When Your Knee Is Telling You What Your Mind Won’t
Some injuries aren’t injuries at all - they’re the body’s way of asking you to let go.
A patient came to see me about persistent knee pain. She was a dancer and assumed she had injured herself during practice. But when I ran through all the standard assessments - ACL and meniscus integrity, popliteus strain, patellofemoral syndrome - everything came back negative. She did overpronate, which can load the knee unevenly, but even that didn’t fully explain what she was experiencing. She described a feeling of giving way, difficulty bearing weight, and a deep intermittent ache. Yet her range of motion was completely intact.
When I began to palpate the tissue, something shifted in the picture. I found tension and a distinct crunchiness in her hip flexor and behind the knee - but not the kind that comes from inflammation or overuse. I’ve worked in this field long enough to recognize the specific texture that emotional stress and trauma leave in the fascia. It has its own signature.
As I began working through myofascial release, she started to open up. She told me about the narcissistic abuse she’d experienced at the hands of her former partner. They had separated, but she was still living in their shared home - now solely responsible for a life she had built with someone she no longer recognized. The weight of that, financially and emotionally, was enormous.
A few weeks later she came back and mentioned, almost in passing, that she hadn’t had any knee pain in a couple of days. I asked when that had started. She said a couple of days ago. I asked what had happened a couple of days ago. She paused. She had sold the house.
She was quick to credit her recovery to treatment - and yes, the myofascial work had begun to clear what she’d been storing. But the house was the final piece. The moment she released that last tether, her body released too. Months later, she messaged to say her knee had been completely pain-free. She was doing well.
She was a strong, independent woman who didn’t want to acknowledge the toll the relationship had taken on her. She had told herself she was fine - that this was just a dance injury and she’d handle everything on her own.
But the body doesn’t negotiate with pride. The knee holds stubbornness, fear, and inflexibility - the refusal to bend, the resistance to change. The hip holds what lies ahead - fear of moving forward, or having nothing clear to move toward. She had been carrying both.
Once she connected those dots and made the decision to let go of the house, the shift was almost immediate. It was one step in a longer healing journey - but her knee brought her to my office, and I’m grateful it did. The body keeps score. It also points the way.
The Effects of Toxic Relationships on Fascia
I see a lot of patients who have been negatively impacted by toxic relationships. Most of the time when they come in, it’s for my signature Face Fix treatment - essentially a myofascial release facelift. They feel like the stress and trauma they’ve endured have taken a visible toll on their face. And that’s what finally gets them through my door.
But as we work through the face and begin releasing tension, their body tells a much bigger story. Their hips are tight. Deep knots have formed in their shoulders and around their shoulder blades. Their jaw is clenched. Their plantar fascia feels like a rock. They haven’t just stored emotional trauma in the fascia of their face - it’s throughout their entire body. Over time, that stored tension has affected their energy levels, their posture, their weight, their sleep, and led to pain and injuries they chalked up to just… living. But meanwhile, there was a toxic person in their lives responsible for so many of their symptoms.
So what’s actually happening in the body? Fascia is the continuous web of connective tissue that surrounds and weaves through every muscle, organ, nerve, and bone in your body. Think of it as the body’s internal scaffolding - it holds everything together and gives your body its shape. But fascia isn’t just structural. It’s deeply responsive to your nervous system and your emotional state. When you experience chronic stress or trauma, your nervous system activates a threat response - and fascia physically tightens and thickens in response. It’s your body bracing for impact. The problem is that when the source of stress is ongoing - like a toxic relationship - that bracing never gets a chance to release. The fascia stays contracted. It hardens. It restricts. And over time, it starts to affect everything: circulation, lymphatic drainage, hormone regulation, posture, pain levels and even how your face ages.
Research has shown that fascia contains an enormous number of sensory nerve endings - in fact, it has more proprioceptors than muscle tissue does. It also contains cells called myofibroblasts, which contract in response to mechanical and emotional stress and can remain in a contracted state long after the stressor is gone. This is why trauma lives in the body, not just the mind. Your fascia has essentially been taking notes on every stressful experience you’ve ever had.
