What are Active Release Techniques?

Active Release Technique (ART) is a hands-on treatment.

Active Release Technique differs from massage in using the movement of the limb or spine under tension and the attention to anatomical detail and possible nerve entrapments in the area. Instead of treating a general area, your Active Release Technique provider uses their hands to feel abnormal or damaged tissue in muscle, fascia, tendons, ligaments or nerves. Abnormalities present as having a different texture and tension and affect the movement and function a patient can perform.

Your therapist holds muscle, ligament, fascia, tendon, nerve, or capsule tension on the tissue involved (not the skin) in a shortened position. There is no skin tension or sliding on the skin. At the same time, the structure is lengthened through a complete, comfortable range of active motion and pressure is maintained throughout the movement.

Who Can Benefit From Active Release Technique?

ART can be used on every patient, regardless of your job description or athletic passion. Active Release Technique can address repetitive injuries, adhesions, contractures, tissue hypoxia, and joint dysfunction.

What Injuries Can You Treat With Active Release Technique?

• ITB Syndrome
• Hamstring Strain
• Hip flexor
• Plantar fasciitis (foot arch dysfunction)
• Shin splints and related issues (compartment syndrome)
• Achilles tendinopathy
• Performance enhancement
• Pre and post-sports events
• Recovering from a significant injury
• Shoulder and rotator cuff problems
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Knee pain
• Pinched Nerve

No treatment is done without looking at FUNCTION and HOW you move.

How Does ART Help?

Active Release Technique promotes faster recovery and restoration of normal tissue function and can prevent injuries.

For the sportsperson, it will allow you to train better and more consistently. For the worker, it can also keep you injury-free if used as a preventative treatment.

Abnormal tissue can go unnoticed by an athlete and the office worker or manifest into an injury. Symptoms of damaged tissue include tightening and shortening of the muscle. What used to be straightforward becomes a chore – e.g. stiffer golf swing rotation or struggling to reach your seatbelt. A loss of mobility, restricted range of motion, poor biomechanics, overcompensation in other body parts, and loss of strength can all be identified and corrected with ART. Often a patient will not know scar tissue is building up until it is too late. No obvious trauma is necessary!

My job is to locate the minor ongoing source of “insult” to that tissue as an ART provider.

Possibly an IT band pain can be traced back to a dysfunctional hip. Tingling or numbing in your hand can be from constant insult to the nerve from poor computer desk set-up and the shoulder, neck, and forearm position, causing the nerve to be entrapped up the arm or neck, not even in your hand!

What Frequency Works Best for ART?

Your ART practitioner will be able to answer this question after they assess you. Everyone responds differently, and treatment frequencies can vary. Your ART practitioner will ideally book your first two treatments reasonably close together so that the second treatment can build upon the previous one.

Examples of this initial improvement might be decreased pain, reduced range, less intense pain, and improved movement and activation patterns. Based on your injury, how long it has been present, and how you respond to your initial treatment, your ART practitioner can offer you some guidance.

While not always the case, chronic problems (an accumulation of microtraumas), old adhesions and tendinopathies (that leathery type of tissue) can take longer to rehabilitate, but some improvement should be felt immediately. The key to successful ART treatment is determining the problem, defining its cause and treating that rather than chasing the pain!

Best wishes with your ART treatment. ART is a new treatment approach with excellent short and long-term results if you haven’t tried it.

For more information, please seek the advice of your local ART practitioner.

How Can You Guarantee Yourself a Fantastic Massage?

At PhysioWorks, we guarantee you’ll have a fantastic massage, or it’s free! If you are not completely satisfied within the first 30 minutes of your massage, we’ll give you your money back there and then. No questions asked!

For more information about the best massage, please ask one of our PhysioWorks team.

Brisbane Massage Therapists

The massage therapists who consult to PhysioWorks operate independently-owned businesses. Here are some of our massage therapist details.