06/10/2021
Back pain is the largest single cause of disability in the UK. Every year, approximately 1/3 of the population experience it.
Commonly, the discs, muscles and joints are thought to be the contributor to the experience of low back pain. However, in 2013, a study concluded that the fascial tissues of the low back, the thoracolumbar fascia, were highly innervated with sensory receptors (nociceptors) responding to noxious, damaging, stimuli.
In this study, the fascial tissues of the lower back were injected with hypertonic saline solution which sensitised the nociceptors. The patients reported high levels of pain. This study showed that the thoracolumbar fascia is highly innervated and suggested that the thoracolumbar fascia is the most 'pain-sensitive' deep tissue of the low back.
While this study is not contemporary, being over 5 years old, it heralded a significant change to the role fascia may play in the experience of pain.
MFR is a valuable therapy for the treatment of the symptoms associated with low back pain.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24076047/
