Fascia doesnt get spoken about a lot but it impact your animal movement a lot, therefore more awareness needs to be made regarding how it important it is to keep it healthy. 

The best way to describe fascia is that its a 3D web like system that covers the entire body of the animal. It functions as a shock absorber, tension sensor and storage place for water which enables it to support tissues such as muscles, tendons and ligaments whilst also helping to reduce friction. Fascia consists of substances known as collagen and elastin. Collagen provides resistance to tension and stretch which affects posture and elastin allows for extensibility providing a good range of movement for the fascia. 










Fascial restrictions can occur due to a multitude of reasons but as Gillian Higgins from inside out says... humans can relate to the feeling by imagining how it feels to have a small piece of gravel inside your shoe. 

SUPERFICIAL FASCIA: This type of fascia is the layer closest to the skin which separates skin from the muscle. 
DEEP FASCIA: This lies the deepest from the skin and surrounds skeletal muscle. 
VISCERAL FACSIA: This encases organs and helps to protect them. 
NEURAL FASCIA: Covers peripheral nerves which are situated outside the brain and spinal cord. 

For fascia to work effectively it needs to be able to slide and glide over structures
within the body. This allows for good range of movement with minimal resistance
which is important for protection, energy conservation and co-ordination of
movement.A liquid substance known as hyaluronan helps to facilitate the movement
of fascia and over time the build up of tension and dehydration causes the fascia to
restrict by the solidification of the liquid crystalline matrix within each fascia tubule.  
 
 
REFERENCES:
Fede, C., Pirri, C., Fan, C., Petrelli, L., Guidolin, D., De Caro, R., Stecco, C., (2021) 'A closer look at the cellular and molecular components of the deep/muscular fasciae', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(3), pp. 1411. 

Gatt, A., Agarwal, S., Zito, P.M., (2021) 'Anatomy, fascia layers. StatPearls; Statpearls publishing. 

Kumka, M., Bonar, J., (2012) 'Fascia: a morphological description and classification system based on a literature review. The Journal of Canadian Chiropractic Association, 56(3), pp.179.