Aging of your Fascial System

Getting older healthy

Aging is the most lasting influence on our fascial system. On the one hand, the composition of our fascia tissue (connective tissue) changes so that our natural elasticity decreases. On the other hand, negative influences such as accidents, operations, pain, grief accumulate in this fascial system or are reflected in it. That is why Peter Schwind has also aptly described fascia as the “fabric of our lives”. As our life forms, we also form our fascial system and thus our posture. Thus our posture is the visible expression of this spatial network of fascia.

The good news is that we shape our fascia in our lives. I.e., we also have it in our hands to work against unwanted negative influences by intentionally positive influences. We should also be aware that it is usually much easier and quicker to cause damage than to repair it. It’s like a car body damage with our car, one blow is enough to deform the body, many small, targeted blows are needed to restore the old shape.

Rolfing – Maintenance and care of our fascia system

Even though Rolfing unfortunately cannot promise anti-aging, it is important to actively take care of your own body structure, especially in old age. Chronic tensions are no small thing. They hinder the supply of tissue through the increase in pressure. And they irritate nerves and lead to a thickening and hardening of fascia. Rolfing can balance tensions through manual treatment and enables the relearning of movement patterns. That allows a more efficient and wear-free movement.

Rolfing – A concrete example

There are many ways we can use our legs when walking. And there can be just as many reasons why we do not do this wear-free and efficiently. Let’s start with the ideal of a movement: we push ourselves from behind into the crotch with the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe. The entire foot twists so that the heel stays straight behind the body. This allows the knee to remain straight and without much shearing force in the joint under the body and the hip opens.

On the other hand, there is a movement pattern in which we use our rider muscles (the leg muscles with which we can clamp ourselves to a horse) to go beyond normal limits. The foot remains firmer. The ankle is bent a little more to the side, the knee does not point exactly in the step direction, but slightly outwards and our hip extension is lower. Sometimes you get the impression of O-legs. Foot-knee or hip problems can be the result. The reasons for such a pleasure pattern range from ankle injuries, problems with the toes, highly trained abdominal muscles to the internalized youth belief that such walking is cool.

From Rolfing’s point of view not only the muscle tone of the rider muscles has to be reduced manually, but also the “normal” gout pattern has to be retrained. What does it feel like if the rider muscles are not always the first to fire, what alternatives are there? How long does the rear leg remain behind its own body axis when walking? Manual work can achieve a differentiation of different muscles, an increase in mobility in the foot, a change in tension in the knee. Fascia layers can be used as sliding surfaces so that different muscles do not act as blocks. Equally important is the use of these new freedoms in order to achieve greater efficiency and less wear in the long term.

Conclusion – Aging fascia system

Worrying about the efficiency of one’s own body is above all a concern in old age. At a young age it is much easier for us to compensate for malfunctions. Over time, however, injuries, wear and tear and malfunctions accumulate and our range of motion becomes smaller. The fascia therapy Rolfing works here like a good maintenance and repair of the machinery of our body. It not only “lubricates” our mobility, but also trains new habits.