Connective tissue has the ability to change state, depending on its level of energy and activity. This property, called thixotropy means that the fascia can move from a gel-like state to a liquid-like state and back. Just like Jell-O, fascia becomes more fluid when it's warmer and more gelled when it's cooler or more static. In fact, the gelatin in Jell-O is rendered animal protein and comes from exactly the same kinds of tissues as our own connective tissue matrix.

It's easy to feel this in your own body when exercising. When you first start your workout, you may feel stiff and tight, but as you warm up, you notice greater ease and comfort. Your fascia is moving from a gel to a liquid state during the warm-up.

The same thing happens when you receive massage. But instead of your own movement raising the energy in your tissues, the therapist's hands add heat, energy, and motion to the fascia. And their specific hand placement can free and mobilize places that exercise may not be able to get to.

Collagen is the basic building block of fascia. It's not a living cell, but a long protein molecule that forms sheets, ligaments, tendons, the covering of bones (called periosteum), and the framework for the minerals that form cartilage and bone. These fibers are made by a special kind of cell called a fibroblast. Fibroblasts can travel anywhere in the body that they're needed (for example, to repair a cut or a broken bone). Once collagen fibers are formed, they're directed by the body to organize into the appropriate structural formula, and they build this tissue by gluing to each other with molecular hydrogen bonds. The good news is that hydrogen bonding causes collagen to build along lines of tension, making tendons and ligaments stronger. When you lift weights or begin a running program, you're not only building joints, bones, and muscles, you're increasing the tension in the connective tissue, which makes it stronger, too. That's why it's important to gradually increase your workout level. You'll avoid injury by giving your muscles, bones, and connective tissues a chance to respond to the challenge. The bad news is that collagen fibers also build hydrogen bonds when there are abnormal lines of tension.

When you have poor posture or poor biomechanical patterns, you'll develop a buildup of collagen that eventually holds you in those places. The hydrogen bonds glue your collagen to the point where you can't stretch or exercise out of the pattern. Inactivity also causes collagen to glue together.  Anyone who's been casted for a bone fracture knows that the hardest part of recovery is getting back range of motion in joints kept immobile for the six weeks it takes the bone to heal.  This extreme stiffness is hydrogen bonds at work on the fascia in and around the joints. Structural Integration relies on specific techniques designed to soften and organize the connective tissue matrix.