When you ask a lot of your body, it sometimes objects. Years of repetitive movement and overuse can lead to adhesions in the soft tissue, provoking painful conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome.
Your muscles can also suffer damage like tiny tears and oxygen-deprivation. When scar tissue forms in your muscle mass, you lose valuable mobility, as the muscles weaken and begin to atrophy.
The leading therapeutic tool for treating these hidden challenges in your muscles is the Active Release Technique: the gold standard of soft tissue therapy.
Used in the diagnostic and treatment processes, ART is a manipulation technique which serves to remove adhesions from the muscles, allowing blood and nutrients to flow to affected areas and restoring range of motion and the potential for regained muscle strength.
Let’s explore ART and how it works.
History
Dr. P. Michael Leahy became a chiropractor in 1984. Prior to that, he’d studied engineering with the USAF. Working with elite athletes, his focus was on treating disorders sited in soft tissue. It was this experience that led him to begin formulating the basis for Active Release Technique.
Not long after his early explorations, Dr. Leahy addressed colleagues about his groundbreaking discovery. ART then became a patented therapy and other practitioners were trained in the technique. Today, more than 10,000 clinicians practice Active Release Technique, internationally.
ART’s focus is the restoration of full mobility by releasing nerves, blood vessels and lymphatic systems to perform as they’re intended to. Because ART arose from Dr. Leahy’s work with professional athletes, it’s uniquely suited to those who push their bodies. But anyone who leads an active lifestyle can benefit from this treatment.
ART and chiropractic
I’m not only trained in Active Release Technique, I’m a member of the ART Elite Provider Network, and trained to practice this therapy on the whole body.
Physical therapists and massage practitioners may also seek out ART training, but there’s a very strong affinity between ART and chiropractic. Because of chiropractic’s focus on the nervous system and musculoskeletal issues, Active Release Technique is something of a perfect fit.
Combining the two therapeutic responses provides patients with extraordinary outcomes of which I’m very proud to be a part.
How we do it
As I said earlier, ART is used both as a diagnostic and a treatment tool. Because I use my hands as a key element of chiropractic care, ART’s tactile methodology is an ideal complement to what I’ve always done for patients.
My hands work to find areas in the soft tissue which are prevented from functioning properly by adhesions and accumulated tension. From there, manipulation and palpation are used to break up scar tissue and release nerves which have been impeded in their function by it.
Compressive force is applied by the practitioner’s hands, in concert with movements on the part of the patient. This makes ART a uniquely collaborative effort between me and the patient. That’s something I really enjoy about the therapy.
Interested in Active Release Technique? Contact me.
