Interstitium

For those martial artists who have been following the fascia and internal power discussion through the years, there was a nice piece in the various international media about the discovery of a new "organ" last Tuesday - the interstitium.

The new organ is a thin layer of dense connective tissue throughout the body, sandwiched just under our skin and within the middle layer of every visceral organ. The organ also made up all the fascia, or the thin mesh of tissue separating every muscle and all the tissue around every vein and artery, from largest to smallest. What initially seemed to be a solid, dense, connective tissue layer was actually a complex network of fluid-filled cavities that are strong and flexible, yet so tiny that they escaped the attention of the brightest scientific minds for generations. (Actually the reason that they escaped the attention of these scientists was because putting connective tissue under slides drained and collapsed these cavities so they did not know they existed.) 

Although the scientific literature focuses mainly upon this being a possible medium for the metastasis of cancer cells and pathway for migration from one part of the body to another, there is some speculation that this may also be the medium for transmission of Qi and how accupuncture works. Master Chang, my qigong teacher in Taiwan has done a lot of work on how the fascia is related to Qi in the body and this, to an extent, provides additional support for his work. (More on this to follow in later posts). 

In addition, the intersitium may act as a shock absorber for the organs of the body. This would make sense to martial artists who have seen the benefits of hard neigong training such as "iron shirt" qigong which was believed to be a strengthening and thickening of the fascia. With this discovery perhaps we can speculate how the fluid nature of the interstitium maybe harnessed and brought under conscious control for example, how internal artists can redirect the energy of punches and disappate their force. 

Interestingly enough the Tom Myers, the author of "Anatomy Trains" who many internal artists cite as the basis for meridians and lines of force in martial arts was sanguine about the whole thing in his blog. His attitude was "we've been talking about this for 25 years and only now have you guys caught up?"

Anyhow welcome any comments from readers or any links to the forums for interesting discussion. I haven't been on Rum Soaked Fist for years so happy to let others set me in the right direction. 

Meet your Interstitium. A new-found "organ".