A New Concept of Biotensegrity Incorporating Liquid Tissues: Blood and Lymph.

The definition of fascia includes tissues of mesodermal derivation, considered as specialized connective tissue: blood and lymph. As water shapes rocks, bodily fluids modify shapes and functions of bodily structures. Bodily fluids are silent witnesses of the mechanotransductive information, allowing adaptation and life, transporting biochemical and hormonal signals. While the solid fascial tissue divides, supports, and connects the different parts of the body system, the liquid fascial tissue feeds and transports messages for the solid fascia. The focus of this article is to reconsider the model of biotensegrity because it does not take into account the liquid fascia, and to try to integrate the fascial continuum with the lymph and the blood in a new model. The name given to this new model is RAIN-Rapid Adaptability of Internal Network.

Emission of Biophotons and Adjustable Sounds by the Fascial System: Review and Reflections for Manual Therapy.

Every body structure is wrapped in connective tissue or fascia, creating a structural continuity that gives form and function to every tissue and organ. The fascial tissue is uniformly distributed throughout the body, enveloping, interacting with and permeating blood vessels, nerves, viscera, meninges, bones and muscles, creating various layers at different depths and forming a tridimensional metabolic and mechanical matrix. This article reviews the literature on the emission of biophotons and adjustable sounds by the fascial system, because these biological changes could be a means of local and systemic cellular communication and become another assessment tool for manual (therapy) practitioners. This is the first article that discusses these topics in a single text, attempting to bring such information into an area of application that is beneficial to osteopaths, chiropractors, and manual therapists.

The indeterminable resilience of the fascial system.

The most recent information on fascial tissue indicates that there are not fascial layers, but polyhedral microvacuoles of connective tissue, which connect the body systems and, by hosting specialized cells, permit several functions, such as motor, nervous, vascular and visceral. These microvacuoles (a repetition of polyhedral units of connective fibrils) under internal or external tension change shape and can manage the movement variations, regulating different body functions and ensuring the maintenance of efficiency of the body systems. Their plasticity is based on perfect functional chaos: it is not possible to determine the motion vectors of the different fibrils, which differ in behavior and orientation; this strategy confers to the fascial continuum the maximum level of adaptability in response to the changing internal and external conditions of the cell. The present commentary deals with this concept, providing clinical examples of different disease patterns, providing contrary examples in which this adaptability does not occur, and lastly suggesting considerations for the approach to manipulative therapy of the fascial tissue. The fascial continuum is like a flock of birds flying together without a predetermined logic and maintaining their individuality at the same time.

[Emotions in Motion: Myofascial Interoception].

There are numerous articles in the literature dealing with the myofascial system, on the physiological, pathological, macroscopic and microscopic level; yet, we still do not have a thorough knowledge of its functions, just as there is still no shared vision of how to classify it. Many professional manual practitioners are involved in its treatment and there are many emerging therapeutic approaches. What is still missing is the awareness that the body is also emotion. The myofascial continuum is able to stimulate the areas of the brain that deal with the emotional state, and manual treatment activates the interoceptive system. To optimize myofascial treatment, a psychologist should work alongside the manual practitioner, creating a multidisciplinary team that takes into account both the physical and emotional aspects.

Osteopathic treatment in a patient with left-ventricular assist device with left brachialgia: a case report.

This study deals with an osteopathic approach used for a patient with left-ventricular assist device (L-VAD) affected by left brachialgia. Clinical examination revealed the presence of thoracic outlet syndrome and pectoralis minor syndrome, with compression of the left proximal ulnar nerve, related to the surgical sternotomy performed. The osteopathic techniques used can be classified as indirect and direct, addressed to the pectoralis minor and the first left rib, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first text in literature with an osteopathic treatment in a patient with L-VAD.

The tongue after whiplash: case report and osteopathic treatment.

The tongue plays a fundamental role in several bodily functions; in the case of a dysfunction, an exhaustive knowledge of manual techniques to treat the tongue is useful in order to help patients on their path toward recovery. A 30-year-old male patient with a recent history of whiplash, with increasing cervical pain during swallowing and reduced ability to open the mouth, was treated with osteopathic techniques addressed to the tongue. The osteopathic techniques led to a disappearance of pain and the complete recovery of the normal functions of the tongue, such as swallowing and mouth opening. The manual osteopathic approach consists of applying a low load, in order to produce a long-lasting stretching of the myofascial complex, with the aim of restoring the optimal length of this continuum, decreasing pain, and improving functionality. According to the authors' knowledge, this is the first article reporting a case of resolution of a post whiplash disorder through osteopathic treatment of the tongue.

A review of analgesic and emotive breathing: a multidisciplinary approach.

The diaphragm is the primary muscle involved in breathing and other non-primarily respiratory functions such as the maintenance of correct posture and lumbar and sacroiliac movement. It intervenes to facilitate cleaning of the upper airways through coughing, facilitates the evacuation of the intestines, and promotes the redistribution of the body's blood. The diaphragm also has the ability to affect the perception of pain and the emotional state of the patient, functions that are the subject of this article. The aim of this article is to gather for the first time, within a single text, information on the nonrespiratory functions of the diaphragm muscle and its analgesic and emotional response functions. It also aims to highlight and reflect on the fact that when the diaphragm is treated manually, a daily occurrence for manual operators, it is not just an area of musculature that is treated but the entire body, including the psyche. This reflection allows for a multidisciplinary approach to the diaphragm and the collaboration of various medical and nonmedical practitioners, with the ultimate goal of regaining or improving the patient's physical and mental well-being.