All about Fascia

Fascinating Fascia!

What It Is, Why It Matters, and How Adaptive Response Conditioning™ (ARC™) Integrative Bodywork Helps

This page explains why fascia is critical to Vaughn Health’s ARC™ training and Personal Performance Coaching—for safe movement, pain management, stress response, vitality, and healthy longevity.

On this page

What is fascia?

Fascia is a continuous web of connective tissue made of collagen — the substance that gives strength and flexibility to our tendons, and even our bones. [1]
It’s under our skin, and permeates all our organs, fat, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, nerves, blood vessels, etc. [2] It suspends and protects them, and is essential in supporting their functions. [3]
Fascia is our largest organ. [4]
Fascia has 25% more nerve endings than our skin. We have 206 bones, 600 muscles, 900 ligaments, 4,000 tendons and, depending on body size, 45 miles of nerves, and 60,000* miles of blood vessels (Earth's diameter is only 7,917.5 miles). ALL of it contains—and is contained by—fascia. [2]
If everything in the body was teleported out of it except the fascia, we'd retain virtually the same shape! [5]

The spiders that weave your body's web

Cells called fibroblasts are spider-like cells that spin the elastic collagen fibrils that regulate force transmission throughout your body. Specialized fibroblasts, called myofibroblasts, provide contractile action that regulate tissue basal tone. [6]

Fig 2: Illustration of Fibroblast anatomy

Fig 3: Scanning electron micrograph of a fibroblast. 
Photo by David M. Phillips.

Fig 4: A fibroblast party. 
Photo by David M. Phillips

Fascia characteristics

COMPOSITION: Fascia fibrils contain elastin, mostly type 1 collagen, and other extracellular matrix (ECM) components.

Fascia collagen comes in types I, III, IV, V, VI, XI, XII, XIV, XXI, among others, as well as combinations of these, according to location and function in the body.

Fascia fibrils are coated in hyaluronic acid (HA), also known as hyaluronan (see Fig 5)—which fibroblasts, keratinocytes, chondrocytes, and specialized cells, including recently discovered fasciacytes, continuously secrete. HA allows fascial gliding between fascial layers. [7]

These cellular and structural components are illustrated below in Fig 6.

Fig 5: Living fascia coated in HA at 60x magnification

Fig 6: Illustration of fascia anatomy

DISTRIBUTION: HA is a linear glycosaminoglycan (GAG). It is found everywhere in the body, with its highest concentrations in the skin, umbilical cord, joint fluid, and vitreous body of the eye.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES: HA chains provide high viscosity at a concentration as low as 0.1%. It has excellent viscoelasticity, high moisture retention capacity, high biocompatibility, and hygroscopic properties.
TISSUE REPAIR: HA is a critical component of the ECM that regulates normal structural integrity and development, regulates tissue responses during injury, repair, and regeneration, and can be fabricated into membranes, fibers, sponges, microspheres, and other shapes.
ADHESIONS: HA concentrations can dramatically increase in milliseconds to become gummy and crinkle up as adhesions (what causes muscle knots) in response to repetitive movements that overwork parts of the body, or too little movement daily, and traumas such as surgery or injury, and emotional trauma.
CONTEXT: The concentration of these cells and their products depend on fascia location and function, and what stimuli it's exposed to.

See these structures in action in this video below.

Magnified living fascia

STRUCTURE: Fascia fibrils are organized into dense, parallel bundles and contribute to the overall strength, flexibility, and elasticity of fascial tissues.
SIZE: Fascia fibrils range from 20 nm - 500 nm. Human hair widths are generally between 17 and 180 micrometers — thousands of times thicker than fascia fibrils.
SENSITIVITY: Fascia is our 2nd most sensitive organ after our skin. Our skin has a nerve density of 64.0 ± 5.2/cm2; our superficial fascia has 33.0 ± 2.5/cm2 nerve fibers; and our deep fascia has 19 ± 5.0/cm2 nerve fibers.
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES: Fascia conducts and resists electricity, and produces electricity through movement due to being a piezoelectric liquid-crystalline molecular composition. When fascia stretches, it generates potential energy; when released, it releases kinetic energy, just like a rubber band. But fascia is FAR stronger than a rubber band.

ELASTIC & TENSILE STRENGTH

Stiffer material has a higher Young's Modulus. Think of a rubber band and how it loses elasticity if you stretch it repeatedly, leave it stretched too long, or let it dry out or get exposed to too much UV/sunlight.
Why this matters: Together, these properties allow fascia to withstand tension and transmit forces throughout the body. If our fascia is too weak or too stiff, we can't move.
Reported fascia strength ranges: Fascia has remarkable tensile strength (resistance to tension/pulling) and stiffness (resistance to compression), which vary dramatically according to numerous factors. However, there are significant discrepancies between different studies regarding these characteristics.
Fascia tensile strength has been reported in ranges of 0.234 MPa (MPa = MegaPascal) - 580 MPa, and stiffness ranging from 4.2 GPa to 6.86 GPa (GPa = GigaPascal).
Fiber direction matters: Fascia fibrils have greater resistance to parallel force along the fibril's direction, and significantly less resistance to perpendicular force.