In many cases, the storing started in childhood - when the brain and nervous system weren’t developed enough to process what was happening. So the body did what it needed to do to survive - it tucked it away in the fascia. The toxic person at that time was often a family member, or in some cases, the entire family system. By adulthood, when they start noticing changes in the mirror, decades of unprocessed trauma and chronic emotional stress are already stored deep in the tissue.
That’s when they end up in my office - concerned about their face, but subconsciously understanding it’s more than that. It’s the fascia. And that’s when we shift to a full-body approach, working to release the stress and trauma that toxic relationships have left behind. Myofascial release works by applying deep pressure into the fascial system - not forcing it, but meeting it where it is and allowing it to unwind. When we access the right areas with the right intention, the tissue softens, circulation returns, and the nervous system begins to downregulate out of that chronic threat state. Not only do they start to see years lift from their face - they begin to feel the weight they’ve been carrying in their body for the first time. And then they recognize it. And then they can finally let it go.
While I am a trauma-informed practitioner, I always recommend that patients also work with a therapist, psychologist, and/or psychiatrist alongside myofascial release when we’re specifically targeting trauma responses. The body and the mind have to heal together.
And the very first step in treatment? Distance yourself from the toxic relationship as much as you possibly can. You can’t heal in the place where you were hurt.
Your Breast Surgery May Be Why Your Face Is Sagging - And Why Your Neck, Jaw and Head Are Hurting
In my practice, I see patients all the time who come in complaining about neck pain, headaches, jaw tension, or premature facial sagging. They've tried everything - botox, massage, physiotherapy, new pillows - and nobody has really connected the dots. Until now that is. If you've had any kind of breast surgery - a lumpectomy, mastectomy, breast lift, augmentation, or implant revision - there is a strong possibility that what you're feeling in your neck, head, and face is directly connected to what happened in that operating room. Not because anything went wrong. But because of fascia.
First, Let's Talk About What Fascia Actually Is
Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps around and connects every single structure in your body - your muscles, organs, nerves, blood vessels, bones. Think of it as a full-body web, or a seamless bodysuit that holds everything in place and in relationship to everything else. The key word there is seamless. Your fascia isn't compartmentalized. It doesn't stop at your chest and start again at your neck. It is one continuous system, running from the top of your skull all the way down to the soles of your feet. That continuity is what makes fascia so powerful - and why disrupting it in one place can absolutely create problems somewhere else entirely.
What Happens to Fascia During Breast Surgery
Any surgical procedure that involves cutting through tissue also cuts through fascia. It's unavoidable. Whether you're having a lumpectomy to remove a tumour, a mastectomy, a breast lift that removes excess skin, or an augmentation where implants are placed under or over the pectoral muscle - the fascia is being incised, stretched, moved or compressed. After surgery, your body's healing response kicks in. Scar tissue forms. And scar tissue, unlike healthy fascia, is dense, disorganized, and inflexible. It lacks the smooth, gliding quality that allows fascia to move freely as your body moves. Because your fascia is a continuous system, when scar tissue forms in your chest and breast region, it creates what I like to call a fascial pull - a tethering effect that creates tension throughout the entire network. That tension doesn't stay local. It travels.
4 months after a right sided lumpectomy - my patient came in for a face fix because she felt like the pain from the surgery aged her 20 years and wanted her pre-surgery face back. She also reported having TMJ (Temporomandibular joint) pain for the first time in her life. She said that she yawned 6 weeks ago and felt a pop in her left jaw and that it was excruciating. She was confused as she had never had jaw problems before. I did myofascial release of her jaw, neck and chest muscles (we had to go inside the mouth for this one) and although it was painful - it was 80% better after 1 treatment. And not only that - her whole face lifted.
I explained to her that when she had the lumpectomy- they cut into her fascia and as it healed - adhesions formed which then pulled the fascia in her face and neck down. That’s why she felt like the surgery aged her and also likely why she suffered from a sprain of her TMJ.
How Breast Surgery Fascia Disruption Travels Upward
The fascial lines that run through the chest connect directly into the neck, jaw, skull, and face. When there's restriction at the chest level - from surgical scarring, capsular contracture around an implant, or even just tight scar tissue from a lumpectomy - the body compensates. Your muscles and fascia have to work harder to keep you upright. Your neck begins to strain. Your shoulders creep forward. Your jaw starts to clench. And over time, the tension compounds.
