Enhance mobility and strength and treat problems related to musculoskeletal and nerve compression conditions.
What is Active Release Techniques®?
Active Release Techniques® (ART®) are patented, state of the art, movement-based manual techniques created to enhance the musculoskeletal system’s mobility and strength. Active Release Techniques® are effective therapy tools used to treat dysfunctions resulting from muscle imbalance caused by injuries to muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments, or nerves.
Overused muscles and repetitive stress – including poor posture, improper exercise form, athletic pursuits, and improper workplace ergonomics – increase tension in your body’s soft tissue. Repetitive strains, adhesions, low oxygen in tissue, and joint dysfunction can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue. This built-up scar tissue causes muscles to shorten and weaken, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves may become trapped or compressed, resulting in reduced range of motion, weakness, pain, tingling, or feeling numb.
The primary goal of Active Release Techniques® is to re-establish proper motion between your muscles and fascia, targeting the precise areas of scar tissue, while reducing fibrous adhesions.
This technique includes soft tissue strategic movements, massaging techniques, and muscle-specific stretches to help treat your injuries or problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves. Overuse injuries are by far the most frequently seen sports injuries.
Active Release Techniques® are also increasingly used for postoperative care to treat scar tissue developed during in healing.
How does it help patients?
Active Release Techniques® improves your overall performance with proper muscle movement and function as it:
- Reestablishes smooth movement of tissues
- Cleans out scar tissue and adhesions
- Improves range of motion
- Decompresses and releases trapped blood vessels or nerves
- Treats common sports injuries
- Overuse injuries
- Reduces pain and relieve headaches
- Treats joint conditions
- Effectively targets specific muscles for quicker results
What conditions does it treat?
Active Release Techniques® treat overuse and repetitive injuries to muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint dysfunction, and nerve compression injuries (i.e. sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome). Because most sports involve repetitive movement, muscle overuse can affect an athlete’s performance or enjoyment of their sport or activity.
Some of the more common problems and conditions successfully treated with Active Release Techniques® are:
- Limited range of motion
- Reduced muscle or joint strength
- Shortened muscles
- Trapped nerve (may lead to weakness, numbness, or tingling)
- Tendonitis
- Shoulder pain
- Tennis elbow
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Chronic neck and back pain
- Sciatica
- Chronic knee problems
- Shin splints
- Plantar fasciitis
- Recurrent episodes of disabling headaches
- TMJ disorder
How are Active Release Techniques® Performed?
Every Active Release Techniques® session combines an examination and treatment to target your injured soft tissue. We use our hands to evaluate the texture, tightness, and mobility of your soft tissue. Then we use our hands to apply pressure and physically work that tissue back to its normal texture, tension, and length while you control the movement of your muscles through their range of motion.
This allows us to feel the structure while it moves under our contact and enables muscles to be treated while they are working, resulting in smoother, healthier tissue relatively quickly. Active Release may be used as as single therapy or in combination with Chiropractic Care, Physical Therapy or other soft tissue techniques like Graston Technique.