Why Active Release Technique?

The personal story behind why Westside Chiropractic uses Active Release Technique (ART)

I first heard about ART in 1999.  I had been practicing in Seattle for about a year and I was learning from my patients that other healthcare providers like massage therapists and physical therapists manipulated their spines regularly.  Spinal manipulation was the only treatment form I had to offer patients at that time. I wanted to differentiate my treatment method from the norm as well as help patients resolve their pain faster.

Around that time I started being asked by some athletes and physicians if I used Active Release Technique (ART) to treat injuries. A story was circulating around various training rooms about an NHL player who had undergone 2 failed neck surgeries while playing for The Calgary Flames.  After some searching, I finally found an article in Today's Chiropractic about this player, Gary Roberts. Known for his high level of fitness, strength and determination, #10 had suffered an injury that caused severe electrical pain down both arms when reaching his arms forward with force. He underwent two neck surgeries without improvement because his healthcare team wasn’t able to correct the injury with non-invasive treatments like physical therapy. The article said that after the failed neck surgeries he tried every therapy and treatment option available. With no change in his condition he was forced into retirement in the prime of his career.  

Within a year or so Gary was put in touch with a Chiropractor, Dr. Michael Leahy, who in the mid-80's created a new, non-invasive soft tissue system called ART. Still searching for an answer to his condition, Gary went out to Colorado and after only 6 ART sessions his condition was resolved.  His arm pain could not be reproduced. He stayed for 9 sessions in total to work on compensations that had developed due to the chronic nature of his injury. From this he was able to return to the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes, resuming his prior high level of play.  He played for another 13 years with his career ultimately spanning 21 years.  (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Roberts_(ice_hockey))

Dr. Leahy could feel the injury with his fingers.  He could feel a nodule that, like glue, had adhered Gary’s neck muscles to the nerves exiting from the front of his spine. With ART he could gently pull, or ‘release’, these tissues apart and give Gary resolution to his chronic condition.  

With this information I decided to learn ART and I became certified in 1999.  The training was difficult, however it immediately brought a new level of confidence to my treatment, diagnosis and speed of resolution of soft tissue injuries. 

My practice changed from thinking most pain is due to a locked joint with some muscle tightness to realizing that most pain is due to repetitive soft tissue injuries that scar, shorten and create dysfunctional tissues that might lock a joint. Releasing these soft tissue injuries get our patients out of pain faster, most resolving in 4-6 treatments.  

The Active Release Technique (also known as ART®) is a patented soft tissue massage therapy technique that is used to correct issues involving the muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves in problematic areas of the body.