How To Care For Your Connective Body Tissue

Connective body tissue is also known as fascia. It is a spider-like network of webbing that covers our muscles. When it’s healthy, it is fluid, flexible and smooth. But when it’s not, it becomes stiff and immobile. The result is that our muscles don’t function as they should and we feel stiff and uncomfortable. Stress and inactivity are key contributors to poor connective tissue health. In this article, we reveal three things you can do every day to keep your connective tissue fluid and flexible. 

Static Stretching
The most fundamental way to overcome fascia inflexibility is to stretch every day. Simple as stretching is, most people neglect it. This is especially so when you are busy working at an office desk all day long. So, the first thing you have to do is to actually add stretching to your daily schedule.

Every two hours you should take a few minutes to stretch. Physically adding it to your day planner will help you to do so. Here are a couple of stretches you can do that will take less than two minutes:

Bruegger’s Relief Position
Sit on the edge of your office chair or stand. Put your arms at your sides and open up your palms. With arms fully extended. Turn your wrists back and push the arms back and down. Maintain an upright torso. Hold the contracted position for five seconds. Do 5-10 reps of this stretch.

Back Extensions
Stand with your hands resting on your lower back, fists in toward the body. From this position arch back to extend your spine. Feel the stretch through your neck, trapezius and lower back. Hold the extended position for five second and perform 5-10 reps.

Dynamic Stretching
As well as these static stretches, you should also perform dynamic stretches. These involve moving a muscle group through its full range of movement. Dynamic stretches have been shown to promote fascia fluidity and smoothness. 

A quick routine of dynamic stretching may involve performing 5-10 body squats with your hands on your hips, followed by full arm circles for 10 reps on each arm, chest hugs where you bring your arms into a hug position and then extend them out to full extension and forward and back leg kicks. The whole routine should take no more than a couple of minutes. 

Foam Rolling
Foam rollers are cylindrical devices that are generally about 18 inches long and made either of styrofoam or hardened plastic. The most basic foam rollers resemble a floating noodle toy. More expensive rollers are made of PVC material and have nodules of various sizes protruding from them in order to get deep into the muscle tissue.

Using a foam roller simply involves placing the roller between the muscle group you wish to work and the floor or a wall. You then roll back and forth to apply pressure to the muscle. The degree to which you push down on the roller dictates how deeply you penetrate into the muscle tissue. You can purchase foam rollers that include a vibration function to enhance the massage effect. 

Foam rolling after a workout will benefit all muscles of your body as well as promoting connective tissue health. There are six key muscles that should be worked after every session:

Quadriceps
Rest one leg on the ground and place the other thigh over the edge of the foam roller, just above the knee. Support your body on your palms and elbows. Now roll the thigh up and down by pushing your hips back. As you roll, place pressure on all four of the quadricep muscles to emphasize that area. 

Hamstrings
Sit on the floor with the foam roller resting under one hamstring just above the knee. Support your body by resting your palms on the floor behind you. Now move up and down the roller in a rhythmic fashion by pushing your hips back and forth.

Calves
Sit on the floor with the foam roller resting under one calf just below the knee. Support your body by resting your palms on the floor behind you. Now move up and down the roller in a rhythmic fashion by pushing your hips back and forth.

IT Band
Lie on the floor with one hip resting on the foam roller. Bend your other knee with the sole of your foot on the floor. Start rolling from the bottom of the thigh, just above your knee, and come up to the outer part of the hip. 

Back
Lie on the floor with the foam roller under your shoulder blades. Roll up and down the entire length of your back with slow, smooth movements. If you have a specific trigger point area, you may want to use a tennis ball to apply direct pressure to that area.

Chest
Lie face down on the foam roller, with it resting at the level of your calves, roller down the length of the pectoral muscles. If this is impractical for women, they can use a tennis ball against a wall and apply pressure point massage as needed.