Many of my patients have received treatments with the percussor. They often think that it is some sort of vibrator or “feel good device”. But it is actually a very dynamic healing tool that helps restore vitality to the body.
If you have ever peeled the skin off a piece of chicken you may have noticed that each muscle is covered and enveloped by a thin, clear coating, almost like saran wrap. We refer to this material as fascia. Fascia covers and separates all the muscles in the body, one from another. In addition, fascia provides a protective coating for every bone, organ, artery and vein, and every tissue of the body. For example, the fascial tissue that covers the lungs is called Pleura. When it becomes inflamed, we call that pleurisy. The fascial coating over the brain is called the dura. That’s where the word epidural comes from. The great osteopath, Dr. Robert Fulford made tremendous strides in discovering that the fascia can become distorted, or hold abnormal tension. Strong emotions, physical traumas, infections, digestive problems and other insults in the body can distort and twist the fascial tissue. These insults often cause the fascia to thicken or get stuck to the muscles and tissues surrounding it. The fascia then holds those energies within itself, causing imbalance to occur in the body.
Fascial Tension Causes Pain
When the fascial network in the body is distorted, the structure of the body will be pulled out of alignment and this can cause pain and stiffness. Car accidents are a common cause of tension in the fascia. If the fascia is distorted around the organs in the body, the chemical processes and reactions taking place in those organs can be diminished. Tension in the fascia restricts the flood of blood and other fluids and can pinch the nerves. Distortion of the fascia in the head (dura) causes headaches, dizziness, brain fog and more. Outside of the blood vessels and in between the cells is the intercellular space, which contains inter cellular fluid. This is an often ignored area of the body. This is where a lot chemical important chemical reactions occur. Fasica distortion interrupts the flow of this fluid as well. Because of the electrical nature of fascia, fascial distortion also seems to affect the energetic makeup of the body and electrical transmission. All this leads to diminished health.
In his research, Dr. Fulford found that by using a mechanical device called a percussor, (essentially a heavy duty percussing vibrator) he was able to instill motion into the fascial tissues and get them to actually unwind and unravel. The results that Dr. Fulford and others have obtained using percussors to unwind the fascial tissue have often been miraculous. Many long-standing physical problems have been resolved themselves with percussion.
The Fulford percussor was large noisy device. I use a modernized version developed by Dr john Brimhall called the Variable Percussor. It is very useful for unraveling kinks in the fascia anywhere in the body.