I'm Judith, and this is the Starline Equine Bodywork podcast. This is a podcast about all of the things that I've learned and continue to learn in my career with horses. For the better part of a decade, I've been a full time equine bodywork practitioner, educator, and author. My obsession how horses really work and how to get the most from our relationship with them in training and in sport. My passion helping horse owners and body workers and aspiring body workers get going.
Unpack the latest science, research and experiences behind what we do with horses to support their potential and optimize their performance. I recently posted something on Instagram talking about different types of myofascial release, and I got probably one of the best questions I have ever got. And so I thought, you know what? Let's just make it into a podcast episode. So for my Instagram follower who sent this, you know who you are. I promised you it would be a podcast episode and here it is.
So the question was about myofascial release. We were talking about sustained pressure, light touch, sustained pressure on the skin and its effect on the fascia, and how that differs from a true myofascial release. And those of you who follow me and know my content know that I always talk about myofascial release has to have relative tissue motion in order to be effective. And yet I still am a proponent of sustained gentle touch in myofascial work. So there's a difference there.
Myofascial work is not necessarily mild fascial release. And I'm going to explain the difference here. So the effects that gentle sustained pressure have on fascia are important. Now it's often used in techniques like myofascial release or in in forms of manual therapy including massage. And it involves applying a steady low force pressure to the fascial tissues for an extended period. So typically for me it's about 60 to 90s and it can actually run up to several minutes.
So the effects of this are interesting. There's a thing called vaso elastic response. And this is where fascia that connective tissue exhibits these vaso electric properties meaning it can deform under sustained pressure. So this allows for gradual lengthening or softening of restricted fascial layers. It also begins, a process of hydration and ground substance changes. So sustained pressure can stimulate the fascist ground substance, which is this sort of gel like matrix.
And it increases hydration that way by, reducing viscosity, which can, of course, improve that tissue glide and flexibility. Now, there are neurological effects to using this technique. The gentle pressure can actually calm the nervous system, reducing muscle guarding and any, perception of pain via mechanoreceptors stimulation, Golgi tendon organs, Ruffini endings, those things that has, this gentle touch is going to affect that pain perception.
It also begins to modulate that autonomic nervous system. So the prolonged pressure begins to shift the body towards the parasympathetic state, promoting relaxation and reducing stress related tension. If you are working in cranio sacral therapy, you've probably heard the term fascial unwinding. Some practitioners believe that sustained pressure actually facilitates this release of stored tension or fascial memory, which is, you know, it's less scientifically validated.
But there's a lot of anecdotal evidence. And I actually did a full podcast episode on whether or not fascia stores trauma. And you can look that up to see those different thoughts on that. Now the effects of sustained pressure, they're primarily quite passive. And they rely on the tissues response to this prolonged static force without any significant movement between those tissue layers.
So in my opinion, while they can affect the fascia or the myo fascia, they are not true myofascial release techniques. So with myofascial release, true myofascial release, you need to have relative tissue motion, meaning that there is movement between adjacent fascial layers or between the fascia and other tissues. So, you know, you have this superficial layer, over, just under the skin and one over the muscle underneath.
And it's the response of the two gliding over one another that is actually going to achieve results. So this to make them glide over one another, it's typically achieved through active techniques. Can be done through forms of stretching, gliding or shearing motions like in bowing work. It's all very, very light touch. And these effects and the mechanisms differ greatly only from sustained pressure.
So when you have this mechanical shearing, you are actually putting relative motion, which physically helps to move the layers over one another and send messages to the brain about these adhered or restricted fascial layers. It can mechanically break cross-linked or adhesions in very minor ways, but it's not tearing or breaking them the way you think it's sending, a message to the brain that, you know, maybe movement here isn't quite as good as it was, and it actually improves tissue glide.
So the motion, the act of putting motion into the tissues, helped to restore that normal sliding ability between those fascial planes, which is critical, obviously, for any type of functional movement and to reduce stiffness in the sensation of stiffness in the body. It stimulates proprioceptive, so active motion is going to engage those propria receptors, enhancing the body's awareness and motor control which can help to prevent re injury in the body. And it also helps with collagen remodeling.
