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Being prepared is one of the most reassuring feelings you can have in life. For an athlete the feeling of knowing that you have done all you can by putting in the long training hours instills the confidence needed to compete at their absolute best. Not being prepared will produce the complete opposite feelings, including lack of confidence. That is why an injury that occurs during training is so frustrating because it slows down the training process or worse sidelines the athlete for a period of time, allowing self doubt to enter the athlete's psyche.

One of the main contributing factors of an injury are adhesions. Adhesions are developed because the body will repair soft tissues tears, caused by repetitive stress motions, by producing collagen in the body at the tissue tear. The collagen will fill the tear allowing the muscle to heal over time. However, the body will not necessarily fill the tear in an organized pattern, so over time it lays collagen over and over in an unorganized fashion, until its finally become thick and restrictive, becoming an adhesion. Adhesions can limit range of motion or worse impinge a nerve causing excruciating pain. A proven method to address adhesions is an Active Release Technique® treatment.

An ART® treatment is performed with the practitioner applying distal or proximal pressure to the adhesion, while taking the muscle from a shortened position through it's active range of motion. This breaks the adhesion up and allows it to form to the muscle tissue in a corrective pattern allowing full range of motion. Most adhesions can be corrected with a few ART® treatments.

I like to think of adhesions as a pot hole on the road. At first, you may not notice the pot hole but over time the pot hole gets bigger and bigger, causing traffic delays and even worse car repairs. Eventually, the lane has to be shut down for repairs over several days, causing even more delays. If adhesions are not addressed you too will be shut down. Whether you are a pro athlete training for your next competition or just have a typical office job, an ART® can assist your body smooth out the pavement that it has laid, keeping you up and running.