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Active Release Techniques (ART) is a soft tissue system/movement-based massage technique developed and patented by P. Michael Leahy, DC, CCSP. It is used to treat problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.
Conditions Treated by Active Release Techniques
ART is most commonly used to treat conditions related to adhesions or scar tissue in overused muscles. According to ART practitioners, as adhesions build up, muscles become shorter and weaker, the motion of muscles and joints are altered, and nerves can be compressed. As a result, tissues suffer from decreased blood supply, pain, and poor mobility.
Specific conditions that can be treated with ART include headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome other peripheral nerve entrapments, shin splints, sciatica, TMJ, plantar fasciitis, tendinitis and other soft tissue inflammatory disorders of the joints.
The goal of ART is to restore the smooth movement of tissues and to release any entrapped nerves or blood vessels. [1]
Treatment Description
In an ART treatment, the provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and mobility of the soft tissue. Using hand pressure, the practitioner works to remove or break up the fibrous adhesions, with the stretching motions generally in the direction of venous and lymphatic flow,[2] although the opposite direction may occasionally be used.[3]
In the first three levels of ART treatment, as with other soft-tissue treatment forms, movement of the patient's tissue is done by the practitioner. In level four, however, ART requires the patient to actively move the affected tissue in prescribed ways while the practitioner applies pressure. Involvement of the patient is seen as an advantage of ART, as people who are active participants in their own healthcare are believed to experience better outcomes.[4]
ART Training and Certification
Training in ART earns continuing education credits for chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, certified athletic trainers, medical doctors, and others who are licensed to work on soft-tissue conditions/injuries as well students in those fields. Courses at the Colorado-based ART are not open to practitioners who are not licensed to treat soft-tissue or to obtain malpractice insurance to treat soft-tissue.[5]
The ART courses are approved for CEU's through the New York Chiropractic College for DC's. Active Release Techniques is also an approved provider through the Board of Certification for Athletic Trainers (http://www.bocatc.org/) and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork for Massage Therapists (http://www.ncbtmb.org/).[6]
To receive ART certification, practitioners attend workshops and must pass written and practical exam. In addition, to maintain certification practitioners must attend at least one ART seminar annually and pass recredential exams.[7]
Risks and Contraindications
ART is not appropriate in cases of blunt trauma or active inflammation, but otherwise there are no serious contraindications for its use, though treatments should be limited to every other day.[8]
Dr. Michael Leahy
Dr. Paul Michael Leahy is a chiropractor who developed Active Release Techniques. After graduating with honors from the United States Air Force Academy, he served as a fighter and test-pilot.[9] He then attended Los Angeles College of Chiropractic (http://www.scuhs.edu/Default.aspx), graduating summa-cum laude and valedictorian of the class of 1984.
In 1985, Dr. Leahy began developing Active Release Techniques and in 1986 became a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician (CCSP). In 1995, Dr. Leahy proposed a Model of Repetitive Motion, which expresses as a formula, the insult to tissue created by repeated stresses, and the Cumulative Injury Cycle, which he used to explain how such cumulative trauma can result in such conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome.[10]
Publications
Altered biomechanics of the shoulder and the subscapularis. Co-author: Mock, LE. Chiropractic Sports Medicine 5(3); 1991.
Active Release Techniques, Soft Tissue Methods. Canadian Chiropractic.
Release Your Pain: Resolving Repetitive Strain Injuries with Active Release Techniques by Brian Abelson and Kamali Abelson, Foreword by P. Michael Leahy (North Atlantic Books, 2005).
Improved Treatments for Carpal Tunnel and Related Syndromes. Chiropractic Sports Medicine 9(1); 1995.
The MRT/Myofascial Release Technique, Dynamic Chiropractic 11(7); March 26, 1993.
Myofascial release technique and mechanical compromise of peripheral nerves of the upper extremity. Co-author: Mock, LE. Chiropractic Sports Medicine 6(4); 1992.
Synoviochondromeaplasia of the Shoulder: A Case Report. Chiropractic Sports Medicine 6(1); 1992.
Vertebral Artery Tension Test. Colorado Chiropractic Journal 3(2); 1998.
References
- ^ About ART
- ^ [Technique systems in chiropractic By Robert Cooperstein, Brian J. Gleberzon, Churchill Livingstone: 2004]
- ^ Active Release Techniques and The Graston Technique: Do we have to choose? By Dale J. Buchberger, DC
- ^ [Technique systems in chiropractic By Robert Cooperstein, Brian J. Gleberzon, Churchill Livingstone: 2004]
- ^ Frequently Asked Questions: Who can take Active Release Technique courses?
- ^ Frequently Asked Questions: What boards are you approved through?
- ^ About ART
- ^ [Technique systems in chiropractic By Robert Cooperstein, Brian J. Gleberzon, Churchill Livingstone: 2004]
- ^ About Dr. Leahy
- ^ Cumulative Trauma Disorder Defined