When you play sports, there is a high risk of injury. It’s common for people to experience acute injuries, which are sudden injuries such as sprains, cuts, or broken bones. But it’s also very common for sports injuries to be not as visible or noticeable and to develop over time. Persistent strain on your muscles and ligaments can lead to micro-traumas that gradually build up and cause pain and reduce your range of motion. Even acute injuries that you have healed from can leave injuries that cause pain and limit your physical performance for a long time. If it hurts to move parts of your body or if playing your sport has become more painful over time, consider Active Release Techniques (ART®) for sports injury treatment.
How ART® Can Be Used As Sports Injury Treatment
How Does Active Release Techniques Work?
ART® is a movement-based form of chiropractic care. This state-of-the-art soft tissue system/movement-based massage technique treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves. During an ART® session, your chiropractor will locate areas of scar tissue buildup and will put pressure on this area using their hand or thumb. With the other hand, they will guide your movements. Through targeted pressure and dynamic movement, your chiropractor will break up scar tissue or adhesions. Active Release Techniques can relieve tight muscles, release tension on tendons and ligaments, and ease compromised nerves. It will also encourage tissues to become more flexible, restore blood flow, increase mobility, and reduce pain.
Micro-Traumas
When you use the muscles often, especially in high-impact situations such as sports, it creates micro-traumas. These injuries develop slowly over time and cannot be seen on the skin, but they can cause inflammation to your body’s soft tissue. Micro-traumas can include tears to the muscle fibers, the muscle sheaths, and the connective tissue. Micro-traumas won’t hurt at first, but as you continue to play sports, they will get progressively worse. (A common example of micro-injuries leading to pain and movement restriction is tennis elbow.) When your body suffers micro-traumas, it creates scar tissue to help repair these injuries. As you continue to put pressure and strain on your soft tissue, the same muscles, tendons, and ligaments continue to become re-injured and more scar tissue will develop. When scar tissue accumulates in large amounts, it is called adhesion, and this can be painful. The scar tissue will not dissipate on its own and will need chiropractic intervention. ART® can help to break up these adhesions.
Old Injuries
Many people have suffered injuries in the past that still cause them pain today. Old injuries, or injuries that have been treated surgically, may develop scar tissue as they heal. Since scar tissue is not as flexible or stretchy as normal tissue, the buildup of scar tissue can cause pain when you try to move your area of old injury. Scar tissue can also restrict your range of movement, limiting you from performing as you did pre-injury. ART® can be used as a form of sports injury treatment by using the combined pressure and dynamic movement of ART® to break up adhesions to restore your range of motion and reduce pain.
Sports Injury Treatment In Irvine
Whether your sports injury is old or new, you don’t have to live with the pain. Active Release Techniques is an effective sports injury treatment so you can get back to doing what you love. If you are experiencing sports injuries and live in Orange County, the chiropractors at Performance Health And Wellness in Irvine are ART® certified at the highest level. Our ART® practitioners are able to provide targeted orthopedic tests to assess the root cause of your pain before beginning any treatment. Call 1-949-476-1250 or fill out the online contact form to schedule an ART® consultation at Performance Health And Wellness.
FAQ
No, only chiropractors who are trained and qualified in ART® can administer this technique.
Each Active Release Therapy session will be tailored to a person’s needs and their pain level tolerances. Because Active Release Techniques require pressure on the damaged areas, it may cause some discomfort and mild pain, but your practitioner will make it as comfortable as possible and will communicate with you throughout the session to make sure you are not experiencing intense pain.
Although some sports injuries can happen regardless of preparation, you can help reduce your risk of developing sports injuries by properly stretching before you play and wearing appropriate safety gear, such as wrist or ankle braces designed for sports.
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