I could just tell you that cellulite can be treated through a massage technique called skin rolling (not to be confused with the self massage technique of foam rolling) but that would be no fun. I prefer that my clients understand the physiology of their bodies because knowledge brings awareness and awareness hopefully brings change.

So what is cellulite? To find out it is necessary to understand the organization of your skin from the epidermis down to your muscle. Your epidermis is the most superficial layer of skin and it is where cellulite expresses itself. An easy description is that it is dimpled like the skin of an orange.

The cause is more than skin deep though. To get to the source of the problem you must go below the epidermis to the dermis and hypodermis which contains the adipose (fat) layer. Crisscrossing through these layers is a protein called collagen. Fittingly, collagen comes from the Greek kólla meaning “glue” for it holds the body together. It is the most abundant protein in the body accounting for up to 35% of the total amount. Collagen is what anchors the muscles to the layers of tissue above (hypodermis, epidermis, dermis). So it is the makeup and tension of the collagen that ultimately determines cellulite formation. If collagen fibers can’t accommodate for the difference in sizes of and storage places for fat cells you will get cellulite.

How does one improve the makeup of their collagen then? Well, as I’ve already said above, massage may help, but if all you’re getting is massage to smooth out your skin you’re probably receiving a treatment that is not long term (unless for the long term you want to keep paying for massages which is fine by me). There are at least three other factors that go into toning your collagen. The first deals with the adipose. It is no mystery that in women fat is generally stored in the hips and legs which is generally where cellulite expresses itself. Within the fat are stored toxins which your liver is unable to neutralize or remove. This needs to be worked out which means that you both need to burn the fat away and be able to circulate the toxins out of the body. To be brief, I would suggest interval training which maximizes both the circulatory power (nutrient depositing and waste extracting) of aerobic exercise and the fat burning power of high intensity, anaerobic (lactic acid producing)exercise.

Secondly, we come to diet and consumption of toxins. To put it simply, an essential building block of good collagen is vitamin C. This can be found in fresh fruit and vegetables as well as supplements. Ingesting enough vitamin C throughout your life will keep your skin looking healthier with fewer wrinkles and feeling more supple. You can’t often go wrong with fresh foods but if you are so inclined to store your food for long periods of time use glass or stainless steel containers. Plastic can off gas or leech dangerous toxins or chemicals into your food, which may ultimately be stored in your adipose. If you must eat or drink from a plastic container, at least make sure that it has been stored in a cool location. Heat will greatly increase the level of off gassing.

Thirdly, and where I come in, the technique of skin rolling is effective for smoothing out cellulite. It may not be comfortable. As I have described in a previous blog  massage is meant to melt away, (or tear apart depending on how you want to think of it) those areas of tightness that afflict you. The intention is to bring healthier movement and viscosity into tissues that are supposed to slide over one another with as little friction as possible for optimal movement. This is what skin rolling does. It takes the collagen infused connective tissue that runs through every part of your body and re-liquefies it through a process called thixotrophy. Thus, it will stretch out and reform the collagen fibers that have anchored to your muscles through your adipose to your epidermis, bringing better tone to the overlying skin. to try your session of skin rolling.