Condition · Back & Spine
Back Pain
How Myofascial Release addresses it, and what to expect.
Back pain is a common medical condition characterized by discomfort, pain, or stiffness affecting the back, particularly the muscles, bones, nerves, and other structures in the spinal region. The pain can vary widely in intensity, duration, and location, and it may be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term). Symptoms can include localized pain, stiffness, muscle spasms, and limited range of motion. Back pain can be caused by muscle strain, disc problems, spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, scoliosis, trauma or injury, and poor posture.
Why fascia is involved
Restriction in one place, pain somewhere else.
The back is wrapped in some of the strongest fascia in the body: the thoracolumbar fascia that spans the lower back, the sheaths around every spinal muscle, and the connective tissue that ties the pelvis, hips and ribcage into one system. When any of it tightens after an injury, a period of poor posture, repetitive strain or surgery, it loses its glide. Muscles have to work harder against it, joints and discs take more load, and the tension often shows up as pain in a spot that is nothing like where the restriction started.
A Myofascial Release therapist looks at the whole pattern rather than the sore spot alone. Using sustained, gentle pressure held for several minutes at a time, they wait for the restricted tissue to soften and lengthen, working the hips, pelvis, abdomen and ribcage as often as the back itself. People commonly describe a sense of space returning to the spine, easier movement, and pain that settles rather than flaring.
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Every therapist in the Directory is trained in the John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Approach®.