Anatomists used to discard it to get at the muscles beneath. Now some researchers are finding there’s far more to the fascia than meets the eye.
A new piece in New Scientist (gated) looks at the fibrous connective tissue that wraps around your muscles like a wetsuit under the skin. New research by Robert Schleip has found the unpromising-looking fascia is far from inert: it contains 250m nerve endings, slightly more than your skin, which has been considered the body’s largest sense organ.
Other research implicates the fascia in today’s epidemic of chronic back pain – and suggests stretching is important because it encourages the fascia to release anti-inflammatory chemicals.