For example, one study reported tensile strength of skeletal muscle along the fiber direction is 0.44 MPa at maximum load of 110 N, and 0.234 MPa at max load 43 N vs. force applied to the fibers at 45 degrees.
Another study found UTS values ranging from 0.5–12 MPa, with Young's modulus varying from 4.5 to 28x higher when applying a load in the longitudinal vs. the transverse direction for stiffer layers, and the opposite for softer layers, as a result of their respective fiber orientation.
For perspective: Steel fibers generally have tensile strengths of 1000 MPa to 1200 MPa in diameters ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 mm, and carbon fiber tensile strength ranges from 3 - 7 GPa, with a Young's modulus of 200 - 500 GPa.
However, clear figures on these respective materials related to their diameter and length have remained elusive at the time of this writing, which limits more accurate and meaningful comparisons for appreciating the actual strength of fascia.

Your Body's "Spider" Guardians

Somatic Memories are physical experiences stored in the brain. The word "somatic" means "of the body." Our brain stores these experiences to develop instant responses that drive us towards safety or opportunity based on what we previously learned caused us harm, pain, fear, or pleasure. 
The stronger the emotional impact of any event, good or bad, wires the brain accordingly to help ensure we seize opportunity before it's too late. Since we learn that we don't always have time to process a situation to decide what the best response is, our brain learns to store preset actions to save us time. 
When psychological, physical, and biological stressors exceed the nervous system adaptive limits (trauma), it prevents the body from processing the trauma. This results in associated sensory details coding into the memory and emotional centers of the brain, like the hippocampus and amygdala. 
Sensory input associated with trauma activates our autonomic nervous system to take instinctive action before we have time to fully assess the situation and how to respond.

Spider-shaped cells called fibroblasts produce the collagen proteins that create fascia.

Fascia conducts information almost instantly to inform our brain of what's going on in our environment— like how spiders use their webs to alert them through vibrations when food or danger is present. [6]

And, just like spiders learn how to instinctively anticipate events through weather changes, our brain is subconsciously processing present internal and external signals to anticipate which pre-programmed responses to activate when needed.

Fig. 3, revisited: A spider-shaped fibroblast

When we can't fight or flee from threat—be it physical or psychological—the fascia gels like superglue to freeze and armor our body to prevent damage/harm.

But trauma or prolonged stress can keep the fascia like this indefinitely until proper therapeutic intervention helps it return to its flexible state again to enable the body to restore normal functionality.
This can become a new source of reinforcing stress because hardened fascia forms are sensed by the nervous system when the body moves into positions associated with injury/trauma, and prevents movement through learned conditioning to prevent pain or damage. 
In addition to a healthy lifestyle of frequent mobility, exercise, nutrition, hydration, sleep, healthy relationships, positive self-esteem, and fulfilling work and life-purpose, learning how to exchange ARC with one or more people you care about can help you all heal from trauma, restore your body and mind's functional abilities, and literally unlock your full potential for the most enjoyable life possible. 

Dive Deeper

How ARC™ applies this knowledge

ARC™ applies this knowledge by working with fascia as living, sensory, adaptive tissue — not inert “muscle wrapping.”
Because fascia is continuous, innervated, hydrated, elastic, and responsive to stress, ARC™ uses precise touch, communication, breath, movement, and nervous-system awareness to help the body soften protective tension patterns and restore more efficient movement.
Rather than forcing tissue to “release,” ARC™ works with the body’s own feedback systems, helping fascia, muscles, nerves, and the brain update how they communicate.
The goal is not simply relaxation. It is improved adaptability: better movement, less protective guarding, deeper body awareness, and greater freedom from old stress patterns.

References:

Perez-Bellmunt, Albert & Blasi, Marc & Blasi, Joan & Ortiz, Sara & Pérez-Corbella, Cristina & Casasayas Cos, Oriol & Kuisma, Raija & Miguel, Maribel. (2017). Introduction to fascial tissue. Physiotherapy Updates. XIII. 14-20.
Bordoni B, Mahabadi N, Jozsa F. Anatomy, Fascia. [Updated 2025 Dec 9]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2026 Jan-.
George T, De Jesus O. Physiology, Fascia. [Updated 2023 Mar 12]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2026 Jan-.
Slater AM, Barclay SJ, Granfar RMS and Pratt RL (2024) Fascia as a regulatory system in health and disease. Front. Neurol. 15:1458385. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1458385
Cleveland Clinic. (2022). Fascia. Cleveland Clinic.

