Sport Injury Treatment
Active Release Technique is Solving Even the Toughest Cases Without Surgery or Injections
When an injury occurs to a muscle, tendon or ligament, it tends to become tight and inflamed. A cycle begins to take place where friction and inflammation around the injured area increases, causing the area to swell and constricting normal blood flow. The body’s natural response to this inflammation and reduced circulation is fibrosis and adhesions.
This fibrosis and adhesions glues together the muscle fibers and surrounding structures, leading to pain and improper function. The muscles become tight, leathery and bound-up with a higher probability to injure again. The pain comes and goes causing each flare-up to a little worse than the previous. Hence, the cycle continues. Physical therapy, massage and even chiropractic typically cannot fix this problem. At this point, most doctors would perform surgery, with minimal results and months of rehab.
After an injury, only Active Release can put soft tissue back to what nature intended. Dr. Leahy, the founder of Active Release techniques, explains more, “The ‘art” of it all is being able to know where to look for adhesions, how to feel for them and how to use active motion of the body part to break them up.” Active motion separates this procedure from most other soft-tissue manipulation techniques. “To break an adhesion, you actually have to put your thumb and fingers on it and make it move in a way that breaks it away from the tissue.”
During a session, which can last as long as an hour and as short as a few minutes, both the doctor and patient can feel the adhesion rip apart. “It kind of hurts,” Leahy says. But most people describe it as ‘hurts good’.” Only six to twelve sessions are needed to fix most problems. The results can be so instantaneous that many patients can work out or train after a treatment. While some patients need further treatments, most can maintain the improvements with a proper diet, exercise and stretching program.