We have to remember that fascia is a largely collagen S network right. And so repeated motion stimulates fibroblasts to reorganize that collagen. And those collagen fibers a lining them along lines of stress for improved strength and flexibility. Now pain reduction using movement is important because motion promotes blood flow, lymphatic drainage, and reduces inflammation and clearing of metabolic waste, and that alone can alleviate pain.
True myofascial release emphasizes that dynamic interaction between tissues often requiring, you know, active participation from the horse, and from the practitioner moving that the tissue over one another. It's important to know when to use each of the techniques.
So I like to use that gentle, sustained pressure when there is acute pain or a highly heightened or highly sensitive horse, it's ideal for, you know, acute injuries or that hyper reactive nervous system where motion might be too painful or two stimulating. It's also great and effective for horses who experience chronic tension in certain areas, as it helps to, release deeply held tension or stress related restrictions, especially in stall rest horses either quite sedentary, right?
So this is quite noninvasive and really helpful for them when the goal is to calm the nervous system and to reduce muscle guarding. When you've had these chronic stress related conditions. This is my go to right. We want to be using that gentle, sustained pressure. And in early stages of when you're looking at a long term treatment program, it's useful as a very introductory technique to the horses as it prepares the tissues for more dynamic work.
And in fact, I will often go in and do a hold and then test and see if I've had any of that softening under my hands so that I can move the skin. It's noninvasive, invasive, it's low risk, and it's suitable for the most fragile and sensitive situations. With very sensitive horses.
It promotes relaxation, it reduces stress, it improves overall well-being and can improve that local hydration and tissue pliability, reducing stiffness in the animal in the immediate it provides, you know, pain relief. And in some cases it helps, neurological calming of the horse. True myofascial release is best used when your horse is very used to bodywork. It's best for things like scar tissue. It's best for things like post-surgical adhesions or chronic immobility.
It restores mobility and tissue glide as the goal and, it helps athletes with post injury, rehabilitation or it helps athletes with post workout stress. Active clients. This is what it's great for. It's suitable for those horses who can tolerate or participate in something that has a little bit more movement, that sometimes they have to be a little bit more actively engaged in. And the goal, of course, is to reorganize collagen and to help prevent re adhesions.
One of the benefits of it, that I think is key is it helps to restore functional movement by improving that tissue independence and glide. It enhances proprioception motor control and helps to reduce the risk of injury in our horses. I love this type of work. I mean, most of the work I do is based in this relative tissue motion way of operating.
It promotes long term structural change by helping colleagues in remodel, and it increases circulation and lymphatic flow, which of course is going to aid in recovery when deciding which type of myofascial work to do, it's important to look at your client, your horse, its condition, know when to use that sustained pressure in acute or highly sensitive moments, and when to transition into true myofascial release.
It's has the tissues and as the animal can tolerate that motion, you can start with one and move into the other and sort of test them. It requires, as body workers for us to have very precise techniques to target specific layers and to avoid forcing the horses into some sort of compensatory movement. While sustained pressure, is simpler, but it's a little bit less specific on the tissues. So it's important to remember that when you are practicing it.
And if you are a horse owner at home, doing it is probably safer to use that gentle, sustained pressure until you learn a little bit more about the techniques. Of course, as practitioners, a combination approach, many therapists blend both using, you know, both to have a deeper release and, be, you know, it's, it's a learned skill that they, of course, have from experience.
So I guess our takeaway for this is that sustained, gentle pressure softens fascia, promotes relaxation and is ideal for our acute and sensitive cases, ideal for horse owners at home, offering immediate relief. And it is a little bit more temporary. So true myofascial release. The difference is it has that relative tissue motion, which restores functional mobility by shearing adhesions and remodeling collagen, making it better for chronic restrictions, long term outcomes.
With our in long term outcomes with our horses, we're going to use sustained pressure initially and for calming. And of course move into that true myofascial release for dynamic and functional goals. Combining both tailor them to your horse's needs. You can use it often, and this is what's going to yield the very best results.