Have you heard of the chiropractic method called active release therapy? It’s a patented form of chiropractic care that’s designed to help those suffering from chronic pain in their muscles. With pain so much of an issue in people and other chiropractic methods not always working depending on the complexity, active release therapy is growing in popularity.
The only problem with ART (as it’s ironically known) is you have to go through some major uncomfortableness during the treatment process. It may be why it hasn’t gone as mainstream yet as it should, despite needing extensive education on its myriad techniques. While it’s not relaxing like regular deep-tissue massage, it has many people holding it up as the real future of persistent pain relief.
Some Active Release Therapy Background
Created by Dr. P. Michael Leahy, the technique seemed to be discovered by happenstance. Leahy reportedly realized that soft tissues like muscles, ligaments, and nerves could easily be overused and cause persistent pains from scarring. These pains could be due to pulls, tears, different forms of trauma, or just not getting enough oxygen to the muscles.
Leahy was able to detect these torn muscles just by feel. And by using a centralized treatment, it could target the muscles directly and get them to heal slowly. This is done through a combination of tension and using hundreds of different body movements Dr. Leahy created. In fact, it has up to 500 different movements designed to help slowly alleviate the pain.
But going through the treatment isn’t always a pleasant experience. Athletes and others who have scar tissue on their muscles have to go through intense pain just to eventually see the light on being pain free.
Treatment Method
Those who successfully practice ART need extensive training, because it requires a complex understanding of muscles and the specific movements of the body. Generally, a patient will have their muscles felt by a specialist who can tell what the texture of the muscle is. Using pressure points and tension to hone in on the muscle scarring, pain is going to be inevitable. Regardless, outsiders who’ve reported on the technique say the pain is lessened through more experienced providers. Treatments are also done in brief intervals.
Is Active Release Therapy the New Cure for Pain?
With chiropractic treatment fairly mainstream now, some of those clinics are offering active release therapy lately. While not all of them do the procedure correctly, the ART website gives a list of official providers so you can find one that’s had proper training.
If you’ve suffered from intense pain in your muscles that won’t go away with any other treatment, this may be the answer for you. Should this become a standard form of pain relief in America, the problem of pain medication addiction may finally plummet after being a silent problem worldwide for years.
References:
http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/843/A_Closer_Look_at_Active_Release_Techniques_%28ART%29.aspx
http://www.activerelease.com/
