Benefits of Myofascial Release: Is it Muscle Pain or Your Fascia?

What’s the buzz around fascia and the benefits of myofascial release? And what’s the difference between myofascial release vs deep tissue massages you’re used to booking? To answer that, we must start with what fascia really is and why it plays such a significant role in how we feel.

Fast Facts:

• MRT is different from massage because it works on fascia, not just muscles.
• Myofascial release therapy is a gentle, hands-on technique that targets fascia to relieve pain and improve movement.
• Fascia is a connective tissue network that wraps around muscles, organs, bones, and nerves.
• Benefits of myofascial release include chronic pain, mobility issues, posture, and conditions like plantar fasciitis or TMJ.
• MRT uses slow, sustained pressure to break down fascia adhesions.

What is MRT (Myofascial Release Therapy)?

Fascia contains about ⅓ of the body’s fluid, and it protects, lubricates and assists in remodeling of our injured tissues. Ever feel like your aches and pains just don’t go away? You have persistent, targeted pain that feels like knots. The area is consistently tender, tight, and maybe even limits your range of motion. If that’s the case, you might need MRT. Myofascial Release Therapy (MRT) is a massage specialty that relieves pain, sensitivity, and tension in the connective tissue surrounding muscles, bones, organs, and nerves. This tissue is called “fascia.” MRT uses continuous, gentle pressure to break up or “release” fascia. As a result, the benefits of myofascial release ease stiffness and improve mobility.

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Why More & More People Are Talking About Fascia Therapy

Years ago, the medical establishment generally agreed that fascia is just a thin, unimportant connective tissue that covers all muscles and organs. However, over the last few years, groundbreaking research has revealed much new information about it. Now, we know what fascia really is and how it moves and functions.

All this buzz has brought more attention to fascia and the benefits of myofascial release. A healthy fascia can significantly ease our aches and pains. When fascia is in good shape, it:

• Frees up our range of motion
• Improves our overall wellness
• Helps us look better by improving posture and skin tone.

What is Fascia?

Fascia is a continuous, 3D mechano-metabolic structure. Basically, that means it’s an active, body-wide support system that shapes, wraps, penetrates, connects, divides, absorbs force, and communicates across your entire body.

Facts About Fascia

• It shapes more than just your muscles! Fascia supports ligaments, cartilage, joint capsules, bones, meningeal tissue, and all organs.
• Fascia contains blood and lymph and acts as the body’s internal scaffolding. That means it holds everything together, literally!
• Additionally, it holds about one-third of the body’s fluid and plays a key role in protecting, lubricating, and remodeling injured tissues.

Fascia Layers: Superficial, Deep, and Visceral

Fascia is made up of a few layers: Superficial, deep, and visceral. Each layer serves a different function in the body. These layers work together to support movement, protect internal structures, and connect tissues from head to toe.

1. Superficial Fascia: The Surface Connector

Located directly underneath adipose tissue (fat) under the skin, this superficial fascia layer is what separates our skin from our muscles.

It acts as a passageway and contains blood vessels, lymph vessels, and nerve endings. With its viscoelastic properties, superficial fascia also plays a key role in defining the shape of our bodies.

2. Deep Fascia: The Protective Wrapper

This layer surrounds joints, muscles, bones, blood vessels, nerves, and more. It’s full of sensory receptors that regulate muscle tension and length. These receptors also detect and report the presence of pain.

Common examples of deep fascia include the plantar fascia and lumbosacral fascia.

3. Visceral (Parietal) Fascia: The Organ Support System

The visceral layer covers, supports, and suspends the organs within their cavities. It holds your organs in place, like the lungs (pleura), heart (pericardium), abdomen (peritoneum), and brain and spinal cord (meninges).

What is Fascia Made Of?

Fascia consists of three key components that give it strength, flexibility, and the ability to protect and support the body’s tissues. The benefits of myofascial release differ from those of deep tissue massage because it uniquely works through these layers.

1. Collagen

Collagen fibers are made of long molecules built from three polypeptide chains. These tough, white fibers are stronger than steel! Collagen gives our tissues structure, resilience, and strength. It is produced by the fibroblasts contained within the fascia.

2. Elastin

Elastin fibers give fascia its stretch and ability to absorb shock. These rubber-like fibers are found in muscles, ligaments, and tendons. They allow tissues to return to their shape after movement.

3. Ground Substance

Think of this like the WD-40 for our body. This viscous, gel-like, transparent fluid fills the spaces between cells and fibers in fascia. It’s a mucopolysaccharide consisting mostly of Hyaluronic Acid (HA) and proteoglycans. HA is what’s used in dermal fillers to restore facial volume.

Ground substance lubricates everything by attracting water. As a result, our tissues can slide and glide over each other, allowing us to move our joints and skin freely.

