Faszien und Nervensystem

Immediate fascial plasticity during a myofascial nonthrust manipulation cannot be sufficiently explained by traditional mechanical concepts, since either much longer application times or much higher forces would be required. Yet fascia is richly innervated by a rich network of mechanoreceptors which are responsive to manual pressure. Their stimulation may not only lead to local tonus changes in striated muscles via the central nervous system, but the majority of these receptors are intimately linked with the autonomic nervous system, which has been shown to respond by an alteration of global muscle tonus as well as locally by an increase in tissue vasodilation and viscosity. Furthermore smooth muscle cells have been recently discovered within fascia, which seem to be connected with the strong intrafascial presence of the sympathetic nervous system and which appear as agents for active fascial contractility. Possible implicatios for visceral osteopathy as well as fibromyalgia will be discussed.