Myofascial Therapy

Myofascial Therapy uses subtle stretching to lengthen and loosen restrictions on the facial system and is beneficial to patients in pain due to falls, auto accidents, and chronic syndromes.

Most practitioners and patients today use the term "myofascial therapy" as a generic term to describe physical treatment methods applied to skeletal muscles and their connective tissues. These tissues, as a anatomical and function unit are referred to as "myofascia" or "myofascial tissues."

The earliest use of the term myofascial therapy appears to have been in the 1950s by an osteopathic physician in Beverly Hills, California. Travell and Simons, in the famous Trigger Point Manual, used the term sparingly. In the early 1990s, Dr. John C. Lowe used the term in 20 or so articles published in chiropractic publications. He also promoted use of the term in seminars across the USA. Soon, other writers and practitioners within chiropractic and massage therapy followed suit.

The term "myofascial therapy" originally referred to the diagnosis and treatment of myofascial trigger points. During the 1990s, however, some practitioners and patients began using the term in a more generic sense. They began using the term to refer to most any form of bodywork in which practitioners address their patients' soft tissue problems. Accordingly, some people use the term to refer to different types of massage, rolfing, and neuromuscular technique (Europe) or therapy (USA). As long as the practitioners of the different approaches address their patients' myofascial tissues, the term seems to properly apply.