Active Release Techniques (ART) For Athletes
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]By: Active Sports Therapy
Athletes who are training hard at their sport often experience extremely demanding training schedules. Because of their high volume training, athletes can often experience overuse injuries in different areas of the body. After training, it’s normal to experience sore muscles, but when pain is consistently there even after the athlete’s typical rest and recovery period, it’s time to have an expert take a closer look.
An athlete may develop an Acute Condition, which means that there was a sudden injury that happened, such as a sprain or a strain. This can be associated with a traumatic event, such as falling off of your bike or being hit with a hockey puck.
A Chronic Injury is one that can result from overusing an area of the body, or from a long standing condition. Chronic injuries can be labeled as overuse injuries, arthritis, tendonitis or repetitive strain, just to name a few. Sometimes the symptoms of a chronic injury are mild enough to ignore, allowing the athlete to continue on with their sport. Over time, if not treated, these injuries can affect lifestyle, athletic performance, and have negative long term affects on your body.
When muscles are tight and rigid they can cause limited range of motion, pain and weakness, as well as negative compensation patterns as other muscles are forced to step up and do the job required by the injured muscles.
How ART Works
Active Release Techniqes or ART has proven to be very effective in treating athletic and movement related injuries. During an ART treatment, tension is applied to affected muscles, ligaments, and tendons. As the tension is applied, the practitioner or an assistant will then move the affected area and thus releasing tension and breaking up adhesions. This works to restore normal range of motion. This unique combination of direct pressure and specific guided movement patterns are the key to ART’s success in treating pain and injuries.
If you're an athlete, consult on of our chiropractors today. Each chiropractor at Active Sports Therapy is fully trained in Active Release Techniques. You may find that a nagging area of your body can be restored to it’s normal function in just a handful of treatments.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]