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116 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k j u l y / a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 MYOFASCIAL TECHNIQUES thicker layers on the forearm's dorsum (back-of-the-hand side). Make sure you're still feeling just the wrappings of the arm, and aren't yet working into the muscles themselves. This can be a challenge, especially if you're used to massaging muscles rather than differentiating fascia. Feel for places where the outer layers are thicker, or don't seem to slide against one another. Try moving in a proximal direction—as well as distally, medially, and laterally— in order to feel the differing fiber direction at various depths. When you find such places, gently move them in the more difficult direction (a direct release), and wait for a change. In addition to increasing your skill at palpating specific tissue layers, this slow, specific mobilization of the arm's outer wrappings has therapeutic effects. Moving layer on layer helps accomplish our first fascial goal of differentiation, as these layers will become freer and more slippery the longer you work them. You'll notice that the slower you move, the more fluidlike the tissue feels—go slow enough, and tissue restrictions seem to melt away on their own, which brings in greater elasticity (our second fascial goal). And because the outer fascial layers are so rich with free nerve endings and other mechanoreceptors, we are also stimulating fascial sensitivity and perception (our third goal). FASCIAL COMPARTMENTS Once you've thoroughly explored the outer fascial layers that wrap the lower arm, sink a bit deeper. Keep the same sensitivity to layering and fiber direction. Rather than just mashing the muscles until they are softer everywhere, use the tip of your forearm to gently feel down in between the muscles, looking for the spaces between the various muscular compartments and bundles (Image 5). The consistency and density of the wrappings, septa, and intramuscular fascia that define these bundles can vary. In people who use their arms or hands for repeated motions like gripping, typing, etc., they are often thicker, firmer, and more adhered into a single mass. As with the outer wrappings, our aim is to encourage both differentiation and elasticity, so feel both for stiffer areas of tissue, and for any places where bundles or layers don't seem to slide against one another. Your pressure should be firm and specific, but never so much that your client has to tense or withdraw in any way. When you find a motion-restricted area, wait patiently with static pressure or glide just a bit, at a super-slow pace, until you feel a softening or easing response in the tissue. To get even better differentiation between the arm flexors, ask your client to slowly flex and extend the wrist, or open and close the hand (Image 6). With your own forearm, continue to search for the furrows and separation between muscle bundles. Sensitively and slowly, you can use the tip of your elbow a bit more now to feel between the forearm's muscular compartments (Image 10). Ask the client to participate by making individual finger motions. This will allow you to more accurately feel the individual flexors, and to sink between them as your client moves. Use much gentler pressure over the wrist, of course, and do not use so much pressure or speed that you cause pain. You can get all the therapeutic effects we've discussed by being patient and focused, rather than heavy and fast. Continue this work throughout the entire flexor surface of the lower arm. FOREARM EXTENSOR TECHNIQUE Once you've differentiated the tissue layers and muscle bundles on the anterior (palm) side of the lower arm, repeat the process on the posterior side. The majority of muscles in this region relate to finger and wrist 7 In the Forearm Extensor Technique, use the knuckles of your soft fist ( Image 7) to differentiate the outer fascial layers of the arm ( Image 8). Image 7 courtesy Advanced-Trainings.com. Image 8 courtesy Primal Pictures. 8