The Link Between Fascia, Aging, and Everyday Aches

Overall, fascia adhesions and problems often lead to:

• Tension
• Tightness
• Familiar aches and pains in our muscles and joints
• Limited mobility
• Fatigue

Is the pain you’re experiencing tied back to your fascia? Let’s look at the science.

Fascia Stiffens with Age, Injury, & Sedentary Lifestyles

As we age, become sedentary, or recover from injuries and surgeries, our tissues tend to stiffen. They become stickier, gooey, and more adhesive, losing the ability to slide and glide freely.

This is because collagen fibers begin to cross-link and bond to themselves. As the adjacent fascia sticks, it can pull neighboring tissues along with them. The stiffer these tissues get, the more we lose range of motion — and the more discomfort we feel. Movements also become less energy-efficient, which can leave us feeling fatigued.

Fascia Can Harden and Dry Up with Time

The ground substance in fascia — the smooth, lubricating gel that helps tissues glide — can change over time. With age, injury, or surgery, it may harden and dry out, contributing to even more tightness and restriction.

Benefits of Myofascial Release: How to Release Fascia with MRT

Myofascial Release Therapy works by softening the tissues. The continuous pressure and motion gently break up the cross-linkage of the collagen fibers and remove fascia adhesions.

Gentle Stretching Reaches the Elastic Barrier

Your therapist uses gentle compression and targeted stretching to reach the elastic barrier. This skilled touch initiates the process of releasing tension within the fascia.

Body Heat Softens Ground Substance

As the stretch continues, it reaches the collagenous barrier. Finally, with time and body heat, your body triggers a bio-electric (piezoelectric) response within the fascia.

This softens the ground substance and restores its viscosity, allowing tissues to stretch and move more freely. It also helps improve nutrient exchange and remove cellular waste.

Sustained Pressure Releases Superficial and Deep Tightness

Sustained, three-dimensional pressure applied to the fascial system releases restrictions across both superficial and deep layers.

This usually feels like a wave of pressure relief. Sometimes, the release is in areas far from where the therapist is working because fascia is a continuous network. You’ll feel that release layer by layer, reaching further and deeper with each session.

Although the therapist’s hands are the main tool, some may also use gentle methods like metal or acrylic tools, or cupping, to warm up especially tight areas. These are used carefully, as fascia responds best to consistent, gentle pressure and does not respond well to force.

Myofascial Release vs Deep Tissue Massage

If you’re used to deep massage with heavy pressure, you might wonder: Why does your therapist take such a gentle, unhurried approach with Myofascial Release? Let’s look at the difference between myofascial release vs deep tissue.

Time is Needed to Unwind and Soften the Fascia

Well, the quick, heavy strokes of a deep massage only reach the elastic barrier. They don’t affect fascia.

To go deeper, research shows the body needs at least 90 seconds (sometimes more) for the collagen fibers to begin unwinding and for the ground substance to soften and become more fluid-like.

Only then can the collagen fibers lengthen and the bounded collagen fiber cross-linkages begin to break apart.

This is why your therapist will be using gentle pressure with slow and sustained movements, following the tissues and allowing them to unwind.

Stretching Can Help Release Scars

MRT can help release scar tissue. At times, your therapist may add a gentle, strategic pull on your arm or leg. If you have scar tissue, they might also use a specific scar release technique to target it.

How to Release Fascia with Additional Techniques

Your therapist may also incorporate unique techniques like thoracic, respiratory, transverse diaphragm, or pelvic release to support the benefits of myofascial release.

Each is performed with proper hand placement, appropriate pressure, and enough time for the fascia to respond and release naturally.

The Strength of Fascia

Remember, collagen fibers are as strong as steel and can easily withstand up to 2000 lbs per square inch! This impressive strength is one reason fascia doesn’t respond well to forceful techniques. It requires patience, precision, and the right approach, especially when dealing with areas that often feel tight or restricted.

Take the Iliotibial Band (ITB), for example. Many people try to stretch or foam-roll it, but it’s nearly impossible to release on your own. That’s because the ITB itself can’t be stretched — it’s too dense and strong.

Instead, it’s more effective to target the surrounding muscles that influence it, like the Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL) and Gluteus Maximus. These muscles feed into the ITB, which runs down the outside of your leg and attaches to the tibia, just below the knee.

Why You Need MRT for Fascia Adhesions

The ITB often feels tight because it’s compensating for internal rotation in the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (lower leg). When the hip and lower back muscles can’t fully stabilize the leg, the fascia picks up the slack.

Quick, forceful movements won’t fix this.

You can’t push or knead fascia into compliance. In fact, doing so may cause it to contract and resist even more, leading to only temporary relief with no lasting change.

Why Multiple Sessions are Necessary for the Benefits of Myofascial Release.

Although fascia is a continuous system, it’s organized into about 12 major fascial chains. This is a concept popularized by anatomist and LMT Thomas Myers.

These chains represent the lines of force throughout your body, connecting movements across the front, back, sides, arms, and even diagonally (spiral and functional lines).

