Background

Chronic back and neck pain are usually the result of both joint and muscular problems in the involved area.  When a joint becomes immobile, whether the result of a sports injury, auto accident, slip, fall, or postural stress, there tends to be irritation to the nerves that control the muscles in the immediate area.  This causes a tightening of these muscles that, in turn, causes additional stress on the immobile joint.  This increased stress on the joint perpetuates the irritation of the nerve, thus creating a vicious cycle of pain, instability, and dysfunction.

If the muscles remain tight for a long enough period of time, the muscles will actually respond by becoming less elastic and more ropey in nature.  This is accomplished by the laying down of tissue, called collagen, which can actually glue the muscle tissues together.  This process is known as fibrosis, and the end state where muscle fibers are actually incapable of moving independently, is known as an adhesion.

Adhesions create two primary problems.  The first is a lack of flexibility.  The second is a lack of strength.  Of the two, the latter has a greater bearing on a chronic condition.  If, for example, 20% of a muscle is adhesed, you will lose approximately 20% of the strength of that muscle.  If that muscle is a stabilizing muscle, either of your spine, shoulder, hip or any of the other joints of your body, those muscles will become 20% less capable of handling physical loads, and the person will be much more prone to acute injury of the joint.  Weaker muscles fatigue faster, leading to tighter and more painful muscles at the end of the day or following exercise.  If the adhesed muscles are performance muscles, such as those in the legs or arms, the ability to generate force or move quickly will be impaired.  This is of great concern to the professional athlete’s performance and ultimately can end a professional athlete’s career.

Active Release Technique

Until a few years ago, there was no effective way of dealing with these adhesions.  Surgery, acupuncture, traditional chiropractic care, and massage therapy have proven ineffective in most cases.  Active Release Technique, ART for short, is a very complex, hands-on treatment that has proven incredibly effective in breaking down these types of adhesions.  It takes years to become proficient in its use, with over three hundred different combinations of pressure, tension, and movement to be mastered.  It is now on e of the most requested treatments by the highest-level professional and Olympic athletes in North America, people whose only concern are leading edge results.  This is one of the few clinics in Vancouver using this technique, and as such, specializes in dealing with problems that have failed to respond with other forms of therapy.

What Can ART Help?

It is surprising the number of problems that can be the result of adhesion formation. Chronic low back and neck pain are a few conditions due to the weakness caused by adhesed muscles.  Not so obvious, are conditions such as headache, whiplash, tendonitis, bursitis, shoulder pain, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, knee pain, Iliotibial band syndrome, shin splints, and Achilles heel, to name a few.  Active Release Technique is also very effective in treating conditions that result from surgical interventions and the scar tissue that can form as a result.

One of the most exciting areas of treatment is in the area of performance enhancement.  This is the type of treatment that the likes of Donovan Bailey, Bruny Surin, Silken Laumen, Derek Porter, and countless professional athletes receive.  This type of therapy is designed to get the highest level of performance out of an athlete by removing those adhesions that do not necessarily produce symptoms, but rather keep an athlete from performing at his or her optimum level.