Here's what I see clinically, in direct connection to breast surgery history:
Neck Pain and Stiffness
The superficial front line of fascia runs from your toes up through the front of your body, over the chest, and up into the neck and skull. When it's restricted at the chest, the neck - specifically the sternocleidomastoid and scalene muscles - pick up the slack. Chronic tension, stiffness, and pain are often the result.
TMJ Problems and Jaw Pain
The fascia connecting the chest and neck feeds directly into the floor of the mouth, the hyoid bone, and the temporomandibular joint. When the lower fascial lines are under tension, the jaw compensates by holding - clenching, shifting, guarding. Over time this leads to clicking, locking, pain on chewing or a constant ache in the jaw.
Headaches
Fascial tension in the neck and jaw directly contributes to tension-type headaches and, in some cases, migraines. The suboccipital muscles at the base of the skull are intimately connected to the fascial system of the neck and chest. When they're chronically overloaded from compensation, headaches become the new normal - often described as pressure, heaviness, or that tight band around the head feeling.
Premature Facial Sagging
This is the one that surprises my patients the most and they usually attribute it to the pain and stress from surgery. The platysma muscle runs from the chest and collarbone up over the jaw and connects into the lower face. It is covered and connected by fascia the entire way. When the fascial tissue of the chest is tight, scarred, or restricted, it creates a downward pull on the platysma - and by extension, on the lower face and jawline. Over time, this tethering can contribute to jowling, sagging of the lower face and loss of definition along the jawline. The root cause is fascial restriction and releasing that restriction can create a visible lift in the face. I see it in clinic all the time with the face fix. As the fascial restrictions release - the face just snaps back up.
What You Can Do About It
The good news is that fascial restriction responds to treatment. It's not permanent. But it does require someone who understands the system - who is trained to feel where the restrictions are and to work with the body to release them.
Here's what I recommend for anyone who has had breast surgery and is experiencing any of the symptoms above:
1. Get a Fascial Assessment
Not a general massage. A targeted assessment of the fascial lines running from your chest through your neck, jaw, and skull. A practitioner trained in osteopathy, myofascial release, or structural integration will be able to palpate restrictions you didn't know were there.
2. Address Scar Tissue Directly
Scar massage and targeted myofascial release at the surgical site can significantly improve the mobility of the surrounding fascia. This is most effective starting a few months post-surgery once the incision is fully healed - but it's never too late, even years later.
3. Look at Your Posture and Breathing
Chest restrictions often cause a forward-head posture and shallow, chest-dominant breathing - both of which amplify fascial tension throughout the body. Addressing rib mobility, diaphragmatic breathing, and cervical alignment is often part of the treatment picture.
4. Don't Just Treat the Symptoms
If you're treating your neck pain, headaches, or jaw tension in isolation, you may get temporary relief but the pattern will return. The root is the restriction. Go there.
So to summarize …
Your body is not a collection of separate parts. What happens at your chest doesn't stay at your chest - and if you've had breast surgery and you're struggling with neck pain, jaw tension, headaches or changes in your face that feel like premature aging, your fascia may be telling you something important.
You deserve care that looks at the whole picture. That's what I do with my myofascial release visits.
Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Reading this blog does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health, treatment, or recovery.
Exercise and tips to combat office chair butt - piriformis syndrome
If you sit at a desk all day or even on the couch you may experience vague discomfort and pain where you sit. We call this lower cross syndrome, gluteal amnesia dead butt syndrome or more recently office chair butt.
In this syndrome, muscle tightness and weakness combine to create an imbalance. Constant sitting weakens the gluteus medius, the main stabilizer muscles in the buttock. The job of the gluteus medius is to stabilize your hips and pelvis. When it’s weak and can’t function properly, you may experience varying levels of hip and lower back pain when you sit and sometimes when you move. It also causes the hip flexors to tighten and since these muscles attach to the spine - can lead to back pain.
With minutes of sitting down - the nerves that activate glutes can shut down which can cause your glutes to atrophy (lose muscle) over time. This can cause your glutes to become weak, sag and flatten.
I shared tips to combat office butt and exercises that will help your butt and back feel better on The Social. These exercises will also help lift and round your glutes so it doesn’t look like you’ve been sitting all day.
