The Fascia and Movement

Abstract

Fascia surrounds the whole body without any interruption, divides organs or muscles into compartments, and connects them to each other. It works in coherence with all body systems during movement. Although fascia has been known since ancient times, fascia has been overlooked and ignored among other structures until the last decades. Superficial fascia—which hinders important structures—aponeurotic fascia and epimysium—which hinder access to the muscles—has been considered as structure that needs to be removed or cut. Even though the definition of fascia has conflicted ideas for years, studies are ongoing to determine a common language. Many researchers have defined fascia as only a passive, dense, sheet-like tissue. On the contrary, fascia has a broader scope: both as an anatomical structure and a body system. Currently, fascia is accepted as a mechanically active, highly innervated and dynamic system. In this chapter, fascia and its relationship with movement, the effects of the fascial system on the organization of movements as well as the dysfunctions that occur when fascia loses consistency will be explained. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.