The 4th day of the Fascial Research Conference was just a half day, so there was much thrusting of cards into hands, exchanges of papers and emails, deferred conversations now hurried. The presentations were interesting, especially that of Can Yucesoy from Turkey, who modeled a complex interaction of elastic and contractile muscle and various fascial properties to get a good model of Epimuscular Force Transmission (EFT) another of those three-letter acronyms you’re likely to be reading about.
One note though – I have long noticed the obliquely crossing fibers in the crural fascia (making every cadaver look like they are wearing argyle socks under their fat), as ell circumferential fibers. Why these oblique lines? Richard Nichols shows how they (might – always might, in science, but it looks pretty logical, like most lies) contribute to coronal (medio-lateral ) stability.
One other interesting bit: The GTO’s (Golgi Tendon Organs) are known for their inhibitory effect on their related muscle firing – in other words, stimulate the GTO’s to get the muscle to relax. This reflex action tends to go from down-to-up in the leg while climbing a hill, and switch to from up-to-down when descending a hill. In downhill walking, the ‘propelling’ muscles are inhibited, enhancing your brakes.
After lunch, Tom Findlay and Robert kindly invited me up onstage to be on the panel to help close out the conference. I continued my defense of the hand over machine, and hoped for some more ‘loose chaotic networking’ as Robert joked.
In the end, it was very much worth it for me. It did not have quite the same spirit as the first congress – second attempts often suffer for being just that. The science was not as good, some of the breakout sessions were just bad – badly presented, or bad science. The clinicians presenting their stuff to scientists were often worse – sometimes bum-scrunchingly so – self-aggrandising and reporting only their successes, and claiming far more than they actually could. Discipline of mind does not come easily to the therapist, it seems, and discipline of heart comes hard to some of the scientists.
But this is all part of the developing rapport among scientists in differing fields, part due to letting in more trades – surgeons and engineers as well as fascial researchers – and in part due to the confused but exploratory fingers of the therapists wiggling their way into the world of defined research. It’s a long journey, but so far a fun and rewarding one.
Enjoy reading this, thank you:)