Feeding your mystery organ
In 2015, when researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center examined a patient’s bile duct with a special tissue-illuminating laser and sensors, they saw something they didn’t expect: a series of interconnected cavities that didn’t match any previously known anatomy.
Later, when another doctor made slides of the dead tissue, the mysterious cavities had disappeared.
Eventually the researchers realized what had happened: the spaces in the biopsy slides, previously dismissed as tears in the tissue, were actually the remains of fluid-filled compartments—fascia—that collapsed after death.1
In the years following this discovery, medical scientists have discovered that the fascia isn’t just inert “filler.” Instead, it’s a single, interconnected web of tissue that surrounds and penetrates every organ, every muscle, every bone. We now know that fascia runs throughout the entire body and that it’s incredibly active biologically.
While fascia is often referred to as connective tissue—a phrase that implies it’s simply holding more important parts of the body together—it’s now understood to be as critical as any other organ system.
All fascia contains the same basic components, but fascial tissue can take on different forms—for instance, sheets, bands and webs—to perform different jobs.
The shape your fascia chooses for a job basically depends on the amount and direction of
