About MRW®
What
is MRW®?
Myofascial Release in Water is a concept developed in 2013 by Tomasz Zagorski in cooperation with Marius Kurkowski, and it is the result of almost 20 years of exploration of different forms of manual and hydrotherapy. The principles of manual work were enriched with the benefits of water immersion of the body and together they create an extraordinary blend of stimulus aviable in a warm water pool or in cosmic space only.
Since warm water is more accessible, we decided to use this condition for both assessment and treatment. In assessment, we can see many more specific fascial patterns in the water, when postural muscle tone is significantly reduced, due to lack of gravity. For the same reason, we can access more easily certain layers of the tissue, and we can simply go deeper without causing discomfort or pain when applying treatment.
The structure of the soft tissue changes during warm water immersion due to the Autonomic Nervous Systems response to the conditions, and despite the knowledge from research used in creating our concept, there are still many questions we do not have answers to. We would like to invite you to explore this new world of fascial work with us! It is going to be productive and fun!
Body
in water
By stepping into the pool, we switch from gravity to buoyancy, and therefore, the body is in a completely different world in terms of force distribution inside the body. The tension that holds us in the gravity field, both in movement demands and even in resting pose, is not there anymore. Water with thermal comfort temperature (33-36 Celsius degrees), correct body support in a supine position, constant hydrostatic pressure and gentle passive movement by the therapist create optimal conditions for decreasing muscle tissue tone. The fascial structures do not have tension demand either, thus they tend to stay at their optimal length.
This unique situation gives the opportunity to see more details of the patterns seen on land as well as to reach to primary patterns more easily.
While moving in water, we deal with the viscosity-water resistance, which depends on the surface size and the speed of the movement. In passive movement, we can use this resistance to asses the quality of the movement and therefore confirm the patterns seen in stillness. Using the same property, we can change the assessment for treatment, especially that water gives us multidimensional direction possibilities.
Doing active movement in water, we can use Archimedes Law. The immersed body is off loaded and the structure has less impact compared to land movement, which has significant meaning while working in pain conditions. The quality of the work on fascia without anti-gravitational tension demand is different too.
Conditions
and equipment.
The key element is water temperature, which should be around the bodys comfort zone level (33-35 Celsius degrees). The depth of the pool varies from 100 to 140cm, depending on the therapists height. The size of the pool should be a minimum of 3 square meters-large jacuzzi.
The most important equipment is leg floats. We recommend Student`s Choice Floats Made in Poland. In open positions, we can use a traveler's head pillow for supporting the head and various devices for supporting the lumbar spine and pelvis, like popular noodles.
For more information about floatation devices, you can go HERE.
Acknowledgment
First of all, I wish to thank Marius Kurkowski for his energy and input for this work. Every great journey begins with the first step, and Marius encouraged me to take this step.
Secondly, I wish to express my gratitude to my teachers. Hundreds of students asking inspiring questions had a huge influence on the shape of the work. They constantly provoke critical thinking and thus influence research. It is impossible to list all of my teachers, despite my gratitude, but I will try to point out the most significant ones. Thank you Harold Dull for bringing me to the water. Thank you Tom Myers for giving me the answers to so many questions and giving me such an opportunity to grow. Thank you Dr. Robert Schleip for collecting such a database for fascia work and for valuable, specific practical tips. Thank you Willem Fourie for showing me how the little is the more. Thank you Prof Serge Gracovetsky for inspiring me to reverse thinking. Thank you prof Andry Vleeming for showing the value of research on practice. Special thanks to Jaap van der Wal, PhD, MD, who explained how it all started in such a beautiful way.
And I can not abandon my parents here. They gave me life. They raised me with curiosity about life and respect for values, supported me with my choices, and gave me the enormous amount of love I could share with others till my last breath. Thank you!