Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

Know Your Fascia – A Review of How Understanding Fascia Can Aid in Posture Restoration and Injury and Pain Prevention Among Various Populations

FIU Wellness & Recreation Center

Technology has now integrated itself into the everyday lives of modern society. With the use of computers and smartphones becoming widespread into the day to day lives of humanity, comes a drastic shift in the physiology and development of the human body to that lifestyle change. Human beings, who through evolution were optimally designed to live life as free-moving hunter-gatherers, are now destined as sedentary office workers in front of computers. In the medical world, this change is observed through the rise in cases of neck and back pain, respiratory problems, and poor cervical and thoracic mobility every year. These growing medical problems can all be at least partly attributed to repetitive patterns of movement and lack of physical exercise (Katzman, 2007). Through repetitive movement, emerges deformed patterns of fascial constriction (de Witt, 2008). Many patients are unaware of how managing and understanding the fascia in their bodies can help alleviate their chronic pain and stiffness within their bodies (Cheatham, 2015). This review will explore the negative effects of repetitive movement on fascial constriction, and delve into observations and approaches to the enhancement of fascia in various populations.