Connective Tissue, sometimes called fascia, can be found surrounding all of your bones, muscles, organs, and vascular system. Fascia is connective tissue but there are other types of connective tissue in your body as well. Your connective tissue can be responsible for things like flexibility and movement.
There are several ways the health of connective tissue can go awry but it often means the person is experiencing joint pain that can be mild to severe like mimicking arthritis. Because connective tissue surrounds everything, a dysfunction can lead to many other ailments or issues, including GI issues; But for the sake of this conversation, we’ll stick to muscle and joint pain.
I have had several clients over the years come to me with either a suspicion or a full diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. This is typically associated with “loose joints” or joint pain and stretchy skin. Upon further research I’ve discovered a whole community of people saying their symptoms go beyond join pain. I think we still have a lot to learn about this condition but I have found great support by utilizing barefoot massage in conjunction with their other therapies.
I have this theory that the compression that comes from using gravity to deliver pressure, feels relieving to their joint pain.
The typical person that has felt great results in my practice looks like this:
- Usually cold
- Small frame
- Craves deeper pressure despite smaller muscle tone
- Very mobile in joints and limbs
- Sometimes experiences headaches
- Often TMJ pain
- Mind/thoughts are often racing with stress
These people always request the hot pillow therapy I offer and find themselves feeling better and stronger for up to 2 weeks following our session.
I would love to see the massage field working more closely with pathologists as alternative or complementary therapies to widen our ability to help these people in pain.
If you know someone who could benefit from relief, would you care to send them my way? I would love to create a place for them to feel heard, tended to, and hopefully more pain-free.
