Seventh and final excerpt from this essay: This essay I wrote on fascia as a Holistic Network has been presented in seven blog posts. I would be very interested in hearing from other physicians and manual medicine practitioners about your thoughts on the fascia as a holistic network.
So, the fascia or the connective tissue system of our beings is definitively involved in our structural integrity; but science in recent years is just starting to realize what a complex, interactive and holistic biological system the fascia truly is and that it needs further study and focus. Helene Langevin, MD, another fascial researcher, wrote an article entitled “Connective tissue: A body-wide signaling network?” In this article she states “Understanding the temporal and spatial dynamics of connective tissue bioelectrical, cellular and tissue plasticity responses, as well as their interactions with other tissues, may be key to understanding how pathological changes in one part of the body may cause a cascade of “remote” effects in seemingly unrelated areas and organ systems. One of the greatest problems of modern medicine is its fragmentation. Connective tissue may be a key missing link needed to improve cross-system integration in both biomedical science and medicine.” (18)
And to bring this discussion back to the focus on energy and the duality of the particle and the wave; Albert Szent-Gyorgi, the scientist who discovered vitamin C, back in 1941 was starting to contemplate that electronic mobility and charge transfer across biological polymeric molecules may be a fundamental mechanism in living organisms. He stated in 1968 “I am deeply sure that we will never be able to understand the essence of life if we restrict ourselves to the molecular level…. A surprising subtlety of biological reactions is stipulated by the mobility of electrons and can be explained only from the position of quantum mechanics.” (19)
Energy flows through our systems and creates the mass of our structure and gives us life. Any manual medicine practitioner doing techniques such as Osteopathy in the Cranial field, myofascial release or balanced ligamentus technique knows this intimately because during those moments when they have been able to let go of focus been taken on a journey to experience the interconnected complex interactions between the particle and the wave. We are complex biological and energetic systems all interacting in this experience we call life and a more extensive collaboration between biology and quantum physics will be necessary to learn more about our holistic systems and what makes us all interconnected to each other and to our environment.
18. Langevin, Helene, MD; Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 66, Issue 6, 2006, 1074-1077.
19. Svent-Gyorgyi A., Bioelectronics. New York: Academic Press, 1968. http://www.integrativemedicalinitiatives.com/integrative-medicine/integrative-medicine-at/integrative-medicine-in/the basis of life processes.pdf
20. Findley, Thomas, W., MD and Shalwala, Mona, MS-IV; “Fascia Research Congress Evidence from the 100 year perspective of Andrew Taylor Still”; Journal Of Bodywork & Movement Therapies; (2013)17, 356-364
21. Swanson, Randel, L. II, DO; “Biotensegrity: A Unifying Theory of Biological Architecture With Applications to Osteopathic Practice, Education, and Research—A Review and Analysis”; JAOA, Vol. 113(1), 2013: 34-51.