The Chinese Meridian system originated over 2000 years ago and forms the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The meridians represent the channel where the invisible Qi or energy flows. Qi (or Chi) is the life force or energy, obstruction of the flow of Qi can cause imbalance in the body. It is also used in Japanese (called Ki) and in Thai (called Sen Lines). There are 14 meridians, and along each meridian there are Qi (or acupuncture) points, where Qi can be manipulated to restore balance. These points can be manipulated using needle (acupuncture) or thumb/ finger pressure (acupressure).

 

 

Acupuncture points on the arm and legs (From Mosby's Fundamentals of Therapeutic Massage)

Trigger point is a "highly irritable localized spot of exquisite tenderness in a nodule of palpable taut band of muscle tissue" (Travell & Simons, 1997). Myofascial trigger point can create referred pain. Some researchers have shown that most of the trigger points coincide with the Qi points or lie within the meridians.

Is it coincident that some of the myofascial lines of Thomas Myers' Anatomy Trains coincide with the Chinese meridians? (e.g. the Superficial Back Line = Bladder meridian, Superficial Front Line = Stomach meridian, Lateral Line = Gall Bladder meridian). 

Superficial back line and bladder meridian (from Primal Anatomy)

Read about Myofascial Release

So what is the relationship between fascia lines, trigger points, and meridian?

Dr. Rolf in her book "Rolfing" explained: "Fascial web connects and communicates throughout the body; thickened areas transmit strain in many directions and make their influence felt at distant pints, much as a snag in a sweater distorts the entire sweater. This is probably the mechanism through which reflex or pressure points become manifest."

Fascia is a seamless web of connective tissue that covers and connects the muscles, organs, and skeletal structures in our body. Recent research has proved the hypothesis that the main connection is the fascia network.

Helene Langevin a research professor of neurology from University of Vermont found that most of the Qi points are located in the areas of inter-muscular or intramuscular connective tissue planes. In other words the Qi points are located in areas where fascia planes or network converges. They showed that acupuncture points mostly lie along the fascia planes between muscles or between a muscle and bone or tendon. When a needle is inserted along the fascia plane, it will first penetrate through skin's dermis & subcutaneous tissue, then through deeper interstitial connective tissue. They hypothesized that the Qi meridians are the representation of a network of fascia. A blockage of Qi can be viewed as an alteration in fascia composition. Acupuncture points correspond to the sites where fascia network converges. Thus needling or pressure at the acupuncture or trigger points will have more prominent effect because a point represents convergence of several fascia plane or lines. Thus manipulation produces changes in the cellular level that can propagate along the fascia network (Langevin & Yandow, 2002).

A model explaining physiological effects of acupuncture (after Langevin & Yandow, 2002)

TCM                                                Anatomy & Physiology

• Accupuncture meridians                Fascia planes or lines.

• Accupuncture points                      Convergence of fascia planes.

• Qi                                                     Body energetic phenomena (e.g. metabolism, movement, signal transfer).

• Meridian Qi                                     Fascia biochemical signals.

• Blockage of Qi                               Altered fascia composition leading to altered signal transfer.

• Resotration of Qi                           Cellular activation leading to restored fascia composition & signal transfer.

Helene Langevin's group further studied the physiological effect of fascia stretching, which is the main objective of myofascial release. Their research (Lagevin et al., 2005) showed that when fascia is stretched, its cell size and shape changed. The fibroblast (the main cell type in fibrous connective tissue) of a stretched fascia looks like a "sheet" while a "shortened" tissue's cellular morphology looks like "dendritic". So when a therapists apply myofascial release, the changes go down to cellular level. The morphological change in the cell can alter the biochemical processes as well.

As Dr. Ida Rolf said "Lines in the body are not mystical, they are where forces balance."

Myofascia and Reflex points

According to Dr. Ida Rolf: "The meridian points and reflex points in the feet are most likely end-points of myofascial strain, the result of imbalance which transmits its difficulty in compensating pattern through the body to the surface. Fascial planes may be the route of mechanical transmission of pain."

"Foot reflexes are peaks of strains. They are nothing mystical; they are where strain goes in the foot. If you are relieving strain above the reflex points (for example in the ankle and shin) you will relieve those points of strain in the sole of the foot. When a weight goes down and dies in some place, it becomes a reflex point."

"I think that many if not all reflex points in the foot are simply points where gravitational strain inserts and comes together. They are the end of the line we call balance"

 

Anatomy of fascia

James Oschman in his book "Energy Medicine" explained that:

The fascia fabric is a semi conducting communication network that can convey the bioelectric signals between every part of the body and every other part. This communication network within the fascia is none other than the meridian system of traditional Oriental medicine, with its countless extensions into every part of the body. As these signals flow through the tissues, their biomagnetic counterparts extend the stories they tell into the space around the body.

The European Fascia Group (Schleip et al., 2006) showed that fascia behaves like a sponge, when fascia is stretched there are longitudinal relaxation changes in the collagen fibers and the water is squeezed out. Within a few minutes the collagen fibers recover their original state, and water continues flooding into the tissue to an even higher percentage than before, substantially increasing the elastic stiffness. Fascia seems to adapt with very complex and dynamic water changes to mechanical stimuli, to the degree  that the matrix reacts in smooth-muscle-like contraction and relaxation responses of the whole tissue. So when we stretch the fascia,  the tissue response we experience may be due to the sponge effect of fascia, like squeezing and refilling effects in the semi-liquid ground substance.

 

References

• Langevin HM, Bouffard NA, Badger GJ, Iatridis JC, Howe AK (2005). Dynamic fibroblast response to subcutaneous tissue stretch ex vivo and in vivo. American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology 288:C747-C756.

• Langevin HM and Yandow JA (2002). Relationship of acupuncture points and meridians to connective tissue planes. Anat Rec. 269:257-265.

• Rolf, IP. 1977. Rolfing. Healing Arts Press.

• Schleip, R, Zorn, A, Else MJ, Klinger W (2006). The European Fascia Research Project Report. http://www.somatics.de/FasciaResearch/ReportIASIyearbook06.htm