Fascial tissues form a ubiquitous network throughout the whole body, which is usually regarded as a passive contributor to biomechanical behavior. We aimed to answer the question, whether fascia may possess the capacity for cellular contraction which, in turn, could play an active role in musculoskeletal mechanics. The hypothetical application of the registered forces to human lumbar tissues predicts a potential impact below the threshold for mechanical spinal stability but strong enough to possibly alter motoneuronal coordination in the lumbar region.
It is concluded that tension of myofascial tissue is actively regulated by myofibroblasts with the potential to impact active musculoskeletal dynamics. Compared with more discrete elements of the locomotor system β e. Recent studies have elaborated the role of muscular fascia as essential force transmitter in muscular dynamics Stecco et al. However, fascia is usually considered as a relatively inert tissue that is assumed to serve a passive role only in musculoskeletal biomechanics.
In contrast to this common assumption there have been sporadic indications of a more active role of fascia due to an inherent ability to actively contract. It is generally assumed that the tissue shortening and stiffening observed in these pathological circumstances is driven by myofibroblasts MFBs , and that the resulting tissue contracture is accomplished by an incremental combination of cellular contraction, collagen cross-linking and matrix remodeling in a slip and ratchet-like manner Tomasek et al.
It is, therefore, not surprising, that active tissue contractionsβobserved within time frames of several minutes post stimulationβhave been successfully recorded in vitro with several of these pathologic tissues in response to pharmacological stimulation Hurst et al.
While these cells were mainly considered as an indicator for pathological conditions in the first years after the discovery of MFBs, subsequent studies have revealed their presence also in normal i. Nevertheless, there have only been few explorations of contractile properties in normal fasciae. Preliminary investigations with a small sample of rat fascia pieces by Hinz et al.