1. Shallow Squats
How to Do It:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing slightly outward. Engage your core and keep your back straight.
Slowly lower your hips by bending your knees, as if you are sitting in a chair.
Only go down about quarter to halfway (about 30-45 degrees) to avoid excessive hip strain.
Ensure your knees do not go past your toes and keep your weight in your heels.
Hold for 1-2 seconds at the bottom, then push through your heels to return to standing.
Repeat for 10-15 reps, 2-3 sets.
Benefits:
Strengthens glutes, quads, and hamstrings, which relieves pressure on the piriformis.
Encourages proper hip alignment and posture.
Improves hip stability without overstretching the piriformis muscle.
2. Standing Bent Knee Side Leg Lift
How to Do It:
Stand tall with feet shoulder width apart
Shift your weight onto one leg, slightly bend both knees.
Lift the opposite leg out to the side, keeping the knee bent at about a 90° angle.
Keep your hips level - don’t tilt or rotate your torso.
Pause at the top for a second, then lower slowly.
Repeat for 10–12 reps per side.
Benefits:
Targets the gluteus medius, an important stabilizer that supports the piriformis.
Helps reduce overuse of the piriformis by strengthening surrounding muscles.
Encourages better hip stabilization and alignment, reducing sciatic nerve irritation.
3. Side Plank
How to Do It:
Lie on your side with your elbow directly under your shoulder and your legs extended.
Stack your feet on top of each other (or place the top foot in front for more stability).
Engage your core and lift your hips off the floor, forming a straight line from head to feet.
Hold for 15-30 seconds, keeping your body aligned.
Lower back down slowly and switch sides.
Repeat 2-3 times per side.
Modification: Drop the bottom knee to the floor for a beginner-friendly version.
Benefits:
Strengthens core, hips, and glute muscles, reducing piriformis strain.
Improves lateral hip and spine stability, which helps prevent sciatic compression.
Reduces compensation from piriformis by activating stabilizing muscle groups.
4. Standing Back Kick
How to Do It:
Stand tall with feet hip-width apart.
Shift your weight onto one leg and extend the opposite leg straight back.
Keep the extended leg straight and squeeze your glutes as you lift it.
Avoid arching your lower back - keep your core tight.
Slowly return to the starting position.
Perform 10-15 reps per leg, 2-3 sets.
Benefits:
Strengthens gluteus maximus, which often compensates for a weak piriformis. Reduces over-reliance on the piriformis muscle for hip extension.
Enhances hip joint mobility and stability, helping alleviate pressure on the sciatic nerve.
5. Seated Piriformis Stretch
How to Do It:
Sit on a sturdy chair with feet flat on the ground.
Cross your right ankle over your left knee (figure-4 position).
Sit up tall, then gently lean forward from your hips, keeping your back straight. You should feel a stretch deep in the right buttock.
Hold for 20-30 seconds, breathing deeply.
Return to upright and switch legs.
Repeat 2-3 times per side.
Benefits:
Directly stretches the piriformis muscle, reducing tightness and pressure on the sciatic nerve. Improves hip flexibility and reduces nerve compression symptoms.
Easy to perform throughout the day to manage flare-ups or stiffness.
If you think you have office chair butt or just have any pain - I can help! Book an appointment with me at thefixtto.com
A Routine to Help with Menstrual Cramps, Bloating and Headaches
I was back at The Social with a great routine to relieve menstrual pains like cramping, headaches and bloating. Watch here
We didn’t have time for the last stretch which is great for relieving neck tension, headaches and jaw pain. It’s a facial yoga pose as well so may help you look more sculpted.
NECK STRETCH
How to do: Turn your head to one side and gently tilt your chin up and slightly back, lengthening out the opposite side of your neck. You should feel the stretch down the side of your neck and into your shoulder. Keeping your head turned to the side, stick out your tongue and stretch it towards the tip of your nose to activate the muscles further. Hold this for a count of ten. Release back to centre, then repeat the move on the opposite side. Feel the tension leaveyour neck, shoulders and jaw as you hold the stretch.
