Acupuncture Western Medicine – Fascial Manipulation

Fascial Manipulation (FM) is a valid therapeutic method. Its efficacy has been demonstrated through clinical experience, as reported in this book, and by numerous scientific articles. Using a scientific logic, according to the criteria of modern medicine, the explanation of the aforementioned clinical efficacy may reside in the rich innervation of the muscular fascia that, when appropriately stimulated, can excite multiple areas of the Central Nervous System via reflex pathways. This could also explain the positive actions on internal organs and viscera that have been observed. Nevertheless, the foundations of Chinese medicine supply an ulterior fascinating explanation.

Based on clinical experience, FM proposes some changes to Western medicine physiology and to Eastern acupuncture theories.
For example, the physiology of the musculoskeletal system, which is constructed around single muscles and movements of flexion and extension, does
not contemplate myokinetic chain continuity. Instead, FM proposes myofascial units, as well as new names for body movements that are based on the
three planes of space. This model facilitates the delineation of myofascial sequences, which, in turn, have a perfect parallel with acupuncture meridians.
By shifting one’s focus from the external structure of muscles to myofascial units formed by unidirectional motor units, the Centres of Coordination
(CC) can be defined and, in turn, these CC are comparable to acupuncture points.

The Authors, Luigi Stecco and his collaborators, deserve congratulations for the practical way in which these concepts are described and for the valid theoretical layout of this book.