Active Release Techniques® (ART®) is a hands on soft-tissue treatment system that “cleans out” the muscle adhesions and scar tissue that contribute to muscle weakness and pain. The purpose of this therapy is to relieve the body of adhesions and scar tissue, which can form when soft tissue structures that are exposed to damaging forces. These forces usually come about in one of three different ways: a sudden or acute injury, a cumulative injury (develop from doing repetitive work over a long period of time. i.e. carpal tunnel) or chronic injury, or a pressure injury from external forces like poor posture. As ART® certified trained practitioners, we use our hands and to apply pressure to smooth out the tissue as you control the movement of your muscles through a range of motion. This allows us to treat the muscle as it’s working, resulting in smoother healthier tissue relatively quickly. There are four basic processes that cause muscle damage and scar tissue.

1) Injuries- tearing of muscle fibers from a strain or a crushing of soft-tissue from an impact.

2) Micro-trauma- accumulation of small muscle tears over time, usually from low stress repetitive activities.

3) Hypoxia- decrease oxygen supply to a muscle promotes scar tissue formation (fibroblast) due to over activity of the cells. The body may think it’s injured even though it isn’t. When a muscle is chronically contracted.  For example this would be like when sitting at a desk for long hours. The shoulder muscles being contracted keeps the blood  out of the muscle and the fibroblast produce scar tissue in a muscle that has not been injured.

4) Friction- altered gliding of muscles against other muscles, nerves, joints, etc. This can cause friction injuries in the muscle, which produce scar tissue and adhesion.

The types of conditions successfully treated with ART® is very diverse. Some of the more common conditions are: Carpal tunnel and other peripheral nerve entrapments, spinal pain and dysfunction, Tendonitis and other soft tissue inflammatory disorders of the hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, and foot, Sciatica, TMJ, recurrent sprains and strains, scar tissue and adhesions and other healthier tissue. Eventually, the accumulation of scar tissue adhesions will result in noticeable symptoms such as pain and weakness.  However, before long symptoms are felt and athletic performance is affected. This is especially true for endurance athletes who tend to log an excessive amount of training miles.

Most cumulative trauma disorders can be helped by this revolutionary new soft tissue treatment. Unfortunately, patients are often misdiagnosed and receive treatments, which may not be as helpful as A.R.T. Treatments. There are several different areas where the median nerve may be entrapped other than the transverse carpal ligament, (which is where all carpal tunnel surgery is performed). A recent study indicates that the transverse carpal ligament is responsible for entrapment of the median nerve only 13% of the time! A.R.T. treatment has been found to reduce the need for surgery in many patients who have been given no other choices. Carpal tunnel syndrome is only one of the many types of soft tissue injuries that can be successfully treated with ART.