Benefits: With PMS and during our period, we often find we hold tension in our neck, shoulders, and jaw area - which can contribute to headaches. This stretch helps to reduce the tension thus helping with headaches. Since it also stretches one of our key lymphatic points at the front of the neck - it also encourages lymphatic drainage which can ease bloating.
And this face yoga move may even help your face look more snatched!
Your Weight Gain May Be a Result of Emotional Stress and Trauma Stored in Your Fascia
If you’re holding on to extra weight, it may be due to the emotional stress or trauma you’re holding in your fascia.
There are an array of factors when it comes to weight gain and weight loss. We often hear about calories in - calories out, hormonal balance and the psychology behind it. What we don’t talk about is how storing fat can be related to us storing trauma in our fascia.
When we store stress and trauma in our fascia, this can increase our levels of cortisol (stress hormone) which encourages our body to store fat. And there’s more to it than an increase in cortisol - when we are holding on to things, we feel it as tension and stiffness in our body. Sometimes we even feel detached from our body. This holding pattern and detachment can encourage your body to freeze and hold onto fat as a survival instinct. Your body feels you’re in danger because of how much tension you’ve stored in your fascia, so it holds onto fat because it thinks you’ll need it.
By releasing the stored trauma in your fascia, you can encourage the body to let go of not only the emotions and memories it’s holding onto - but also the weight. That feeling of heaviness when you’re stressed can send feedback to your brain and it can encourage the body to add heaviness - or in some cases the opposite effect where the body tries to balance the minds heaviness with lightness.
If you tend to lose weight when you’re stressed or depressed, then your body is balancing the heaviness of the mind with lightness in your body.
If you tend to gain weight when you’re stressed or depressed, then your body is marching the heaviness of the mind with heaviness in your body.
In both cases - releasing the tension and trauma stored in your fascia can help create balance in your body.
This is why often patients will note that they start losing weight without changing their diet as we release stored trauma from their fascia. Part of this is that as you release the tension, you’re able to move better and thus you move more. It also encourages lymphatic drainage which means that your body will also let go of excess water weight that you’re holding on to.
As we release the tension from our fascia, we create safety in our body so that our body can let go of what we’re holding onto including excess weight and mental strain.
If you feel like trauma or emotional stress has you holding on to things you want to let go - you may benefit from myofascial release treatment.
I’m here to help and can see you in person for myofascial therapy or virtual to talk and share self myofascial release techniques.
Breakfast Television - a routine to ease piriformis syndrome
If you sit at a desk all day or even on the couch you may experience vague discomfort and pain where you sit. We call this lower cross syndrome, gluteal amnesia dead butt syndrome or more recently office chair butt.
In this syndrome, muscle tightness and weakness combine to create an imbalance. Constant sitting weakens the gluteus medius, the main stabilizer muscles in the buttock. The job of the gluteus medius is to stabilize your hips and pelvis. When it’s weak and can’t function properly, you may experience varying levels of hip and lower back pain when you sit and sometimes when you move. It also causes the hip flexors to tighten and since these muscles attach to the spine - can lead to back pain.
With minutes of sitting down - the nerves that activate glutes can shut down which can cause your glutes to atrophy (lose muscle) over time. This can cause your glutes to become weak, sag and flatten.
Dr. Liza Egbogah shares tips to combat office butt and exercises that will help your butt and back feel better. These exercises will also help lift and round your glutes so it doesn’t look like you’ve been sitting all day.
Watch the segment here: https://www.breakfasttelevision.ca/videos/the-harrowing-and-very-real-effects-of-sitting-down-for-too-long-and-how-to-fix-it/
How To Ease Shoulder Pain From Sleeping (Hint: NSAIDs May Not Be Your Best Bet)
Shoulder pain can be caused and aggravated by the way you sleep 🛌 💤 I spoke with the Woman’s World about the cause of shoulder pain from sleeping and strategies to prevent and reduce pain.
And of course I shared my favourite posture stretch that’s one of the best things you can do for shoulder pain 🧘♀️
Read the full article here
Could fascia massage derail the beauty industry?
It was a pleasure to contribute to this Dazed article on fascia and how myofascial release can affect the way we look. This topic is very misunderstood, so it was great to shed some light on a technique that I started in 2009 before it became mainstream.
