Active Release Technique or ART® is a patented, state-of-the-art soft tissue movement-based technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves.
In today’s world, we are far harder on our bodies than ever before, overusing our bodies on a daily basis and often causing Repetitive/Cumulative Strain Injuries. Athletes and office workers alike do repetitive motions all day long, and as our bodies try to keep up with this unrelenting pace, muscles, tendons, ligaments or even nerves can get damaged. When repairing these structures the body’s solution is to quickly produce scar tissue creating a patch job. This cheap grade tissue is often tough, dense and takes a long time to be replaced by tissue that looks, feels, and works normally.
Scar tissue acts a lot like glue, sticking structures together. This is good, as this ‘glue’ holds torn fibres together as they heal. This is not good when the process starts gluing other parts of your soft tissue together called “adhesions.”
What causes the pain?
Scar tissue or adhesions will form between fibres when a muscle or tendon gets injured, either traumatically by a tear or gradually with overuse. Scar tissue and adhesions bind and restrict tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue and adhesions build up, circulation is reduced, causing a decrease in oxygen and vital nutrients, yielding painful, inflamed tissues. Muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves become trapped causing numbness, tingling, and weakness. Because of this, the patient may experience decreased range of motion, decreased strength, and most often pain.
Who Can Benefit?
- Chronic neck or back pain
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Wrist/knee problems
- Frozen Shoulder pain
- Tennis/Golfer’s elbow
- Repetitive strain injury
- Rotator Cuff Syndrome
- Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
- Shin Splints
- IT Band Syndrome
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Hip pain
- Knee injuries
- Sports injuries
How Long Will it Take?
While every patient is different, you should notice a change after one visit. To resolve a “simple case,” a patient will need four – six visits. For a “complicated case,” a patient may need up to twelve visits.
Does It Hurt?
ART® is non-invasive, very safe, has virtually no side effects, and comes with an impressive success record. Some tissues are more sensitive than others. ART®is always performed with patient and tissue tolerance in mind and is often described as a good stretch. We will always work within the patient’s comfort level.