John Sinclair is an experienced sport and training management professional with a bachelors degree in physical education and sport performance, 15 certifications, and 20+ years of coaching experience. He has authored articles, created a programming algorithm, and is a programming consultant. His other achievements include inventing, being a master coach and educator for 7 different companies in the fitness industry, competing and training in 11 different sports, and coaching amateur hockey and baseball. 

I'm passionate about helping others. I've worked in design, web development, and marketing. All of those experiences have been an important part of my career journey.

I'm learning to love running. I'm a new Track & Field fan, a die-hard hockey fan, and I truly believe there's nothing a trip to the beach can't fix.

What is osteofascial technique? Osteofascial technique or OFT refers to osteo meaning bone and fascia being the organ of support. It is the tissue that wraps around all your muscles and the coverings of bones. It also converges and becomes ligament and tendon. And so that fascia that we're talking about is a huge sensory organ and it receives tons of information through friction, pressure and through circulation or driving water into it. So what we do is we use osteofascial technique by using pressure and friction in a very slow, subtle way to drive pressures and to drive fluids to particular areas. And those particular areas are where the connective tissues meet the bone. So unlike self myofascial release, where myofascia refers to the fascia covering and the muscle, this is the fascial covering and the bone. So the technique really is about, as I like to call it, rubbing and scrubbing of the bony tissue. And so when we go to the, if we think of fascia as being layers that are just beneath the skin, if we think of the layers that go deeper to that, to the muscles and the ligaments and the tendons that are under and around the joints, and then as they go even deeper and deeper, we get to the bone. And so the sites of which we do the rub and scrub massage technique is at key bony landmarks. And these bony landmarks, when we drive water to them, create lift in a joint, and that allows us to be able to move a little bit better. So osteofascial technique was brought to us by the brilliant Ian O'Dwyer. I suggest you go on our strength channel and look up Ian, because he is a brilliant man. He's a mentor of mine, and he's the founder of osteofascial technique.

Osteo fascial technique is a massage therapy treatment that uses pressure and friction to drive fluids to key bony landmarks. It was created by Ian O'Dwyer, who is a mentor of mine.

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How is Osteofascial Technique different from other massage techniques?

So how is osteofascial technique different than other massage techniques? Well, it might be more around the location that you're doing it. So typically a massage is usually done of the skin and the muscular tissue beneath the skin, but we forget that all the muscle is wrapped around by connective tissue, and that connective tissue is known as fascia. So what we do with osteofascial technique, though, is we're going to use a foam roller, and we're going to go to some prominent joints of where connective tissues attach and then continue. It's continuity and where it falls. So I'm going to go to my sacrum. Now, it's very rare that you would go in and get a massage of your sacrum or your lumbar spine. You'd kind of go around on the muscles around it. And what we're going to do is we're going to create a little bit of friction and a little bit of heat by driving and using movement against this foam roller so the foam roller doesn't move, but I slowly glide across that or translate across it, and as such I'm creating some heat. As I create heat, I'm driving lots of fluid to this connective tissue. So the benefit really here is that it's a simple thing that somebody can do. It's something you can do for yourself, and it's not something that it's kind of hard to do massage of your own body. This is a great way in which we do it. So what we would do is we would just create that friction for anywhere from 20 to 60 seconds, and then I might try a movement and see if that helped liberate some motion in that particular joint. Then I pick another bony spot. So find a part where it feels like it's really bony. I pin that against the wall, and I create that slow, subtle friction against that. And there you have osteofascial technique.

Osteo fascial technique is a massage technique that uses a foam roller to create friction and heat on prominent joints and connective tissue. This helps to liberate motion in the joint, it is a simple technique that someone can do for themselves.

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How does Osteofascial Technique help improve muscle tension?

How does osteo fashion technique help improve muscle tension? Well, this is a great question because what's really cool about osteo fascial technique is that when we unwind tension at the anchor points of a muscle. So if we think of where a tendon attaches to a bone, we get what seems to be a reflexive relaxation that is happening at the level of the muscle. So if you have a tight hamstring for example, so you lay on your back and you lift your leg up and you feel tension in that hamstring, you have to ask yourself, is that muscle tight or is it taut  if it's tight? We could go to the attachment point of where the hamstring inserts into the ilium of the pelvis and into the Ischium  the pelvis and we can do a soft scrub across that tissue. Then what we would do is we would lay on your back again and and or just in a standing position, bend over and reach and touch your toes. And what you should feel is you should feel more elasticity and or extensible itty in that tissue, depending on if you are tight or if you are taught. So the goal here of osteo fashion technique really is about increasing circulation to tissue, which will drive better communication back to the nervous system. The nervous system will send information back down to the muscle turning down the amount of activity that is going to that muscle and allow for us to create a more balanced extensible itty in the tissue. So if we have one side of the body, that's maybe tighter than the other, this is a great strategy that doesn't cause any pain or discomfort that helps alleviate some of that communication that is going back to the brain, saying that there could be a bit of a threat here, and it allows us to create that extensive bility that we need and create balance in our tissues and joints.

Osteo fascial technique helps improve muscle tension by improving circulation to the tissue, allowing the nervous system to send messages back to relax the muscle and create more balance in the tissue.

How quickly can you expect results from Osteofascial Technique?

How quick and effective osteofascial technique is, I'm gonna show you right here. So here's what I'd like you to do. We're just going to do a little squat. So stand up with me, do a few squats. Okay, and I want you to sense what that feels like in your knee. I'm gonna give you an osteofascial technique or strategy for the knee joint itself. So knee, joint comprised of bones, the femur, the tibia, and the fibula. We're gonna take your hands, and we're gonna create a little bit of pressure against that knee, kind of like Mr. Miyagi did in Karate Kid. You're gonna go over right on that tubercle on the front of the knee, scrub the side of that knee, get right on that patella. Once you start feeling some heat in there, I want you to go ahead and retry your squat just on that side, and I guarantee you're gonna move a little bit further and a little bit with better quality of motion at that one particular knee. That's how quick and effective this strategy is.

