What is a fascia
The fascia is an anatomical structure – we can say a film made up of connective tissue. If someone buys, for example, a chicken breast, there is a thin white film that can be observed in the meat, and this is the fascia. Fasciae form the internal structure that supports muscles and our organs, and holds various tissues together, such as muscle and fatty tissue. If we were to imagine that our tissues were a wafer soaked in mass, then the fascia would be just a sticky mass – just stiff.
Their role in recent years is increasingly recognized and appreciated. For example, the fascia is an essential organ of communication between the cells of the body.
Fasciae are made of collagen and elastin fibers in such a way that, despite their rigidity and protective properties, they retain considerable mobility. The extraordinary strength of collagen is evidenced by the fact that a 1 mm thick collagen wire can support 10 kg.
If we measure the arm circumference in a 40 year old woman and a 60 year old woman, although it is the same (i.e. without more tissue), the older arm has a different shape. and looks wider and uglier. Why this happens is easy to explain when we start with the fact that the arm is something like a cylinder. In the middle we have a bone, muscles are attached around it, and then we have fatty tissue, fascia, and skin on top.
The main reason for the sagging of the arm is not its flaccidity, nor the excess fat tissue, loss of muscle tissue (because in more than 60 women who exercise, the arms also sag) , only atrophy, weakening of the fascia.