Even though I’ve lived with severe neuropathy since the age of two, I consider -myself quite healthy and strive to lead a holistic lifestyle. My current challenge? Fascia. Yes, fascia: the sticky, web-like tissue that binds muscle to skin. Who would’ve thought an injury in the 20th century would ripple so powerfully into the 21st?
In 1981, at just 12 years old, I fell and broke my left hip.
That injury placed me in a wheelchair permanently.
At the time, doctors discouraged physical therapy. They believed it would deteriorate my already compromised muscles. Instead, they told my parents I’d give myself my own form of exercise through daily life. So, for 40 years, I sat in a wheelchair, administering my own self-directed physical activity and massage therapy. Thankfully, modern medicine has since shifted its view and we now know this approach was deeply flawed.
In August 2010, during one of my regular massage therapy sessions, my right leg slipped off the table, rotating my SI joint/tailbone. The resulting pain was so intense, I sought out two neurologists. Both dismissed me with the same diagnosis: “There’s nothing wrong with you.” My only relief came from sleeping on the floor for an entire year, unaware of the long-term consequences that would have on my bones and muscles.
Finally, in 2012, a chiropractor brought some much-needed relief. Unfortunately, due to my weakened muscles and poor alignment after months on the floor, adjustments wouldn’t hold. So I hired a strength trainer, and continued seeing the chiropractor weekly to help realign my body.
From then on, years of consistent adjustments and exercise brought me both expected gains in strength and unexpected consequences of weakness.
The importance of standing upright for strength, circulation, and bone density had been brought to my attention. Before my SI injury, this was never a topic of discussion.
In 2022, I began using a standing frame, along with zero-gravity robotics twice a week for about an hour. I felt stronger and taller than ever before. Unfortunately, the physical therapy clinic closed after the medical director passed away in early 2023. That sudden loss paused my progress and standing therapy indefinitel
But ten years of chiropractic adjustments, exercise and movement, my nervous system became increasingly sensitive and slower to recover. The activity appeared to aggravate fascia and scar tissue around my old hip injury, which then seemed to “explode” throughout my body. This same fascia had I received therapy earlier might have been contained.
Fascia has also caused havoc with my core and pelvis, especially the pelvic floor. Two areas of my body that have always felt fit and strong. A sturdy center; no longer the foundation for my compromised limbs.
What is fascia, you ask? It’s that yellow, sticky layer that holds your skin to your muscles, like the gooey stuff you see when pulling back the skin on raw chicken. For me, this web of stickiness has turned into a full-body tug-of-war. I experience constant pulling, yanking, and twisting from head to toe, while also muffling my voice box and occasionally veiling my vision. Though I sleep well at night, I rarely wake up refreshed. The relaxation of my muscles causes my body to literally fall apart while sleeping. Dread often greets my slumber routine, foreshadowing the break of dawn and what’s to come. Every morning, my body wakes up to a new, abnormally unaligned position and I get to spend 2 to 4 hours figuring out how to get this body back together so I can get out of bed and function for the day.
Every day is different. A new adventure. My fascia hás also been known to pull on discs, playing them like bubbly, piano keys from my torso to my toes. Other times I feel like Gumby’s long lost sister. Here, the fascia transforms my muscles into mimicking taffy. Both pliable substances refusing to respect boundaries or joints. More recently, my fascia has been painfully grabbing my sciatic nerve, wrapping it around my right leg, foot and toes, like a vine around a tree in the rainforest . It’s easy to personify this beast. I recently found out that fascia has its own nervous system, and its directly attached to our feelings and emotions.
It’s frustrating, to say the least.
I’ve lived with physical challenges my entire life. They’ve always been inconvenient, but never enough to stop me. I now pray that my fascia settles, so it can serve its intended purpose to bring balance and harmony to my body. All in strides of faith.