What is fascia, you ask? Fascia is the connective tissue that encases muscles, and muscle groups. Many people think of deep tissue massage as regular massage, but with “harder pressure”. Well, its a little bit more than that. Swedish massage and Deep Tissue massage are often- if not always, performed together. After all, it’s best to warm up the tissues prior to beginning deeper work. Deep Tissue massage primarily works at a deeper level- on the connective tissue surrounding the muscles, also known as fascia.
Fascia works similarly to tendons and ligaments, but instead of joining bone to bone (as in the case of ligaments) or muscle to bone (tendons), fascia joins muscle to muscle. So Deep Tissue techniques and structural bodywork focus on these deeper layers.
Below is a video with further explanation of fascia from Gil Hedley, founder of Integral Anatomy Productions, and instructor. He keeps it humorous and light!
*Video contains footage of human cadavers
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