“While academic studies are still lacking, anecdotal endorsements are stacking up. Dr Liza Egbogah, a Canadian osteopath and posture expert who has a doctor of chiropractic, has used fascial techniques to help people like Jennifer Lawrence and George Clooney with their posture. She tells Dazed, “if we were to remove all of your bones, you would still maintain most of your shape because of fascia. As such, fascia can be manually manipulated to change our appearance and structure.” Dr Egbogah says that many signs of “ageing” in our modern digital age are from stress and spending too much time looking down at phones and computers. “This behaviour changes our facial posture because knots in the fascia developed from looking downwards will also pull your face down as well,” she says. “Myofascial release can counteract these effects. Even wrinkles can be a result of knots in the fascia and when you release those knots the wrinkles can essentially be erased.”
Read the full article here
The Social - Travel tips from a body and posture expert to look and feel your best when you land
As an Osteopath and Chiropractor who specializes in aesthetic myofascial release and a frequent flyer - Dr. Liza Egbogah shares tips that will have you looking and feeling your best when you deplane. Travel can take quite a toll on your body. Standing for long periods in line, hauling bags through the airport, lifting them into overhead compartments and off the conveyor belts, sitting in cramped seats, the pressure of the cabin, elevation and overall stress of travelling can leave you arriving at your destination tired, achy and not looking your best.
Dr. Liza Egbogah shares exercises you can do on board so you won’t deplane hunched, lymphatic drainage acupressure points so you won’t be puffy and travel recommendations - so you can arrive feeling and looking your best. All these tips are tried and tested on long hauls including a 17.5 hour flight!
The Social - Chair Yoga to Improve Your Posture
Improving our posture while sitting can reduce inflammation and help us feel better both mentally and physically. Body and posture expert Dr. Liza Egbogah returns to The Social with chair exercises to ‘undo the hunch’
Canadian Business - How Dr. Liza Egbogah Started a Celeb-Approved Supportive Shoe Business
I talked with Canadian Business about my journey to founding dr LIZA shoes - my line of beautiful supportive shoes that have been worn by celebrities like Kate Winslet, Cynthia Erivo, Viola Davis and Priyanka Chopra.
Read the full article here
Fascinating Fascia and it’s Role in Trauma and Emotional Stress
Myofascial release is one of the most effective forms of therapy to release stored up emotional trauma from our body. Hopefully with this post I have helped to highlight the role that fascia plays in our mental and physical health, how we look and how we live our life and relayed that the health of our fascia is essential for us to function our best.
It is no coincidence that the words fascia and fascinating start with the same 5 letters as fascia is indeed the most fascinating part of the human body (in my humble opinion). Made up of a network of connective tissue that creates much of the structure and shape of our body (if you were to get rid of all your bones – you would still maintain your shape thanks to fascia) – it also acts similarly to our nervous system. Given this significance we would expect that everyone would be talking about fascia and how it affects our physical and mental health and really – our entire life. But alas one of the things that makes fascia so fascinating is its elusiveness because not everyone can feel the adhesions or knots that can build up in the fascia. Many who can really feel the fascia (like myself) consider it a gift to be able to. You know when you’re getting a massage or myofascial release treatment and you feel that crunching over certain areas – those are knots or adhesions in the fascia being released. Sometimes you’ll get a treatment and not feel any of the crunches and then you’ll see another practitioner and feel lots of crunches. The practitioner who you feel the crunches with is one that can feel the fascia.
So that’s fascia. But the part that makes it so fascinating is its role in emotional stress and trauma. Different layers of fascia have different levels of innervation and research has shown that the visceral (around your organs) fascia is rich in autonomic innervation, the superficial fascia shares with the skin mechano- and thermic-receptors, and the deep fascia has a role in proprioception. But where there is little research is when it comes to trauma and fascia’s role in memory storage. In my over 16 years of myofascial release and manipulating fascia – this role is what lead me to consider fascia - fascinating. I have had patients recollect memories from childhood, burst out in tears, be engulfed with anger, tremble for hours after treatment and experience states of euphoria as we released adhesions in the fascia.