Fede C, Pirri C, Fan C, Petrelli L, Guidolin D, De Caro R, Stecco C. A Closer Look at the Cellular and Molecular Components of the Deep/Muscular Fasciae. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 30;22(3):1411. doi: 10.3390/ijms22031411. PMID: 33573365; PMCID: PMC7866861.

Stecco C, Fede C, Macchi V, Porzionato A, Petrelli L. The fasciacytes: A new cell devoted to fascial gliding regulation. Clin Anat. 2018;31(5):667-676. doi: 10.1002/ca.23072.

Fascinating Fascia!

Emergent discoveries in fascia research have been revolutionizing health science—by revealing how it influences every process in our body, making it one of the most important research fields in human health today.

On this page

What is fascia?

Fascia is a continuous web of connective tissue made of collagen — the substance that gives strength and flexibility to our tendons, and even our bones. [1]

It’s under our skin, and permeates all our organs, fat, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, nerves, blood vessels, etc. [2] It suspends and protects them, and is essential in supporting their functions. [3]

Fascia is our largest organ. [4]

Fascia has 25% more nerve endings than our skin. We have 206 bones, 600 muscles, 900 ligaments, 4,000 tendons and, depending on body size, 45 miles of nerves, and 60,000* miles of blood vessels (Earth's diameter is only 7,917.5 miles). ALL of it contains—and is contained by—fascia. [2]

If everything in the body was teleported out of it except the fascia, we'd retain virtually the same shape! [5]

The spiders that weave your body's web

Cells called fibroblasts are spider-like cells that spin the elastic collagen fibrils that regulate force transmission throughout your body. Specialized fibroblasts, called myofibroblasts, provide contractile action that regulate tissue basal tone. [6]

Fascia characteristics

Fig 5: Living fascia coated in HA at 60x magnification

TISSUE REPAIR: HA is a critical component of the ECM that regulates normal structural integrity and development, regulates tissue responses during injury, repair, and regeneration, and can be fabricated into membranes, fibers, sponges, microspheres, and other shapes.

CONTEXT: The concentration of these cells and their products depend on fascia location and function, and what stimuli it's exposed to. See these structures in action in this video below.

Magnified living fascia

Stiffer material has a higher Young's Modulus. Think of a rubber band and how it loses elasticity if you stretch it repeatedly, leave it stretched too long, or let it dry out or get exposed to too much UV/sunlight.

Why this matters: Together, these properties allow fascia to withstand tension and transmit forces throughout the body. If our fascia is too weak or too stiff, we can't move.

Fascia tensile strength has been reported in ranges of 0.234 MPa (MPa = MegaPascal) - 580 MPa, and stiffness ranging from 4.2 GPa to 6.86 GPa (GPa = GigaPascal).

Fiber direction matters: Fascia fibrils have greater resistance to parallel force along the fibril's direction, and significantly less resistance to perpendicular force.

For example, one study reported tensile strength of skeletal muscle along the fiber direction is 0.44 MPa at maximum load of 110 N, and 0.234 MPa at max load 43 N vs. force applied to the fibers at 45 degrees.

Another study found UTS values ranging from 0.5–12 MPa, with Young's modulus varying from 4.5 to 28x higher when applying a load in the longitudinal vs. the transverse direction for stiffer layers, and the opposite for softer layers, as a result of their respective fiber orientation.

For perspective: Steel fibers generally have tensile strengths of 1000 MPa to 1200 MPa in diameters ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 mm, and carbon fiber tensile strength ranges from 3 - 7 GPa, with a Young's modulus of 200 - 500 GPa.

However, clear figures on these respective materials related to their diameter and length have remained elusive at the time of this writing, which limits more accurate and meaningful comparisons for appreciating the actual strength of fascia.

Your Body's "Spider" Guardians

Somatic Memories are physical experiences stored in the brain. The word "somatic" means "of the body." Our brain stores these experiences to develop instant responses that drive us towards safety or opportunity based on what we previously learned caused us harm, pain, fear, or pleasure.

When psychological, physical, and biological stressors exceed the nervous system adaptive limits (trauma), it prevents the body from processing the trauma. This results in associated sensory details coding into the memory and emotional centers of the brain, like the hippocampus and amygdala.

Sensory input associated with trauma activates our autonomic nervous system to take instinctive action before we have time to fully assess the situation and how to respond.

Dive Deeper

Fascia Overview:

Fascia Biology Animation

Dr. Jean-Claude Guimbereau's in-depth video

Fascia Documentary: The network of the body without beginning or end

How ARC™ applies this knowledge