptoms, pain, and dysfunction.

Fascial Counterstrain is more than symptom relief. It creates an environment in the body that is most conducive to healing as it treats the root cause of pain and disease, whether acute or chronic. FCS gently unwinds the protective splinting of all tissues in the body. It is subtle, incredibly specific, and painless and provides a powerful sense of release, which restores movement, function, and physical and emotional health.

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Fascial Counterstrain embraces the concepts of holistic and osteopathic medicine in that it addresses the operation and dysfunction of the body as a whole. The FCS practitioner has been trained in using a diagnostic scan of the cranium to specifically identify the painful, reflexively protected and contracted tissues in the body. A variety of mechanical or chemical insults cause reflex tissue contractions to occur in the body's deep fascia layers, skeletal muscle tissues and/or smooth muscle structures.

Some examples of these insults include trauma, surgery, stress or emotional distress, postural strain, repetitive motion, infectious or viral conditions, and even the effects of a long-term inflammatory diet. An insult like this can cause a protective reflexive contraction in the fascia that can cause musculoskeletal conditions in any region of the body, chronic edema (swelling) weakness, digestive dysfunction, migraine and non-migraine headaches, tachycardia, (abnormally elevated heart rate), CRPS (chronic regional pain syndrome), peripheral arterial disease, balance disorders, seizures, tinnitus (sense of ringing in ones ears), depression, impaired immune system function, and even systemic conditions like fibromyalgia. See the list below for additional conditions effectively treated with fascial counterstrain.

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