What is Active Release Techniques® Soft Tissue Treatment?
Active Release Techniques®, or ART, is a hands-on soft tissue treatment used to correct problems from various kinds of soft tissue injuries. ART restores the normal function of your muscles and related structures, allowing full and free ranges of motion. ART breaks down scar tissue that builds up within muscles and between muscles, and it helps to restore your nervous system’s control of the muscles.
This patented soft-tissue treatment system works on problems in the back, neck, arms, legs, hands, and feet. Certified Active Release Providers apply their advanced knowledge of anatomy, muscular mechanics, peripheral neurology, and motor patterns to achieve excellent results, even in cases where all else seems to have failed.
Dr. Glenn Hyman is the most experienced and most highly trained ART provider in Denver. He retired from teaching for ART win 2020 with 19 years of teaching experience.
ART® has been developed, refined, and patented by P. Michael Leahy, a Colorado Springs chiropractor widely regarded as the top soft tissue expert in the country, if not the world.
Dr. Leahy noticed that his patients’ symptoms seemed to be related to changes in their soft tissue that could be felt by hand. By observing how muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves responded to different types of work, Dr. Leahy was able to consistently resolve over 90% of his patients’ problems. He now teaches and certifies health care providers all over the world to use ART®.
Dr. Hyman has had the unique experience of working with Dr. Leahy in a professional sports environment, helping him treat members of the local NFL team, the Denver Broncos. He has also worked with NHL players, professional triathletes, professional runners, professional dancers, and even a professional wrestler. Dr. Hyman also was honored to teach Active Release Techniques® for Dr. Leahy at seminars across North America from 2002 -2020.
Over-used muscles (and other soft tissues) change in three important ways:
Each of these factors can cause your body’s fibroblasts 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. This causes reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a peripheral nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.
As scar tissue builds up within your muscles and between your muscles, they can’t lengthen and shorten normally. Take a moment and flex your bicep muscle. It gets shorter. Now relax it. It gets longer. When scar tissue starts to clog your muscles, it prevents this normal action of muscle. The result is weakness, tightness, stiffness, and pain. ART® breaks up this scar tissue so your muscles can move freely again.
Soft tissue injuries have another, more subtle effect. They interfere with your brain’s ability to control your muscles via the nervous system. Once your muscles start to get tight, your body will think that tightness is normal. It will resist your attempts to stretch the muscle. This is why stretching rarely corrects a problem. ART® helps reset the normal tone of your muscles by correcting the nervous system’s feedback to the brain. (For all you technically minded folks, read up on the gamma motor neuron system, the work of Schleip in particular.)
ART® can help people from all walks of life. From pro athletes to weekend warriors to stay at home parents to entire work forces. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, if your injury is related to soft tissues, chances are that ART® will help you. Call us today at 303.300.0424 to set up an appointment with Dr. Hyman to see if ART and chiropractic care can help you.
