ART Treatment

“If you suffer from chronic muscle spasms and the resultant pain and decreased range of motion in your back or neck, you may gain almost instant relief from our Active Release Technique, or ART.

With ART, our fully credentialed doctors and therapists can quickly and permanently eliminate soft tissue problems causing back pain, shoulder and neck pain, and sciatica."

Active Release Technique is a patented, state-of-the-art soft tissue treatment system that resolves problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia (the covering of muscles) and nerves. Back pain, shoulder and neck pain, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, knee problems, tennis elbow and many other conditions can be resolved with ART. These conditions all have one thing in common: they are often the result of over-used muscles.

Muscles are made of tiny filaments. When a muscle is damaged, these filaments can tear and the physical and chemical change causes the damaged area to fill in with a lesser quality of tissue called a fibrous adhesion, or scar tissue. These adhesions can occur between muscles or in the muscles themselves. Over time, this scar tissue binds up and ties down surrounding tissues that need to move freely. As the adhesions build up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. In addition, if a nerve is trapped, you may also feel tingling, numbness and weakness.

By using ART, our trained and certified doctors and therapists can locate and break up these adhesions without causing any damage to surrounding healthy tissues.

Each ART session is a combination of examination and treatment. Our doctor or therapist uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of affected muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are then treated by combining precisely-directed tension with very specific patient movements. The treatment protocols, encompassing over 500 specific moves, are unique to ART. And they allow our providers to identify and correct the specific problems affecting each individual patient.

9 out of 10 patients find their soft tissue problem resolved with ART

Most patient conditions will respond to ART therapy soon after treatment begins. And many times significant improvement and relief is gained on the first visit. This can be a godsend for many patients since they've suffered from painful spasms or nerve pain for a great length of time--some for years and years.

With both back and neck pain patients, many times pain develops because of a pre-existing biomechanical imbalance. Weak muscles that are over-toned and tight can lead to abnormal function of joints and muscles. We look for these imbalances and prescribe specific exercises to compensate and correct the problem.

The vast majority of patients we see have problems caused by specific muscles interfering with specific activities. Usually, there was a sequence of events that brings someone to the Arizona Back Institute. These steps often unfold over a period of days, weeks, months or even years:

• a muscle is subjected to injury, repetitive motion, or chronic tension
• your body reacts with tightness, spasms and inflammation
• scar tissue is created causing your muscles to stiffen and stick together
• you begin to lose range of motion, feel pain, and experience weakness
• other muscles get over-stressed as they try to compensate for the damaged muscle
• your body begins to learn that this dysfunction is normal (which it is not)

To restore full, free and painless motion to your muscles, we will treat you with this proven, step-by-step recovery system. First, we identify which muscles are involved. Then, we:

• use ART to break up scar tissue within and between your muscles so you can move freely again
  
• retrain your body in normal movement patterns to unlearn dysfunctional patterns and help your body remember that full and free motion is normal again
• increase your strength and flexibility to prepare your body to handle whatever stresses you subject it to
• teach you how to prevent the problem from coming back

Are you a candidate for ART?

The only way to tell if you have fibrous adhesions that may respond to ART is to receive a free examination. The Institute only accepts patients we believe will respond to our care so you've got nothing to lose except your pain, loss of motion and numbness.

To schedule your free exam, please contact us today.