What are Active Release Techniques?

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Active Release Techniques (ART) is a patented system of massage techniques designed to relieve pain by improving the mobility of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. By manipulating these soft tissues, a certified ART practitioner can treat issues ranging from headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome, to back pain, knee problems, and tennis elbow. These conditions often share one common problem: They are the result of overused muscles.

 

How does an Overuse Condition Occur?

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Overuse conditions primarily occur in three ways: When we suffer an acute injury (from a pull, tear, or collision). When our bodies are subjected to repeated tears to the same soft tissues (referred to as micro-trauma). Or, when our muscles fail to get enough oxygen during intense exercise (a condition known as hypoxia). In response to these overuse issues your body produces tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, and lose range of motion. Tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can result in pain and a loss of strength at the affected area, or tingling, numbness, and weakness from an entrapped nerve.

 

What is an ART Treatment Like?

 

Every ART session is a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

 

ART is not a cookie-cutter approach. The treatment protocols — over 500 specific moves — are unique to ART, and allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that are affecting each individual patient.