Gentle, sustained pressure that helps stiffened, restricted tissues become pliable again — taking pressure off joints, freeing impinged nerves, and allowing your body to repair.
Western medicine has done fantastic things and the promise is still bright, but look around and it's not hard at all to find people who aren't really flourishing. In an emergency, you can't ask for anyone better than the fine doctors, surgeons, and nurses in our hospitals… but when it comes to long term health and vitality, too often all you get is another drug or surgery and suggestions on how to cope, and "You're just getting older…"
What makes the difference? Why are some people active and sharp into their later years, with bodies that keep working… when other people seem to be breaking down in their 50's, or 40's, or even younger?
Sure, genetics and food play their parts, but maybe there's another factor.
Actually, those of us using myofascial release have found that factor.
All the bumps, falls, breaks, and surgeries during all the years of your life cause your tissues to get stiffer and tighter. These "restrictions" build up over time and make everything harder, causing your body to get less mobile, more likely to be injured, and less able to repair and recover.
Myofascial Release uses gentle, sustained pressure to help those stiffened, restricted tissues un-stiffen and become pliable again. This takes the pressure off your joints, frees impinged nerves and discs, and allows your body to repair overly stressed and hurting spots.
With Myofascial Release, you can recover function and mobility, end the pain, and feel good again.
Like probably all innovation and change, MFR got started when the current wisdom and knowledge wasn't cutting it. John F Barnes, PT, LMT, NCTMB had injured his low back and none of the established therapies were helping him. So… he tried various other things and found that putting pressure into the sore tissues helped. Eventually he realized he must be working with the fascial system, since what he was feeling didn't follow any muscle origin and insertion points. He found that the tissue responded better (and he got more relief) as he held lighter and longer.
He tried using the approach on his patients too and it wasn't long before they were all requesting him and not his other therapists. So he had to teach.
Now, over fifty years later, John Barnes is a highly sought after teacher and therapist as people travel across the world to train with and be treated by him. John and the therapists he has trained are on the leading edge of a transition in health care — one that is pulling away from the logical, but flawed, approaches and absurdly reductionist approaches of standard western medicine.
The John F. Barnes' Myofascial Release Approach® addresses the human being as a complete, whole person — not a mechanical, fragmented system of symptoms.
Most people seek myofascial release for a particular symptom — a bad back, neck pain, headaches. What almost no one realizes at first is just how much is going on in their body. The pain they're complaining about is just the tip of the iceberg.
Quick fixes don't last, we all know this. Myofascial release works long term because it is thorough. It doesn't cover-up or numb out the symptoms. MFR helps you work through all the twisted, overlapping layers of old injuries and restrictions — to help you regain a body that not only feels better and younger, but actually performs like it too.
In short, they thrive — not just get by.
Whether it's upper or lower back, disc herniations or nerve impingements, rigid and immobile, or weak and painful — myofascial release is excellent for back issues. Fascial restrictions twist and compress the spine, hold it in misalignment, and lead to pinched nerves and crushed or slipped discs. When you release the restrictions, you get alignment, mobility, and room for everything to heal and strengthen.
Myofascial restrictions lead to many varieties of issues and symptoms. Simply put, nerves get impinged and pulled, joints get sheared, twisted, and jammed, and lymph flow gets slowed or blocked. Myofascial release frees the tissues and takes the pressure off of pain-sensitive structures.
When the fascial system is restricted, it causes twists and pulls throughout your body. Nerves are supported and contained within fascial structures and can't handle much extra pressure. The weight of a single human hair is enough to interfere with nerve function… Fascial restrictions can place up to 2,000 lbs of pressure in places that were never meant to support that. If you've got nerve pain or repetitive motion injuries, there is almost certainly no need for surgery or nerve blocks.