There was a patient who I saw early in my practice who was seeing me for chronic low back pain. She had tried everything under the sun including physiotherapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic and spinal decompression. Nothing worked and a colleague referred her to me for myofascial release to see if I could help. As is the case with most people with lower back pain – her hip flexors were very tight and there were significant adhesions in the fascia surrounding her psoas muscle. As I released those adhesions she started to cry. I stopped and asked if the pressure I was using was too much as I thought that was the reason for her tears. And she responded “I was sexually assaulted as a child. I was sexually assaulted as a child. Somebody touched me. Can we stop for now?” It was a revelation as she had dissociated from this experience and blocked it from her memories and instead stored it in her fascia. The fascia around the psoas is one of the most common areas I have seen patients store trauma.
It makes sense with trauma that when our brain is not able to process what is happening it stores it away in the fascia. Our brain and sympathetic nervous system are concerned with survival so it can’t process what is happening at that moment – it just needs you to survive so provides a ‘fight or flight’ response. What does it do with all that information its ignoring for survival? In my clinical opinion – it stores it in the fascia. I have actually felt this trauma in my patients. I had a patient in her early 20s who had come in for headaches and shoulder pain. As I was working along the fascia I was drawn to her elbow and when I started to release her elbow, a deep feeling of sadness overtook me. I asked her if anything ever happened to her elbow and she replied “no injury but as you were doing that, I felt my ex grab me there. He was abusive and use to grab that elbow and throw me to the ground”. It was an eye opener for me – by feeling the facia I was also feeling what was stored there and that’s the day I started to read everything on fascia.
I think the fascia is one of the keys to addressing trauma and its sequelae. We know from books like ‘The Body Keeps Score’ that we are storing trauma in the body and its significantly affecting our mental health. If emotions and trauma are stored away in our fascia it means that we won’t be addressing it. It’s like the stuff we store away at the back of cupboards or under beds only discovering them years later when we eventually organize or move. It’s a difficult task to address trauma that has been moved to the background so it requires a release to heal. I think that releasing the fascia in conjunction with psychotherapy is a method that can significantly change people’s lives. When we talk about the mental health benefits of yoga, dance, tai chi and exercise some of this release is because with all of these we are working the fascia.
The fascia also plays such a large role in our posture, alignment, how we move and how we feel and can also affect the production of feel-good neurotransmitters like endorphins and stress hormones like cortisol. This is why most of my work is based on the fascia and I use myofascial release to improve posture, fix chronic injuries, take years of aging off the face and help people heal from trauma. When we talk about adhesions and knots in fascia – a lot of that is caused by inflammation so think about how the fascia is affecting inflammation in our body and how by releasing these knots we can alter inflammation in our body. This is important since inflammation is the cause of so many chronic illnesses and disease. They say laughter is the best medicine but I’d say myofascial release is a top contender given its array of benefits.
Myofascial release is one of the most effective forms of therapy to release stored up emotional trauma from our body. Hopefully with this post I have helped to highlight the role that fascia plays in our mental and physical health, how we look and how we live our life and relayed that the health of our fascia is essential for us to function our best. It’s truly FASCInating!
Some interesting articles on fascia:
The Social - Treatment and exercises for bunions
Dr. Liza Egbogah returns to The Social with the bunion fix - exercises and self-treatments that won’t get rid of your bunions but will make them look and feel a whole lot better. Dr. Liza shares 4 foot exercises and 1 self treatment that you can to to strengthen your feet, minimize the pain from bunions, prevent them from getting worse and have them looking better.
And if you're looking for shoes that are great if you have bunions visit drLizashoes.com
The Social - Improve your Posture and Breathing
Dr. Liza Egbogah joins CTV's The Social to share exercises and tips to improve your posture and breathing. This can help reduce inflammation, aches and pains and energize you.
Woman's World - How To Get Rid of Your Neck Hump
Read the article here for 3 exercises that reduce neck and back pain
Introducing the Cloud Collection Socks
Proceeds from the sale of the dr LIZA cloud collection socks go towards providing socks for unhoused persons in Toronto. Support your feet and our unhoused friends by wearing these awesome socks.
Not only do these socks look great - they have arch support, moisture wicking yarns, strategic venting and stay up compression that will boost circulation and have you feeling great. And they are literally the perfect gift for all!
Knit with moisture wicking, breathable, and durable 48% Nylon, 32% Polyester, 20% Spandex performance yarns.
One size fits all (5-13)
