Jean-Claude Guimberteau’s findings,
Jean-Claude Guimberteau has transformed our way of seeing “connective tissue” with a great idea: to explore the subcutaneous tissue using an endoscope equipped with a high-definition camera allowing high magnification. It is truly amazing to see what he has discovered using this very simple approach. Of course, he first had to integrate this method of exploration into his routine surgical procedure. Then, once he had mastered this technique, what a pleasure, what joy to discover entirely new and hitherto unseen, structures and functions of living tissue.
Jean-Claude Guimberteau’s key discovery is the structure of connective tissue as a “pre-stressed network”, which explains perfectly its role as an elastic link between the organs. This elasticity is due to the “filling of anatomical spaces» with polyhedral microvacuoles which contain a liquid that is under pressure. It explains how structures are able to return to their initial form as soon as mechanical constraint ceases. This is the observable evidence of tensegrity, another new science, which is found in many natural structures, but also in man-made structures such as reinforced concrete. The structure of the fibers in this network appear to be tubular as one can see bubbles moving inside them. As for the organization of this network, it is “fractal” and appears to be chaotic, but it is in fact perfectly structured, unlike true chaos.
The role of connective tissue, previously neglected, I would even say treated with disdain, takes on renewed importance, thanks to the new concepts arising from the work of Jean-Claude Guimberteau. Connective tissue is life: a flexible and taut skin is a sign of vitality and youth, for its healthy function depends on the underlying connective tissue.
Christopher Columbus gave us access to new continents. Jean- Claude Guimberteau has discovered a new world in the connective tissue.
Dr. Adalbert I. Kapandji August 2014

It might seem that the anatomy of the human body is well established. Countless anatomy books testify to our incredibly detailed knowledge of the structural design of the living organism, worked out by centuries of careful anatomical observation, to the point that we might suspect that there is little remaining to be discovered. Dr. Guimberteau shatters that myth and takes us on an unbelievably exciting voyage into a new and uncharted world. His exploration is an adventure as thrilling as any experienced by the great explorers of new continents, the depths of oceans, or other territories never seen before by humans. Here, new worlds are discovered, worlds never visited before and never even dreamt of. For those who work with living tissue, as scientists or therapists, Dr. Guimberteau has provided us with a rich and exciting expedition of discovery, filled with new information for us to absorb and evaluate and use to redefine our previously limited pictures of what is happening within us.
Dr. Guimberteau’s new world is nothing like that seen in cells and tissues dissected from the body, interesting and valuable though they may be. Instead, it is a very close look at what is actually happening under the skin of living breathing human beings.
Never before has this profound discovery been so beautifully documented.
Jim OSCHMAN 2015

The first glimpse of Dr Jean-Claude Guimberteau’s unique imagery of living fascia at work in the body strikes the viewer as unbelievable. My first sight of it was probably 10 years ago. I thought there must be some trick or joke here – this cannot be the reality of tissue. But the unbelievable, when it is right in front of one’s eyes, requires a shift of fundamental premises. As a result of studying these films, my ideas have changed, my teaching has changed, and my touch – already honed from 30 years of manual therapy practice – was compelled to change as well.

When I comprehended the fluidity and adaptive nature of what Guimberteau calls the ‘sliding system’, I stopped trying to ’ stretch’ fibrous tissue and was able to use my touch in a much more gentle manner, along very precise planes, to persuade adhesions to loosen and to promote healthy movement in the tissues. Structurally-oriented therapists are not stretching mechanical ropes, wires, and fabric as if tuning the rigging of a sailing ship. In the light of Guimberteau’s audacious exploration, we can now see that we are really altering the sol/gel state of the mucopolysaccharides, and thus the ‘flow’ of interstitial fluids, neural messages, and mechanical forces in the living matrix of tissue. To touch the surface is to stir the depths (Juhan).
To journey into the living body with Dr Guimberteau is to wonder at a previously inert tissue come to dynamic life. Seeing the poetry of the dewy strings with shifting attachments and bubbly membranes is to understand anew how the body deals with movement – specifically with when to slide and when not.

Our traditional way of parsing the cadaver in anatomy has been tremendously useful, of course, but it has obscured our knowledge of what’s between things, as ‘between things’ is exactly where we slipped our scalpel to reveal more defined structures. But between more durable structures is also precisely where the movement happens, so our fundamental misunderstanding of movement has persisted until Guimberteau showed us the simple but startling reality.
Through Guimberteau’s images and research, we now see a bodywide continuity of biomechanical response, far more fluid, chaotic, and self-organizing than we have previously conceived. Future generations will say ‘Of course’, dismiss our mechanical model as quaint, and build on his pioneering insights. But I am glad to have been of this generation, and to have been shocked, humbled, delighted, and finally changed by the arresting and important images Dr Guimberteau brings back from his journey to see for himself.
Tom MYERS Anatomy Trains 2015

Dr Guimberteau is the first person to film living human tissue through an endoscope in an attempt to understand the organisation of living matter. He has developed his own concept of the multifibrillar structural organisation of the body, of which the microvacuole is the basic functional unit. He has also developed a concept of global dynamics and continuous matter.
His films confirm the continuity of fibres throughout the body and show how adjacent structures can move independently in different directions and at different speeds while maintaining the stability of the surrounding tissues. This role is carried out by what he calls the “Microvacuolar Collagenic Absorbing System”
He has opened a window into a strange world of fibrillar chaos and unpredictable behaviour, and has revealed the morphodynamic nature of the fibrils that constitute the connective tissue, as well as the fractal, non-linear behaviour of these fibrils.
His work ties in with that of Donald Ingber on tensegrity within the cytoskeleton, and the links between the cytoskeleton and the Extra Cellular Matrix as described by James Oschman.

Reference : The architecture and spatial organization of the living human body as revealed by intratissular endoscopy. An osteopathic perspective. Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies 24 (2020) 138e146

An animated video about fascia