The Connective IssueThe Fascia Institute & Treatment Center Journal
A weekly report from the global pitch of fascia medicine — where research, hydration, and healing meet center field.
A Note from Dr. J
Two hundred and fifty years ago this weekend, a new republic declared itself into existence. In the anatomy theaters of the very same era, fascia was being scraped aside as packing material. This Independence Day, both are marking an anniversary.
Happy Fourth from all of us. Our cover story this Matchday traces fascia’s own 250-year arc — from the tissue early anatomists cut away and discarded, to what researchers now call the body’s largest sensory organ, with a fitting 250 million nerve endings. It’s a story about a science finally catching up to its subject, and it’s a good one to read with a cold drink in hand.
We’ve also got a marquee signing to announce — please welcome Dr. Rachel Turner, MD to the roster — an opening on our own team (we’re hiring a Front Office Coordinator), and a calm, practical Injury Report on the duloxetine recall for anyone managing pain with generic Cymbalta.
Fireworks optional. Hydration mandatory. Let’s kick off.
In This Issue
- 250 Years of Fascia: From Afterthought to Organ System Highlight Reel
- New Signing: Welcome Dr. Rachel Turner, MD Transfer News
- The Duloxetine Recall — What To Do If You Take It Injury Report
- Now Scouting: A Front Office Coordinator Squad News
- Catch the Replay & Book Your Visit Extra Time
250 Years of Fascia From afterthought to organ system.
As the United States marks its 250th year, the connective tissue that wraps every muscle, nerve, and organ has been on a 250-year arc of its own — from tissue the earliest anatomists discarded, to one of the most active frontiers in medicine.
In July 1776, a new republic declared itself into existence. In the anatomy theaters of the same era, a different kind of founding document was being written — not about nations, but about tissues. And for most of the 250 years that followed, one tissue kept getting left out of the story: fascia, the continuous, body-wide web that surrounds and connects every muscle, bone, nerve, and organ. Here is how a discarded film became a discipline.
A tissue with a name — but no respect
In Paris, anatomist Xavier Bichat publishes his Treatise on Membranes, arguing the body is a fabric of distinct tissues and that disease lives in them. It’s the birth of modern histology — yet fascia is still treated as mere scenery.
The first clinician to put fascia at the center
On the American frontier, Andrew Taylor Still founds osteopathy and builds a model of health around the connective web: it “sheathes, permeates, divides and subdivides every portion” of the body. Fascia moves from the discard pile to the treatment table.
Rolf, Travell, and hands-on practice
Ida Rolf calls fascia “the organ of posture” and develops Structural Integration. Janet Travell — later President Kennedy’s physician — maps the myofascial trigger point, laying the foundation for an entire field of pain medicine.
The book that built the field
Travell & Simons publish The Trigger Point Manual — the clinical bible establishing soft tissue as a primary source of pain. It’s later joined by Myers’ Anatomy Trains (2001), Schleip’s research volume (2012), and Stecco’s Functional Atlas (2015).
Fascia becomes a research field
The First International Fascia Research Congress convenes at Harvard Medical School, bringing basic scientists and clinicians into one room. Fascia stops being a fringe interest and becomes an organized, evidence-driven discipline.
From history to the treatment room
Diagnostic ultrasound now lets a clinician watch fascia glide — or fail to — in real time. Fascial Mapping® locates the planes driving pain, and Hydrofascia Release™ restores their glide at the source.
The through-line from Bichat’s candle-lit dissections to today’s ultrasound screen is a single idea, finally proven: the connective web is not scenery. It is a living, sensing, load-bearing system — and treating it well can change how a body feels and moves. A fitting milestone for a 250-year story.
Read the Full 250-Year History →Welcome to the Squad, Dr. Rachel Turner.
The Fascia Institute is growing — and our newest physician is one we’ve watched develop from the very start.
Dr. Rachel Turner, MD
Now welcoming new patients
A physician who leads with the whole picture
Family Medicine · Hypermobility, EDS & Fascia Care
Dr. Turner is a board-certified family medicine physician and Tulane-trained clinician who first trained under Dr. Jacques Courseault — and now joins him in New Orleans. Her training spans preventive medicine, women’s health, and sports medicine, with a focus on the complex, overlapping conditions that hypermobile and Ehlers-Danlos patients so often navigate alone.
