December 2009

There are lots of long words used in medicine which sound very fancy or intimidating. They were created by doctors when they knew much less than we know now to make them sound much smarter than they were. Usually the words are just descriptive. For example ‘Erythema Toxicum Neonatorum’ which means ‘toxic red newborn’ actually describes a splotchy rash that newborns get that is completely normal, and gets better naturally.

It sounds scary, but isn’t at all. It’s just describing something (inaccurately at that.)

Myo is the Greek word for muscle. It actually describes skeletal muscle which is the muscle that moves your joints and you have total control over.

Then there is heart muscle and smooth muscle which occurs in your blood vessels and in your gut, and your control over these muslces is indirect. So your brain sets this control depending on many factors, and one of these factors is emotions. For instance, when you are under stress, your blood pressure may go up because the vessels go into spasm. Or some people get irritable bowel syndrome where their gut goes into spasm.

What is Fascia?

Fascia is the glue that holds all the joints and muscles of your body together. If you were to strip off your skin, you would find a glistening second layer covering all your muscles, almost like a superhero suit. This is the fascia. It smooths out movements by coordinating the individual muscles into groups which pull together. (And it stops your insides from falling out onto the road.)

It also has lots of nerve endings. Irritation of these nerve endings causes the complex pain patterns of myofascial pain.

Syndrome is a collection of symptoms. Again, this is just a descriptive word. It is different from a disease. A disease is a destructive process like cancer which if you do nothing about it will spread. But a syndrome is a malfunction which isn’t destructive.

So if you have myofascial syndrome, it is a malfunction of the muscle and the fascia. It isn’t dangerous or destructive, but it can be very painful and distressing. It’s important to know this distinction. Understanding that there is no damage ocurring, even though it’s painful can make the whole thing less scary.

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