I have heard and read for years that it’s important to stretch before you exit the bed in the morning. Most of the reasons given have to do with blood flow and getting the blood that pools in the extremities out of the legs and arms and back into the core of the body.
Then I ran across “The Fuzz Speech” and this new approach to the importance of stretching and movement kind of smacked me upside the head. I knew about the “stuckness” that happens after injury or prolonged disuse of the body. As a massage therapist, I see these kinds of body issues every day in my clients. As a part-time desk jockey, I have struggled with these kinds of body issues for years. But I had very little visualization into what the anatomy and physiology behind it was.
I’ve never heard of this “fuzz” before and I am fascinated.
So the following video is a talk given by Dr. Gil Hedley about this stuff he calls fuzz that grows between what I understand is the fascial sheaths of muscles (perhaps it is part of the fascia?). The fuzz grows while the muscles are still, i.e., while we sleep or spend hours hunched in front of our computers or vegging on the couch. Enough fuzz and you realize you’re stiff and have trouble getting going again. Even more fuzz and it becomes strong enough to cause restrictions in movement. This is the point where I typically see a new client.
The solution to the fuzz? Movement, period.
As someone who struggles daily with getting enough activity and movement, I found this to be pure genius. It shores up my resolve to move more, to stretch more, to get more of the E-word.
So since I’ve told you all about it, perhaps you would actually like to see the video? Just a word before you view it, there’s cadaver footage in the video. In case you’re sensitive to that kind of thing, you might want to just listen.