Nociceptors and Fascial Expressions - Beyond Myofascia

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Article 2 of 6 of "That Was Not A Muscle" companion series

Our bodies interact with our environment by sensing it, thus, every single one of our anatomical structures is loaded with sensory nerve cells or neurons. They monitor mechanical tension, temperature, biochemistry, and the subsequent disruptions to any of those factors. Their signals go towards the spine or Central Nervous System (CNS) which makes them afferent units.

The sensory neurons that perceive pain are known as nociceptors as they detect painful and injurious stimuli. Popular view equates neurons to one-way electric wires, where the orders come from the central nervous system. In reality, neurons are bidirectional channels or tubes, where chemicals and signals are sent to and received from the spinal cord. This information will be key in the next installments as we explore how trapped inflammation travels to the spinal cord and how the spinal cord itself can send inflammation to the periphery.

1. Nociceptor nerve endings connected to muscles, bones, arteries, veins, nerves, and all of our anatomical structures. They detect injurious stimuli and turn them into pain signals.

2. The axon is the elongated part of the neuron, where pain signals and chemicals travel toward the spine.

3. The cell body contains the neuron nucleus and it’s where signals get processed.

4. The dendrites are at the opposite end of the neuron and connect to the deeper spinal structures at the dorsal root.

There are four types of nociceptors classified by their velocity of conduction, but it’s the type III and IV that are the most abundant in all fascial expressions.

Beyond Myofascia

You may have noticed that I use the term fascial expression, and that is because the whole of fascia is far more than myofascia.

In fact, the Foundation of Osteopathic Research and Clinical Endorsement (FORCE) has given us a more encompassing view, which is presented in Brian’s paper. Fascia is, then,

“... Any tissue that contains features capable of responding to mechanical stimuli. The fascial continuum is the result of the evolution of the perfect synergy among different tissues, liquids, and solids, capable of supporting, dividing, penetrating, feeding, and connecting all the districts of the body: epidermis, dermis, fat, blood, lymph, and lymphatic vessels, the tissue covering the nervous filaments (endoneurium, perineurium, epineurium), voluntary striated muscle fibers and the tissue covering and permeating it (epimysium, perimysium, endomysium), ligaments, tendons, aponeurosis, cartilage, bones, meninges, involuntary striated musculature and involuntary smooth muscle (all viscera derived from the mesoderm)”

All of the aforementioned structures are fascia and as such, rich in type III and IV nociceptors, which makes them equally susceptible and reactive to disruptive environments and mechanisms, including all stages of injuries and injury healing. One look at the picture below or the illustrations in the video accompanying this article, or in the corresponding chapter in my book That Was not a Muscle, should clarify why the connection of the nociceptors to the interstitium of the multiple fascial expression is the gate for the inflammation to arrive to the spine.

To understand this, we need to look at the interstitium, its location, and its role in the inflammatory process.

And that is the topic of the next installment.

Until next time, I wish you a joyous and pain-free life.

Certified Counterstrain Therapist - CSC I

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The topics in this series are covered in-depth in the book That Was Not A Muscle, available now at your favorite online book retailer.

All photographs, illustrations, graphics, videos, and other media contained in or associated with this publication are the intellectual property of Izzy Sanchez, Integrated Healing and Strength Systems, Inc., and Mar en Hoguera Media, LLC, and are protected under United States and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, display, modification, publication, or use of these materials in any form is strictly prohibited. Any infringement of these rights may result in civil and/or criminal penalties, and violators may be subject to prosecution to the fullest extent permitted by law.

All biomedical illustrations created with BioRender.