The Fascia as the Organ of Innerness – An Holistic Approach based upon a Phenomenological Embryology and Morphology, in: Fascia in the Osteopathy by T.Liem et al., 2016, Handspring
Abstract
Usually the fascia is described in typically anatomical terminology of spatial discrimination of structures. Fascia however is (besides of blood) one of the main appearances of the quality of ‘meso’, which is one of the three basic germ layers of the human organism. Actually the usual term ‘Mesoderm’ is not correct, because it does not value the functional architecture of ‘meso’ as ‘inner tissue’ and being a different quality than the ectoderm and endoderm which function as body limiting dimensions (body walls). Actually it are not the viscera that represent the ‘Inner’ of our body organization but that is done by the ‘meso’ with ‘fascia’ and blood as major representatives. Such a (phenomenological) approach demands to understand the architecture ‘of the connective tissue in the body as a whole, the analytic approach of the anatomical mind is not fitting for that. Moreover there is the quote by AT Still mentioning the fascia as the domain “where soul is dwelling”. What do soul and fascia actually have to do (and have not to do) with anatomy and topography? (…..) From the phenomenological stance one may discern everywhere in the body and in various ways two main functional tendencies in the connective tissue. Body cavities and joints e.g. represent the ‘dis-connecting’ and ‘shaping space’ quality of the meso which enables mobility; the ‘connecting’ quality on the other hand creates anatomical and mechanical connections between organs and body parts. In the so-called musculoskeletal system those two aspects of the connective tissue are clearly discernible. An architectural description of meso respectively connective tissue is therefore necessary, because the anatomical mind neglects the continuity of the connective tissue as integrating matrix of the body. Also the usual distinction between so-called joint receptors and muscle receptors appears in this way to be an artificial one. Mechanoreceptors (also the muscle spindles) are arranged in the context of force transmission circumstances i.e. of the architecture of muscle and connective tissue rather than organized along the ‘classical anatomical units’ like muscles, capsules and ligaments. The proprioception of ourselves as bodies with an ‘inner’ (‘body sense’) is not simply synonymous with the mechanical proprioception active in the locomotor system. The latter represents the sensing mechanism essential for the steering and the handling of forces and leads to statesthesia and kinesthesia (the sense of posture and motion). Psychological proprioception (‘body sense’) is a different category and may be linked with the ‘meso’-dimension of our body and is therefore not topographically localized, It happens (or “dwells”) in the meso. Why not extend the concept of fascia to the ‘intermediate man’ of ‘meso’?
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