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extension, though you'll also find thumb and elbow muscles here. Because the posterior side of the arm is less fleshy and more sensitive than the anterior side, we'll use a different tool: the soft fist. Keeping your fingers open and your wrist straight (Images 7 and 9) will allow you to work sensitively and deeply with very little effort. The skin of the knuckles is hard and smooth enough to allow for good control when gliding layer over layer while working the antebrachial fascia. Once you've worked the superficial layers, the shape of the knuckles allows you to gently sink between the extensor compartments in the forearm in order to separate and differentiate their structure and function. Again, ask for slow, steady wrist and finger movement, in all directions. As before, invite your client to use these active movements to further differentiate the fascial structures on the extensor side. Examples of ways to cue this exploration might be: "Let your fingers flex and extend, one at a time, as if playing a scale on the piano," or, "Pretend you're typing. Find the finger movements that are harder than others, and play with those." In addition to the mechanical effects of increased differentiation and elasticity, the combination of slow active movement and pressure floods your client's brain with novel sensation related to proprioception and movement control. Imagine that you're turning up the volume on the signals your client uses for proprioceptive coordination. When you find a movement limitation—one finger extending less than the others, for example—you can use this combination of focused pressure and proprioceptive refinement to evoke new movement possibilities. The changes in range of motion and refined control are often dramatic, and because they involve neuromuscular learning as well as tissue change, these changes tend to last over time. WRAP-UP Although there are many tools for working with fascia, I have described just two examples here: the forearm and the soft fist. As a pair, these two tools will give you effective ways to invite greater fascial differentiation and elasticity almost anywhere in the body. The forearm is well suited for large areas, such as fascia over the spinal erectors, or the iliotibial tract. The soft fist is useful for detailed work, such as the superficial fasciae of the neck, the plantar fascia, etc. The other important "tool" we've used for working with fascia is your client's active movement. By asking your client to feel into the work and move in a way that facilitates differentiation and elasticity, we leverage fascia's perceptive qualities in the service of lasting change. Notes 1. Robert Schleip et al., Fascia, The Tensional Network of the Human Body (Elsevier, 2012), xvi. 2. C. Stecco et al., "The Palmaris Longus Muscle and its Relations with the Antebrachial Fascia and the Palmar Aponeurosis," Clinical Anatomy 22, no. 2 (2009): 221–9. Til Luchau is a member of the Advanced-Trainings.com faculty, which offers distance learning and in-person seminars throughout the United States and abroad. He is a Certified Advanced Rolfer and originator of the Advanced Myofascial Techniques approach. Contact him via info@advanced-trainings.com and Advanced-Trainings.com's Facebook page. I t p a y s t o b e A B M P C e r t i f i e d : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 117 Exercise: Layers As a touch experiment, see if you can distinguish three different layers: 1. Skin: first, simply glide on the surface of the skin (as you would do with oil or lubricant). 2. Superficial fascia: next, barely under the surface, move just the outermost tissues as you feel for the slight sponginess, looseness, and "grain" within the superficial layers (which themselves are composed of multiple sublayers). 3. Deep fascia: slightly deeper (but still not into the belly of the muscles), feel the tougher membrane that glides easily on the muscles underneath; this is the deep fascia sliding on its hyaluronic acid layer. An analogy might be helpful: imagine a sheet on a massage table. The first level of movement would be to feel the texture of the sheet's surface; the second, the stretch and weave of the sheet fabric itself; and the third, the way the sheet slides on the table underneath. 9 After working with the outer fascial layers, ask for active finger and wrist movements to help differentiate the deeper fascial compartments between the muscles of the forearm (Image 9). Image 10 shows the fascial compartments of the lower leg, where the compartmental architecture is similar to the lower arm. Image 9 courtesy Advanced-Trainings.com. Image 10 courtesy Robert Schleip, www.fascialnet.com. Used by permission. 10