The fascial system is a continuous, three-dimensional web of connective tissue that runs throughout the entire body. It surrounds, supports, and interconnects every muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel, and organ. In other words, fascia is like the body’s internal “scaffolding” that provides structure while also allowing movement and communication between different systems.

Fascia is made primarily of collagen fibers, elastin, and a gel-like substance (ground substance) that keeps tissues hydrated and pliable. It exists in layers: superficial fascia (under the skin), deep fascia (around muscles, bones, and nerves), and visceral fascia (around organs).

Functions of the Fascial System

• Support & Stability: Provides a framework that helps maintain posture and body structure.

• Movement & Flexibility: Allows muscles and joints to glide smoothly. If fascia becomes tight or restricted, it can limit mobility.

• Force Transmission: Fascia helps distribute mechanical tension and force throughout the body—important in athletic performance and daily movement.

• Protection: Cushions and supports organs, nerves, and blood vessels.

• Communication: Research suggests fascia is richly innervated and may play a role in proprioception (body awareness) and even pain perception.

Healthy fascia is hydrated, elastic, and moves freely. Unhealthy fascia can become stiff, sticky, or form adhesions due to injury, poor posture, stress, or inactivity. This may lead to pain, reduced mobility, or chronic tension.

What differentiates RST from other modalities is the speed with which results occur and the involvement of the client in the stretches. Unique to RST are:

• Active client participation and involvement. Based on the concept that two people working and moving together can increase the power, effectiveness, speed and amount of tissue that can be changed at any one time. RST requires the client to move and stretch his/her own tissue with a Rossiter Stretching Coach’s help and guidance.
• A system wide approach to pain relief and well-being. RST encompasses a series of predictable, well-defined two-person techniques that are easy to teach and easy to learn. RST loosens and lengthens the entire system of tissue that feeds into the pain, no matter where it arises or presents.
• A focus on the cause of pain, not the symptoms of pain. Like many other complementary/alternative therapists, and unlike traditional medicine, RST zeroes in on the causes of pain, stress, tightness and related symptoms that arise when connective tissue becomes short, tight, traumatized or constricted inside the body

So much of the pain that people experience can come from held movement patterns or scar tissue from old injuries and that’s what Rossiter Stretching works on. This modality works from the inside out on the fascia, which is a body-wide system, and has the potential to relieve pain from a variety of sources, and to give long-lasting pain relief.

While massages are great for relaxation, and smoothing out muscle tension, Rossiter goes deeper, stretching and releasing fascia, the connective tissue that winds around your organs, muscles and bones. Rossiter uses active movement to stretch from the inside out, a unique technique that increases its effectiveness and delivers lasting results.

Each of these sessions are truly a workout! It's hard work and that is why it is so effective. The harder you work to stretch again the pin provided by your coach, the more you will get out of each session. It may be uncomfortable at times, but you are always in charge of the workout, so if it becomes too intense, then the coach will make adjustments.

The hands are more vulnerable than the feet, and they can wear out quickly as a practitioner. The foot however is powerful and strong, and a perfectly shaped tool that can add smooth and consistent weight to the client's body without making them feel the need to push back or resist. The warmth and weight of the foot also helps loosen connective tissue more quickly. 

Rossiter Stretching can give you fast pain relief however this is influenced by: how long the pain has been there, what caused it and what activities you do day-to-day amongst other things. Most clients see a difference or a change after the first couple of stretches. This may be a change in the pain levels, changing where they feel their pain, a change in mobility or just feeling different. As a coach, it is my role to ask you what you’re feeling which informs what stretches we do next. At all times it is the dialogue between coach and client that is the basis for the next stretch.