Over-used muscles (and other soft tissue) change in three important ways: acute injuries (pulls, tears, collisions, etc); accumulation of small tears (micro-trauma); and not getting enough oxygen (hypoxia). Each of these factors can cause your body to produce though, dense scar tissue in the affected area. The scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move more freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons can cause tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced ranges of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

Active Release Technique (ART) is a soft-tissue system that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses their hands to evaluate texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements. These treatment protocols (over 500 of them) are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct specific problems that are affecting each individual patient.