Dynamic Health Services located in the Fitness 24-7 Club at 397 Little Neck Road Bldg. 3300 Virginia Beach, VA 23452 (757) 639-3153 Directions

Active Release Techniques^®, better known as ART, is a soft tissue treatment technique that treats problems that occur with:

• Muscles
• Tendons
• Ligaments
• Fascia
• Nerves

Active release technique is particularly effective in the treatment of conditions resulting from overused muscles. Commonly treated conditions include Achilles tendonitis, ankle injuries, bicipital tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, frozen shoulder, golfers elbow, hip pain, iliotibial (IT) band syndrome, knee pain, muscle strains, plantar fasciitis, rotator cuff injuries, running injuries, shin splints, and swimmers shoulder to name a few.

How can ART^® Help Me Perform Better?

ART can help you perform at your best while training and racing. Efficient movement is the key to optimum performance. When your muscles are moving fully and freely, you will finish with the best time that you are capable of. However, the extreme demands of training and racing can damage soft tissues such as muscles, ligaments, tendons and nerves.

When a muscle is overused, as in long distance running, cycling and/or swimming, it tends to shorten. When a muscle shortens, it is less resilient and is more easily damage. As the tissue shortens it causes muscular dysfunction and may produce pain, seriously affecting both your training and racing performance. This is a result of fibrous scar tissue (adhesions) that build up within muscles and between muscles. Normal muscle acts like a bundle of rubber bands, contracting and lengthening freely. When a muscle is overused, scar tissue adhesions build up via four basic processes:

• Injuries (like tearing from a muscle pull)
• Micro trauma (the accumulation of small injuries over time)
• Hypoxia (when a muscle doesn't get enough oxygen, adhesions build up)
• Friction (during movement, muscles must slide against other structures, muscles, nerve, etc.)

Eventually, the build up of scar tissue adhesions will cause noticeable symptoms, like pain and weakness. However, long before symptoms are felt, athletic performance is affected. This is especially true for distance athletes.

What Happens During an Active Release Treatment (ART^®)?

ART is non-invasive, very safe, has virtually no side effects, and has a record of producing very good results. Every session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. First, the therapist uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tension, movement and function of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Once the lesion has been found, the involved tissue is taken from a shortened to a fully lengthened position, while the therapist's hand moves in the same longitudinal direction as the soft tissue fibers to remove the adhesions. Each movement performed in ART is done in the same direction as the tissue fibers to break up adhesions, prevent bruising, and prevent further inflammation. It is extremely important that all motions using ART are performed at a very slow rate. Fast motions increase patient pain and make for a less effective treatment. 90% of the treatment is performed during the last 10% percent of motion. This is when we break the greatest number of restrictions. Treatments may feel uncomfortable during the movement phases as the scar tissue or adhesions "break-up" but this discomfort is temporary and subsides almost immediately after the treatment. It is also common to feel a duplication of your pain symptoms during the treatment which is a good indication that the problem area has been identified.

Treatments take about 10 minutes for each area being treated. This is in addition to other treatment modalities (i.e. ultrasound, exercise, etc.) that are carried out in conjunction with ART as indicated and prescribed by your doctor to increase treatment effectiveness. Strength, speed and endurance are continuously reassessed and are expected to improve within the first few treatments. If no improvement is seen, we know that we have not found the source of the problem and our treatment plan needs to be altered, or the area affected needs to be strengthened further. Once the condition has been resolved (usually 2-10 visits) the symptoms will not return unless the injury happens again or the strength or biomechanical deficiency has not been corrected. To avoid future injuries we instruct our patients in the mechanism of injury so that it may be avoided in the future as well as provide specific strengthening and stretching exercises, training programs to return from injury, and recommendations for proper equipment (i.e. running shoe, bike set-up).