Shielded Myofascial Release/Manual Therapy

Manual therapy and myofascial release are historically performed directly on the skin. In my original line of MFR training, I was taught that if I did not work on the skin then I would be releasing clothing and not the fascia. Never mind that I lacked the critical thinking skills to confront those statements with questions such as, “What about the skin? The skin is there too!” However, I also worked for one MFR educator who insisted on direct skin contact for ten years, acting as a teaching assistant (TA) at dozens of his seminars. One of my tasks as a TA was to assure that the therapists taking every class got the “feel” of the work. As such I would move around the room helping each person with the hands-on aspects of the work. This involved me placing a hand directly over the hand or hands of the therapists and helping them to feel deeply into the body of their partner (patient). Many newcomers had difficulty feeling for the “stuff” we thought was important and my task was to help this process of exploration. Through the therapist’s hands, I would try to feel for areas of tightness, etc. in the patient and help the therapist develop that same feel. Time permitting I might have even stuck around and helped them feel the treatment progress. And all of this was performed THROUGH another person’s hand(s)! But then I told them that they must work directly on the skin. Looking back I see the whole things as rather hypocritical. If I could feel and treat through the thickness of another person’s hand without losing the “feel”, then how could a flimsy layer of clothing be so bad?

Author: Walt Fritz