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What is Active Release Techniques (ART) to Individuals, Athletes, and Patients?

 

ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

 

How do overuse conditions occur?

 

Over-used muscles (and other soft tissues) change in three important ways:

  • acute conditions (pulls, tears, collisions, etc),

  • accumulation of small tears (micro-trauma)

  • not getting enough oxygen (hypoxia).

 

Each of these factors can cause your body to produce 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, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

 

What is ART treatment like?

 

Every ART session is actually 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.

 

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

 

Proprioceptive – Deep Tendon Reflex (P-DTR®) is a product of the original thought and investigations of orthopedic surgeon Dr. José Palomar. 

 

This work recognizes that proprioception (sensation of touch, pressure, hot, cold, pain, etc.), and the way the body processes the information from these receptors, is paramount in determining neuromuscular responses throughout the entire body. Motor function is not just determined by the motor system, but rather is modified by the inputs of these receptors. 

 

Using a comprehensive system of muscle testing and neural challenges, involved receptors can be located and normal function can be quickly restored. Most physical therapy and other therapeutic modalities deal with the “hardware” of the body, neglecting the fact that much of the pain and dysfunction we experience is often actually a problem with our “software”.

 

P-DTR® deals with the various sensory receptors (proprioceptors) of the body and the way they affect and modify our movement patterns. These receptors (those for pain, stretch, pressure, hot, cold, vibration, etc.) all send information to the brain for processing and the brain takes this feedback into account when making decisions regarding our movement. If this information is incorrect, as is often the case, the brain is making its decisions based on bad information. Pain and dysfunction frequently result. 

 

P-DTR® uses neural challenges specific to the involved receptors and muscle tests combined with proper stimulation of the deep tendon reflex to make immediate and lasting advances toward restored function.

                                                                                                                                                                      

 

NKT tests muscles against each other to better understand compensation patterns. Onces the compensation pattern is found, the facilitated, over used muscle, is released using ART. This allows the inhibited muscle to fire. All that is left is for the client to straighten their muscles at home to help reprogram the motor control center. 

Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) is a highly effective technique in which the body’s neuromuscular response is triggered, allowing muscles, tendons, and fascia to release. Stretches are addressed for each muscle at each attachment point. This release removes muscle tightness, improves range of motion, flexibility, improves circulation, reduces muscle soreness, stiffness, and decreases pain. AIS is used among professional and Olympic athletes, rehabilitation clinics, and homes across the world.

 

Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) is a movement based diagnostic system, designed to clinically assess 7 fundamental movement patterns in those with known musculoskeletal pain. The assessment provides an efficient method to systematically find the cause of symptoms, not just the source, by logically breaking down dysfunctional patterns and diagnosing their root cause as either a mobility problem or a stability/motor control problem.

 

This systematic process allows clinicians to clearly match their intervention to the main problem of the patient. This model efficiently integrates the concepts of altered motor control, the neurodevelopmental perspective, and regional interdependence into musculoskeletal practice.

What to wear

 

Movement is extremely important in an effective treatment. Please wear comfortable clothing, loose shorts (running shorts work best) and a tee shirt or sports bra.

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