Fascia, Function, and Medical Applications

Fascia is the biodynamic tissue that connects every muscle, bone, organ, and nerve in the body; it is an emerging field in healthcare and allied health modalities. Following its predecessor, the second edition is essential reading for medical and allied health practitioners who want to bring scientific insights of the importance of fascia to human health into their clinical practices. It contains contributions from a team of top researchers and expert practitioners, including physicians, clinicians, therapists, dissectors, and surgeons. Illustrated in full color throughout, this book presents a vital update to the first edition to include the most up-to-date science and practical applications, written by the experts themselves. It provides insight and explanations for problems, including chronic low back pain, frozen shoulder, post-partum issues, chronic inflammation, and other symptoms that may not respond to more conventional treatments. It gives healthcare practitioners information they need to make better decisions to improve the health of patients, often without pharmaceuticals or surgeries.

David Lesondak, BCSI, ATSI, FST, FFT, VMT is an Allied Health Member in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), where he is the Senior Structural Integrator and Fascia Specialist at UPMC’s Center for Integrative Medicine. David specializes in helping people resolve chronic pain, improve physical function, and restore resilience.

David is the author of the international best seller Fascia: What it is and Why it Matters, currently in 11 languages. The first edition of his follow up book, as editor, Fascia, Function, and Medical Applications was nominated for a 2021 British Medical Association. He has contributed chapters to the 2nd Edition of Fascia: The Tensional Network of the Human Body, and the 2^nd edition of Metabolic Therapies In Orthopedics.

His podcast, BodyTalk with David Lesondak, is listened to in 42 countries and is in the Top 10% for Most Shared Shows on Spotify.

A gifted and inspired speaker of all things fascia, David has been an invited speaker and workshop facilitator to such diverse groups as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on Myofascial Pain, the Academic Consortium of Integrative Medicine, the LA Clippers, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Australian, British, and Polish Fascia Symposiums, the World Fascia Congress, the International Fascia Research Congress, the Anatomy Trains Master Class Series, the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and many others.

Before entering the healthcare field, David’s various career incarnations were in television, advertising, and the funeral arts. Including over a decade-long stint as a DJ on WYEP-FM in Pittsburgh. He maintains an avid interest in music and can sometimes be heard at Pittsburgh’s singer/songwriter Open Mic scene.

www.davidlesondak.com

Dr. Angeli Maun Akey, MD, FACP, ABIHM, ABOIM, ABAARM, IFMCP

Dr. Akey is board-certified in internal medicine, integrative and holistic medicine, anti-aging regenerative medicine, and has completed additional training in functional medicine. In clinical practice for over 30 years, she is the founding medical director of North Florida Integrative Medicine, Ageless Medical Solutions, and the Palm Beach Institute of Preventive Medicine. Her interests in other healing traditions have led her to teach at the Florida School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Currently she specializes in early-stage detection, delay, and reversal of chronic diseases.

Dr. Akey’s undergraduate experience was at the University of Florida (UF), where she was accepted on six academic scholarships and a vocal performance music scholarship. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and is a member of the UF Hall of Fame. Also of note is that she was the youngest person ever admitted to the University of Florida’s College of Medicine in the Junior Honors Medical Program, where she was accepted to Alpha Omega Alpha and graduated with high honors. Dr. Akey did her internal medicine residency, served as a chief resident and taught as assistant clinical professor at Yale University.

She mentors medical students and pre-health care professionals and medical students in the FIRRIMup ( Functional, Integrative, Regenerative, Restorative, Internal Medicine) model. An approach to navigating and solving complex medical problems, and promoting whole-person wellness, the FIRRIMup model is described in detail in Dr. Akey’s book Fine-Tune Your Hormone Symphony. She is also the co-founder of an on-line teaching website, www.firimmupDoctors.com, which teaches this model. She is author of Fine-Tune Your Immune System, and co-author of Kick COVID-19 to the Curb. A much sought-after speaker at home and abroad, she has taught and presented on the FIRRIMup model in Brazil, the Carribean, Poland, Spain, Italy, France, and the USA. She lives with her family in her hometown of Gainesville, Florida, USA.