Fascia 2007 Congress

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Fascia is fascinating, and the more it is studied the more extraordinary its properties appear—whether in terms of its structural, communication, immune or other functions. Keeping abreast of the research into fascia/connective tissue is not easy since it crosses so many scientific boundaries. In order to draw together the most important researchers and clinicians working in this field, the first International Congress on Fascia Research will take place in 2007 (October 4/5) in Boston (Harvard Medical School, Conference Centre)—presenting attendees with a unique opportunity to hear from the world's leading researchers into all aspects of this remarkable tissue.

The following quote from the mission statement of the Congress will help to set the scene:

Fascia is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue system that exists throughout the human body. It forms a whole-body, three-dimensional intracellular matrix of support, continuity, and communication. It interpenetrates and surrounds all organs and muscles. It ensheathes all bones. The scope of our definition of and interest in fascia extends to all dense fibrous connective tissues, including aponeuroses, ligaments, tendons, retinaculae, joint capsules, organ and vessel tunics, the epineurium, the meninges, the periostea, and all the endomysial and intermuscular fibers of the myofasciae.

Since fascia serves both global, generalized functions and local, specialized functions, it is the substrate that crosses several scientific, medical, and other therapeutic disciplines, both in conventional and complementary/alternative modalities. Connective tissue research has tended to focus more on the specialized genetic and molecular aspects of the fasciae. And the study of fascia in its supportive function as an interconnected whole has been largely neglected in recent decades. Since the soft connective tissue matrix has whole body, supportive functions, the subject of its macroscopic, whole-body structural role is an important consideration to clinicians in several specialty areas.

But will this be a congress that has practical content for practitioners/clinicians, or is likely to only be of interest to pure scientists?

The answer is that the organizing committee is strenuously endeavouring to ensure that both groups are catered for, and to date some of the most important researchers, clinical and laboratory-based, have agreed to present—including Dr. Helene Langevin whose groundbreaking research at the University of Vermont has demonstrated unique information regarding the transmission of information via fascia during acupuncture (Langevin and Yandow 2002; Langevin et al., 2005); and Ingber, 2003, Ingber, 2005, whose research into tensegrity structures and the cytoskeleton have offered glimpses of the remarkable nano-technology structures of the body.

The list below offers a flavour of some of the major areas to be focused on at the conference:

The Fascia Research Congress provides a unique opportunity to unite our efforts. The field of fascia research has been expanding internationally, generating a large body of knowledge important to both researchers and a diverse audience of health care professionals. It is an appropriate time to bring together all the latest and best scientific research findings on the human fasciae from around the world and to present this important work in a conference forum in which professionals from various perspectives and practices related to fascia can come to learn and exchange. It is anticipated that such a gathering will also generate a network of scientists, practitioners, and students who will inform and support future conferences on the same theme.

For more detail on this not to be missed congress, visit http://www.fascia2007.com. Readers should know that JBMT would carry selected abstracts and reports from the congress in issues subsequent to the event; that Elsevier (publisher of JBMT) is a sponsor of the congress; that the School of Integrated Health, University of Westminster has endorsed the event, and that JBMTs editor is a member of the Program Committee.

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References 

1. Ingber D. Mechanosensation through integrins: cells act locally but think globally. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2003;100(4):1472–1474
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2. Ingber D. Tissue adaptation to mechanical forces in healthy, injured and aging tissues. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2005;15(4):199–201
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3. Langevin H, et al. Dynamic fibroblast cytoskeletal response to subcutaneous tissue stretch ex vivo and in vivo. American Journal of Physiology—Cell Physiology. 2005;288(3):C747–C756
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4. Langevin H, Yandow J. Relationship of acupuncture points and meridians to connective tissue planes. Anatomical Record. 2002;269(6):257–265
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