Her academic path is unusually broad: a medical degree from Tulane, a family-medicine residency at HCA TriStar Southern Hills in Nashville, plus graduate study running from the molecular biology of connective tissue to the lived experience of the patient in the room. At the Institute she continues to train directly under Dr. Courseault in the practice’s signature tools — musculoskeletal ultrasound, Fascial Mapping®, and Hydrofascia Release™.
Beyond the clinic, service has shaped her career as much as science: in 2019 she co-founded The 15 White Coats®, a physician-led nonprofit that has generated more than $990,000 in charitable contributions and carried its outreach into over 10,000 classrooms worldwide. Whether you’re managing a hypermobility or EDS diagnosis, recovering from an injury, or simply looking for a primary-care physician who understands connective tissue, her door is now open in Metairie.
The Duloxetine Recall: what to do if you take it.
If you manage fibromyalgia, nerve pain, or chronic musculoskeletal pain with generic Cymbalta, here’s the calm, practical version — no panic required.
What happened. Certain lots of generic duloxetine delayed-release capsules have been voluntarily recalled after testing found N-nitroso-duloxetine — a “nitrosamine” impurity — above the FDA’s acceptable limit. The affected capsules were made by Towa and distributed in the U.S. under Breckenridge (and Quallent) labels. Multiple lots across the 20 mg, 30 mg, and 60 mg strengths have been pulled through 2025 and into 2026 — several hundred thousand bottles in all.
How worried to be. Less than the headlines suggest. This is a Class II recall — the FDA’s category for problems that are unlikely to cause serious harm. Nitrosamines may raise cancer risk only with exposure above acceptable levels over long periods; at or below the limit, no increased risk is expected. To date, no adverse events have been linked to this recall.
The bigger risk is stopping suddenly
Here is the part that matters most: duloxetine is an SNRI, and stopping it abruptly can trigger real discontinuation symptoms — dizziness, “brain zaps,” mood changes, flu-like feelings. The FDA’s own guidance is explicit: do not stop taking it without talking to your prescriber. The impurity is a long-term, statistical concern; a sudden withdrawal is an immediate, personal one.
Your four-step game plan
- Don’t stop on your own. Keep taking your medication until you’ve spoken with your prescriber or pharmacist.
- Check your bottle’s lot number against the FDA’s recall list — or simply bring the bottle to your pharmacist.
- Call your pharmacist. They can confirm whether your specific lot is affected and dispense an unaffected lot or a different manufacturer — usually a quick, routine swap.
- Talk to your provider if you’re worried about the cancer-risk question or want to review your options.
The fascia angle. Duloxetine is a first-line medication for fibromyalgia and chronic musculoskeletal pain — exactly the patients we see every day. It can be a genuinely useful part of a plan. But if pain persists despite the medication, it’s worth asking whether there’s a mechanical source the workup missed. That’s what Fascial Mapping® is built to find. For the full step-by-step, read our guide: the duloxetine recall — what patients should do next.
We’re Hiring: a Front Office Coordinator.
Every great squad needs a great first touch. Ours starts at the front desk — and we’re looking for the right person to own it.
As the practice grows, we’re adding a Front Office Coordinator at our New Orleans clinic in Metairie — the welcoming first point of contact for every patient who walks in or calls. Think scheduling and check-in, phones and follow-ups, insurance and intake paperwork, and keeping a busy clinic day running smoothly and warmly.
Who we’re looking for
Someone warm, organized, and calm under a full schedule, who genuinely likes making people feel cared for from the moment they arrive. Strong communication and attention to detail are a must; prior healthcare or front-office experience is a plus but not required. Full-time, on-site in Metairie, LA. Know someone perfect for it? Please pass this along.
Catch the Replay, then book your visit.
Whether something’s been quietly hurting or you just want to know how your body actually moves, the first step is the same: get it mapped.
New here? The fastest way to find what’s wrong is Fascial Mapping® — a high-resolution ultrasound diagnostic that watches your tissue while it moves and pinpoints exactly where the fascia is restricted, even when an MRI reads “clean.” From there, treatments like Hydrofascia Release™ restore the glide at the source.
Missed last week? Replay Vol. IV — a plain-English answer to “what is fascia?” plus what GLP-1s quietly do to your other medications. Or go back to Vol. I, the inaugural Fascia Cup Edition.