I’ve worked with countless dancers and athletes over the years. One thing that I’ve noticed is that stretching alone is not enough. Fascial adhesions occur within the tissues that need to be released in a more direct manner. Muscles are supposed to glide freely. When they become stuck with other surrounding tissues, this can inhibit the muscle’s range of motion. It can also manipulate the skeletal system by pulling bones closer together, thereby decreasing space within the joints and inhibiting the joint range of motion as well. Think of your skeleton as something suspended by a intricately massive spiderweb-like system, called fascia. Fascia covers everything from organs, to blood vessels, bones, nerves, muscles, etc. When any one area of that “spiderweb” is pulled more taut, it affects everything.

How do the muscles become tight? This can occur through a variety of factors. It can be from overuse, repetitive motions, postural habits, but it can also be from your negative thoughts and feelings. The muscles have receptor sites for emotions. If you’re body is under emotional stress, certain chemistry related to that stress is released in the body and stored in the tissue. Chronic stress, whether it comes from school, work, societal pressures, etc, weakens the immune system and keeps you in survival mode. When you’re in survival mode you’re not in your parasympathetic nervous system, which is part of the autonomic nervous system that aids in healing and repairing the body. Overtime the chemistry from stress starts to manipulate the physical body through neuromuscular issues, pain, illness & disease.

One of the best things you can do to help combat this, besides eating well, getting enough sleep, and reducing stress is to foam roll. This is basically like self-massage. You are finding fascial adhesions, or “knots,” in the tissue and releasing it. You can start with a less dense foam roller eventually progressing to more dense rollers and smaller balls for deeper release work. Healthy tissue should not hurt when you roll it. I’ve worked with so many dancers that stretch daily, but as soon as they hop on a foam roller, they are in agony. Even strong muscles should have a certain squishiness to it. Thick, bound muscles will not operate to their fullest potential and will set you up for injury. As you age, overly tight muscles will affect your posture, mobility, and balance. One of the reasons for this is your proprioceptors, which live within the fascia. Proprioceptors are sensory receptors that give you feedback on your position in space. When the muscles are tight, it changes your ability to figure out where your proper alignment is and thereby it affects your balance.

When you roll, you’ll immediately feel the difference within the body. You’ll notice you can stretch more deeply with larger ranges of motion in both the muscle and the joints. You will also become physically lighter and more relaxed as stuck energy (which can be stored emotion) gets released. Taking the time to tune into the body changes your brain waves and helps you enter into the parasympathetic nervous system where healing can begin on so many levels. My advice to dancers and athletes would be:

-Eat nutritiously
-Get enough sleep
-Stay in the present moment which reduces stress
-Be aware of negative thoughts and feelings
-Foam roll before you stretch and strengthen
-Love yourself

Shannon Hershman is a Chicago-based Pilates Instructor, Fascia Stretch Therapist, and Energy Healer. You can learn more about her at bellwellmybody.com. @bewellmybody