To release these deeply interconnected patterns, your therapist will need time and multiple sessions to work through the different layers.

Myofascial Release is a slow, layered, and gradual process. Many compare it to peeling an onion, layer after layer. That’s why treatment packages with multiple sessions are often most effective.

Other Benefits of Myofascial Release

Myofascial release can offer major benefits of for many common types of pain, including:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Knee pain
• Ankle and foot pain
• TMD/TMJ issues
• Headaches
• Conditions like plantar fasciitis

While MRT is not a replacement for medical care or physical therapy, it’s a powerful complement to a treatment plan. Specialized spa centers like Balance Spa can provide the benefits of myofascial release that most insurance-based clinics can’t offer.

That’s because this level of hands-on care takes time, skill, and specialized training — something not typically covered by insurance or supported in fast-paced clinical settings.

Research on MRT and Fascia

Pioneer John F. Barnes, PT, widely recognized for his groundbreaking work in Myofascial Release, once said,

“There is no such thing as a muscle.”

He elaborates, “Every muscle of the body is surrounded by a smooth fascial sheath, every muscular fascicle is surrounded by fascia, every fibril is surrounded by fascia, and every micro fibril down to the cellular level, is surrounded by fascia. Therefore it is the fascia that ultimately determines the length and function of its muscular components.”

In one of his lectures, I personally heard him say that, instead of thinking that the human body has over 650 separate muscles, we should be thinking that the body has fascia containing a muscle with 650 different compartments. Now, that is something interesting to consider, as it puts everything in a slightly different perspective.

What About Plantar Fascia Release? 

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of myofascial release for a condition like plantar fasciitis.

Plantar fasciitis causes pain on the bottom of the foot, typically near the inner part of the heel, where the plantar fascia attaches.

However, that painful area isn’t usually the root of the problem.

The plantar fascia is part of the Superficial Back Line: One of the 12 major fascial lines in the body. This line connects the plantar fascia to the periosteum (bone lining) of the heel, then continues:

• Up into the calf muscles
• Into the hamstrings
• Through the sit bones
• Via ligaments into the sacrum
• Into the lumbo-sacral fascia and erector spinae muscles
• Through the nuchal ligament at the back of the neck
• And all the way to the brow ridge on the forehead

In many cases, the Achilles tendon and calf muscle restrictions play a major role in plantar fascia release.

Yet, tightness or fascia adhesions anywhere along the Superficial Back Line can contribute to the pain. That includes the lower back, neck, or even the fascia on the back of the skull.

Benefits of Myofascial Release for the Body, Mind, and Spirit

 Lastly, it’s important to understand how fascia connects to our emotions.

We’re not just a collection of body parts, and our thoughts and experiences don’t live in the brain alone. The body–mind–spirit connection is well-recognized and deeply felt across many cultures and practices.

The body remembers every stress and trauma we’ve experienced.

• Fascia responds by constricting, often alongside changes in breathing patterns. Over time, these restrictions can linger in the body if they’re not released.
• Stress hormones can become stored in the layers of bound-up fascia. That’s why, during a Myofascial Release Therapy session, you might suddenly feel strong emotions or recall vivid memories.

This is completely natural, and incredibly healing. If tears come, let them. If you feel like laughing, go ahead. And if it’s something in between, that’s valid too! Practitioners of Myofascial Release understand this process. We’ve trained by practicing these techniques on one another, and we’ve felt the physical and emotional effects ourselves. We know how powerful this work can be, and we hope you get to experience that healing too.

Book Your MRT Session in Boca Raton

When fascia becomes restricted, it affects more than just one area. It can pull on distant tissues, limit range of motion, contribute to chronic pain, and even hold onto emotional stress.

Myofascial Release Therapy offers a way to gently unwind those restrictions. It works with the body, using time, sustained pressure, and skilled touch to support real, lasting change.

When dealing with tension, pain or just feeling like your body isn’t moving the way it used to, MRT may be the next step in your healing process. You don’t have to push through discomfort. You can soften into release.

Ready to try a different approach? Book your Myofascial Release session today.

Written By:  Dr. Bozena Pisla-Khalil (Dr. Bo), PT, DPT, cert. DN

References:

1. John F. Barnes, PT, Myofascial Release: The Search for Excellence, Rehabilitation Services Inc., 1990.
2. Thomas W. Myers, Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual Therapists and Movement Professionals, 4th Edition, Elsevier, June 2020.
3. Stecco C, Macchi V, Porzionato A, Duparc F, De Caro R , The Fascia: the forgotten structure. Ital J Anat Embryol. 2011;116 (3):127-38.
4. Schleip R, Jager H, Klinger W. What is ‘fascia’? A review of different nomenclatures. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2012 Oct; 16(4) 496-502.
5. Gatt A, Agarwal S, Zito P M, Anatomy, Fascia Layers. Updated 2021, In: StatPearls, Treasure Island (FL): StatPearl Publishing; Jan 2021