Active Release Technique

Soft Tissue Injury Care & Treatment

Active Release Techniques (A.R.T.) is an advanced method of treating damage to soft tissues. Active Release Techniques (A.R.T.) was developed and patented by Dr. Mike Leahy, a Chiropractor and Aeronautical Engineer. This treatment is based on scientific evidence that muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels develop scar tissue following an injury sustained by trauma (ex: sprains, strains), repetitive motion (ex: typing, sitting at a desk, throwing a baseball) and exercise. This scar tissue can cause muscles and joints to have altered movement resulting in a variety of symptoms including pain, decreased range of motion, weakness, and numbness or tingling.

An auto accident, or a traumatic injury

An auto accident, or a traumatic injury, can cause immediate pain and major damage to the soft tissues in the body. When this happens, the body needs corrective assistance (in the form of adjustments, physical therapy, proper stretches, and exercises) to make sure your body heals correctly, and the muscles, tendons, and ligaments are restored to normal flexibility and function.

Soft tissue injuries, while common from auto accidents and sports injuries, can also develop from excessive or repetitive use in various sports and occupations. For example, prolonged sitting, without proper movement and stretching, can cause muscles and ligaments to shorten, leading to strains and imbalances in the muscles of the hips. Over time, strains develop into micro-trauma, which is small-scale damage to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules in response to the stress. High impact movements, such as movements in golf, tennis, and baseball can with repetition create micro-trauma as well.

As your body tries to heal micro-trauma strains and injuries, your body will create new tissue to repair the damaged tissue. This is a normal, and necessary, part of healing. Bodybuilders are masters of allowing this process to build, strengthen, and shape their muscles. The problem ensues when scar tissue adhesions develop from the repeated damage to, tearing of, and rebuilding of the muscles. Scar tissue adhesions will affect the health and function of the muscles and related joints, the symptoms of which include: pain, tightness, stiffness, diminished blood flow, and limited or restrictive joint movement. When muscles become tight and adhesions start to develop, the nerves can become “stuck” on the surrounding muscles, causing the nerves to be stretched instead of easily sliding against the movement of the muscles. This causes the nerves to become irritated, which in turn results in pain. Over time, if not corrected, this will get worse.

Treating Soft Tissue Injuries

Traditionally, soft tissue injuries have been treated with muscles relaxants, anti-inflammatory medications, rest, heat, ice, ultrasound, traction, massage, acupuncture, joint manipulation, stretching, and strengthening exercises. Often, these approaches will only provide temporary relief because they fail to deal with the underlying cause — scar tissue adhesions. Passive approaches, such as muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory medications, rest, ice, ultrasound, and acupuncture, all focus on providing relief to your symptoms but do nothing to address adhesion formation and muscle restrictions. Active approaches, such as joint manipulation, stretching, and exercises are often necessary to provide complete rehabilitation of your injury and to restore full strength and function to your muscles. But, even active approaches are not as effective as they could be and will be much slower to provide relief and recovery if the scar tissue adhesions aren’t dealt with.

For more than 30 years

Active Release Techniques (ART®) have been successfully used in treating soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue injuries are very common in accidents and sports injuries and include injuries to the muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves, and fascia. When soft tissue injuries are left untreated scar tissue adhesions can accumulate. Injuries to your soft tissue, in addition to being painful, can cause a loss of stability in the damaged area, loss of flexibility and movement, and negatively affect your balance. Active Release Techniques are very effective in locating the scar tissue adhesions, breaking them up, and restoring normal flexibility and movement to the injured area.