Our guest today is Sue Hitzmann, bestselling author and creator of the MELT Method – a unique system for eliminating chronic pain and revitalizing the body.  Sue was working as a fitness instructor when she experienced chronic pain. This led her on a path to discovering the importance of the connective tissue for pain free movement.

Sue has developed ways to rehabilitate the connective tissue and help ease the lives of thousands suffering from chronic pain. In the MELT Method she teaches people how to become aware and reconnect to their bodies as well as rehydrate their connective tissue.

In this talk you will learn:

• The role of connective tissue or fascia in pain free movement


• How dehydrated fascia can cause daily pain and stiffness


• How simple it can be to address this using the MELT Method


• How to restore  fluidity in your connective tissues

MELT Method Q1: Do You get Enough Water in Your Fascia?

The connective tissue is essentially the layer called the fascia or myofascial layer. It is a 3 dimensional fluid based matrix connecting your skin to the muscles. It is primarily made of collagen and other proteins.

What science started to recently recognize is that sedentary lifestyles cause cellular dehydration. If you ever found yourself sitting in one position for a long time, you’d probably remember how you felt a little stiff when you got up.  If you think of connective tissue as a river, prolonged sitting causes the sediment build up, eventually resulting in pain.

If we ignore fascia dehydration for a long time this has a direct effect on our nervous system as nerve cells live in fascia. As a result we start receiving the wrong messages from our nervous system. For example you may feel tired in the middle of the day or having difficulty falling asleep at night. According to Sue Hitzmann, this in turn can lead on to depression, slow metabolism and all kinds of complaints which on the surface have nothing to do with your connective tissues.

This explains why sometimes neuromuscular treatments don’t work or have only short term effects – they are not addressing the root of the problem – dehydrated connective tissue and accumulated stress in your body.

Stress & Accelerated Ageing

Our bodies have their own amazing autopilot repair system which is part of the autonomic nervous system.  When we continuously accumulate stress, however, we sabotage the work of our autopilot. The MELT Method allows you to go deep into your body tissues and physically assist your autopilot to quiet down the stress reflex and boost our natural repair mechanisms.

“If you let stress accumulate from day to day – you are accelerating ageing.”

Due to dehydration the connective tissue not only becomes stiff – it also becomes thickened.  It resembles a thick, dry sponge that’s not allowing tissues and joints to move around freely. One exciting study done on people experiencing lower back pain shows they all experience stiff, thickened fascia. Fascia thickness was reduced by 30% by simply practicing the MELT Method over a four week period of time. People also experienced increased flexibility and significant decrease in pain sensation.

The MELT Method is designed to increase the fluid flow in areas of your connective tissue that are dried out or compressed. Using the MELT Method you don’t stimulate the parts of the body that are already in pain. For example if you have a lower back pain you would instead stimulate the hydration flow in your legs or upper back in the direction to your lower back pain.

A metaphor to explain this protocol is the flow of water in a bath tub. If you look at your body as a tub full of water and you start moving your hands in one direction inside the tub, when you take your hands out of the water it will continue moving in the same direction. The same forces apply to the flow in your fascia.

Drink More Water But…

When we speak of dehydration we must also mention adding more water to our bodies. It is very important to understand that drinking a full glass of water in the morning and then not drinking anything for 2-3h is not a healthy habit to have. Instead – Sue recommends sipping water thorough the day.

Regularly drinking water however is only a supporting instrument for your hydrating the fascia. Again, think of fascia as a sponge. When you have a very dry sponge and you try to water it, the not all water soaks in immediately. Instead you need to use your hands, squeeze it a little to help the water go inside, and now the sponge (or your fascia in this case) is ready to absorb water from the foods and beverages we consume.

Facia that is dehydrated, stiff & thickened is a hugely overlooked cause of pain. The MELT Method is a very gentle and easy to use way to get pain relief and re-mobilise your body.

To learn more about Sue’s work visit her website: www.MeltMethod.com