Joints need aligned environments free of excessive tension, pressure, and twisting. Myofascial restrictions cause distortion in your body and lead to overwhelming forces being applied on your joints. Then, as you use those joints, it's like grinding your gears or running your engine without enough oil. Myofascial release takes that pressure and distortion out, allowing joints the lubricated movement they need, free from excessive stress.
Myofascial restrictions can cause widespread chaos and havoc. Imagine if multiple nerves are getting pulled on with almost every move you make. Many joints are stressed to the point of immobility, while others are forced to be hyper-mobile. Even your skin can be glued to the layers below, making every move painful. Organs and digestive systems are fascial structures as well and can have their performance affected by restrictions throughout your body.
If you're dealing with widespread, confusing pain — get to a skilled myofascial release therapist. Don't think about it. Don't hesitate. How much longer do you want to deal with all that pain?
Before you go jumping after anyone who claims to do myofascial release, you need to know there are different approaches. Rolfing, Structural Integration, Graston Technique, FasciaBlasting, Foam Rolling & Lacrosse Balls… All of these can basically be grouped together into what we call soft tissue mobilization. It means, get in there with a tool, an elbow, something, and "break up" those restrictions.
This can be a powerful approach. And a very painful one too. But they are essentially trying to force and break a tissue system that can't be forced. And will heal itself up tighter and stronger if you break it.
The Barnes Approach
The John F. Barnes' Myofascial Release Approach® uses gentle, sustained pressure to aid the dehydrated, glued, and stuck tissues so they can rehydrate, unglue, and unstick. It's like melting an ice cube instead of smashing it into smaller ice chunks. This approach leads to longer-lasting, more thorough changes and healing — gentle enough to be used even with the most pain-sensitive people.
It probably wouldn't be fair to talk about myofascial release without bringing up the fact that doctors in particular tend to be skeptical. That really has to do with focus. They've been looking at particular chemicals and nerve pathways and such. Their approach to the myofascial system has pretty much been "cut it out of the way." It's a whole body system that is difficult to study when you're looking at one particular part. It's also mostly been studied in cadavers where the fascial tissue is dry and brittle, which is a lot like studying a telephone pole and thinking you know all about living trees.
Nowadays, leading edge research is excitedly studying all the unexpected ways that the myofascial system is responsible for shaping our health and function. Doctors are coming around, if slowly sometimes.
So it turns out, as a society, we've accepted too little when it comes to health and vitality. Feeling good, moving well, and enjoying your later years really is possible. Recovery from so many afflictions isn't as hard as we think. It just takes a different focus, a different approach.
Myofascial release helps with a wide range of conditions including back pain, neck pain, headaches, migraines, TMJ dysfunction, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, frozen shoulder, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and many types of joint pain. Because the fascial system connects every structure in the body, releasing restrictions can resolve issues far from the original site of pain.
Many techniques branded as myofascial release — Rolfing, Graston, foam rolling — use forceful pressure to 'break up' restrictions. This can overwhelm the tissue, causing the body to build back tighter. The John F. Barnes' Myofascial Release Approach® uses gentle, sustained pressure to help dehydrated, glued tissues rehydrate and release naturally. It's like melting an ice cube instead of smashing it into smaller chunks — leading to longer-lasting, more thorough changes.
Many people feel meaningful changes after their first session. However, lasting structural change requires addressing the layers of restriction that have built up over years or decades. Most clients follow a structured program that unfolds over weeks, allowing the body to release, adapt, and strengthen progressively. The deeper and older the restrictions, the more time the process takes — but the results are cumulative and lasting.
Yes. The Barnes MFR Approach is gentle enough to use with even the most pain-sensitive individuals. We never force, and we never injure. If something is painful or uncomfortable, we want you to tell us. Understanding how your body perceives and responds to sensation is an essential part of the healing process.
You can arrange to talk to Michael on the phone, request a free discovery session, or learn more about who myofascial release is for.
Committed to Restoring Your Potential,
Michael Sudbury
Specialist Myofascial Release Therapist
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