On our Earn Your Edge episode with Dr. Simone Fortier, we talked about all things fascia and brain health. Dr. Simone Fortier is an expert brain and fascia therapist and the creator and founder of the Fascia Training Institute. In recent years, fascia has been getting a lot of attention in the science and athletic worlds, but Dr. Simone Fortier has been studying fascia before it was trendy. She has been using fascia treatment as a form of rehabilitation to treat chronic pain and concussions.

What is fascia?

Fascia is connective tissue that protects, communicates, and responds to load. It can be thought of as a casing or suit made up of many layers with liquid in between. Fascia is a living organism and fascial fibers come together and apart every time you move. Fascia connects each and every part of the body together and creates space in the body.

Fascia and Brain Health

Fascia controls pain and the brain, and actually communicates faster to the brain than the nervous system. Although the study of fascia is fairly new, with it only being dissected for the first time in 2007, we are seeing that it plays an important role in brain health.
When the fascial system tightens, pressure is put on other systems in the body, such as the muscles, organs, and the brain. This pressure can cause pain, restricted motion, and structural misalignment, eventually impeding on day-to-day life and athletic performance.
One of the most important things for fascia is posture. When you sit with your head down and forward, you are creating a new structure in the body that puts pressure on the brain, nervous system, and lymphatic system because your fascia is stiff. With more and more people keeping their heads in a forward position as a result of being on their phones and computers, this is becoming more common and is impacting brain health and concussion recovery time. Essentially, because of fascia, your head position can affect how the brain communicates. And so, when there is stress being put on fibers, your proprioceptors will be off and your brain won’t be functioning at its best.

Concussion Treatment

Over the past year, Dr. Simone Fortier has been conducting neurotransmitter program research to look at the small group of people who suffer from concussions, yet see no improvements even after they’ve tried and done every treatment modality imaginable, from acupuncture to surgery. Dr. Simone Fortier explained that the reason for this stems from neurotransmitters and fascia. In cases where people have a concussion and are not seeing results, their brains are stuck in fight or flight mode, which means they’re not healing.
Dr. Simone Fortier’s concussion treatment protocol incorporates fascial stretch therapy to release fascia and create space in the fascia so that all systems in the body can operate optimally. This also has anti-aging benefits since fascia creates wrinkles and cellulite. Dr. Simone Fortier also created the FTI Brain Health Assessment to assess neurotransmitter deficiency in the brain, specifically for concussion and brain trauma recovery. This test can help determine what foods and supplements you may need to balance your brain.
As Dr. Simone Fortier informed us, nutrition is also an important factor when it comes to concussion treatment. The brain doesn’t like fasting and needs protein. It’s best to get the nutrients you need through food, but if your stress levels are high or you’re not getting enough nutrients through the food you eat because of your diet, soil depletion, or toxins in food, then you’re going to be deficient. This is incredibly important to consider especially now as we are all dealing with high levels of stress. For this reason, the FTI Brain Health assessment can also be a useful tool in preventing degenerative brain diseases, like dementia, It can also help athletes address neurotransmitter deficiencies that may be affecting training and muscle development.