Osteo fascial technique is a quick and effective strategy for improving knee joint mobility. To practice it, stand up and do a few squats, then use your hands to apply pressure to the knee joint, focusing on the tubercle, sides and patella. Once you start feeling some heat, try the squat again and you should be able to move further with better quality of motion.

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How often should Osteofascial Technique be practiced?

How often should osteofacial technique be practiced? Well, I use osteofacial technique in every single training session that I do myself, as with all the clients that I work with. So regardless of what your sport is or what your activities are, what you do throughout the day, it's one of those things that I use as preparation for physical movement. So one of the things that I'll do is, and in addition to that, this is my morning routine. So I get up, I bring the foam roller out, I pin the front of my hip on that foam roller, and I just slowly drag across that bone. And so as I'm doing these osteofacial techniques, I'll trace around all the bony spots in and around the pelvis, and then I will go through what we call a mobilizer, a slow, subtle stretch that's more of a stretch for the fascia rather than the muscle. We'll go through those mobilizers, and I'll show you one here in a minute, of how I might create some extensibility in the tissues after being stagnant and being in bed for eight hours. So there would be an osteofacial technique. I scrub that bone right there called the ASIS, the anterior superior iliac spine, which is one of the attachment points of the IT band. So from there, then I just take it through a wee little subtle stretch. I'll find my end range, and I just add a little elastic component to it. Then I'll add a little bit of a side flexion at the trunk. Then I'll add a little bit of rotation to mobilize it. So the osteofacial technique, usually is accompanied by a mobilizer right after that to help create extensibility around those tissues. And I use that before every movement and before every training session, and that becomes part of our preparatory program.

Osteo fascial technique should be practiced as part of a daily routine to prepare for physical activity. This can include foam rolling, pinning the front of the hip onto the foam roller and slowly dragging over bony spots. Mobilizers, which are slow and subtle stretches, can also be done after being stagnant for 8 hours or so. Fascial techniques such as scrubbing the ASI (anterior superior iliac spine) can also be done, followed by immobilizers. All of these techniques should be done before any movement/training session.

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How should a person prepare for an Osteofascial Technique session?

How should a person prepare for an osteofacial technique session? So I use osteofacial technique as part of my local circulation for particular joints based on the activities that we're going to do or the tasks that we're going to do on that given day. So if we're stressing the upper body, we're going to go do some osteofacial technique on all the bones of the upper body, the rib cage, the sternum, the collarbone, the back of the head, the elbows, the wrists. We're going to go to some of those key anchor points to make sure that we're creating a lot of space and the joints have the capacity to be able to move in their instantaneous optimal axis of rotation. So the only preparation you need is maybe a foam roller and your hands. If you have the use of your hands, it's a great way to start doing an osteofacial technique session. So we use it in preparation. So if I'm training my lower body, I'm going to go around the core. So we're going to go around the lumbopelvic hip complex. We're going to go around the knees. We're going to go around the foot and the ankle. And wherever you find a bone, all you need to do is just give a slow, subtle scrub, create some pressure and some friction to drive water to that tissue. It's the best way that you can prepare some local circulation for key joints that are going to be targeted in that training session.

To prepare for an Osteo fascial technique session, use a foam roller and your hands to give a slow scrub around the bones of the body. This will create pressure and friction to drive water to the tissue and help with local circulation.

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Can you share an example of someone you introduced Osteofascial technique to?

Someone that I've introduced osteofascial technique to recently was a young soccer player in Spokane, Washington. I did a virtual call with him, which is one of the ways in which I coach people is virtually. We did a virtual call for him because he was getting low back pain. And the cause of his low back pain was an avulsion fracture that he had at his pelvis. So his ASIS, his hip flexor and tissues were pulling so hard on the ASIS, it created an avulsion fracture. And so what we decided to do was introduce him to some strategies that he might be able to do to prepare the connective tissues and balance out the pelvis so he has less stress going through his lumbosacral area. And so when we go do osteofascial technique to these bony prominences in the body that have key intersections of connective tissue, what that does is that helps create a neutral position or at least an optimal position for all the joints to start working from. So if you sleep on your side and you got one leg crossed over for eight hours and then you get up and you decide you got to go eat breakfast real quick and get to the field to start training for soccer, that's going to be a challenge because I guarantee you you are dehydrated and those joints weren't in their optimal position. So this allows us to teach him how to normalize his pelvic position and as such, he hasn't had any back pain since. So I showed him an osteofascial program that he could follow. I sent him one and that was a really simple fix for him to be able to self-manage his own situation and to be able to get out onto the field without any pain. So big plus and it's a big prop to the effectiveness of osteofascial technique.

I recently introduced Osteo fascial technique to a young soccer player in Spokane Washington who was experiencing low back pain due to an avulsion fracture. We did a virtual call, and I taught him some strategies to help balance out his pelvis and reduce the stress going through the lumbosacral area. He has not had any back pain since, which is a testament to the effectiveness of Osteo fascial technique.

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OFT is an essential component of preparing tissues and joints for optimal motion. Developed by my mentor Ian “OD” O’Dwyer  from Australia, OFT delivers fluids to anchor points of connective tissue - the skin, fascia and bony connective tissue. Check out all the unique ways we can “Rub and Scrub” as a smart strategy to enhance movement for all.