Active Release: Therapy or Quackery?

[thaiboxerken]

http://www.activerelease.com/about.asp

What is Active Release Technique (ART)?

ART is a patented, state-of-the-art soft tissue system that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they often result from injury to over-used muscles.

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by thaiboxerken
http://www.activerelease.com/about.asp

What is Active Release Technique (ART)?

ART is a patented, state-of-the-art soft tissue system that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they often result from injury to over-used muscles.

Most of these actually are _not_ due to "over used muscles." The people don't know the difference between muscles, tendons, or ligaments, apparently. Although they know the words.

[Suezoled]

From that site:

P. Michael Leahy, DC, CCSP. Dr. Leahy noticed that his patients’ symptoms seemed to be related to changes in their soft tissue that could be felt by hand. By observing how muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves responded to different types of work, Dr. Leahy was able to consistently resolve over 90% of his patients’ problems



http://www.chirowatch.com/cw-mullen.html

A nice anecdote. Well, no it's not nice.


And this Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Leahy was an aeronautical engineer with the U.S. Air Force
http://www.drabelson.com/ARTPage.htm

http://www.carpaltunnel-solutions.com/aboutart.htm

Hmm... this guy might be worth looking into.

[Lisa Simpson]

Originally posted by Suezoled

A nice anecdote. Well, no it's not nice.




Another anecdote.

A woman in my Pilates class went to an ART specialist (according to her, he was a chiropractor, but he got out of it because it's a sham) for back pain she's suffered for the last 6 years. Whatever he did, he injured her so badly, she was bedridden with pain for a week, and could still barely move when she came back to the class the week after that. I don't understand why she would go back after being so badly injured. She thinks he must be good, since he treats Mighty Ducks team members.

[KFCA]

Sounds a lot like Bonnie Prudden's Trigger Point Therapy, which idea has been around for the last 20+ years (& which I've learned to do on myself & find very effective for pain relief). After all, the human body is only so big & there's only so many protocols one can physically (at least externally) do to it.

[thaiboxerken]

It looks to me like ART is just, yet, another form of quackery that is growing money from the gullible.

[KFCA]

And if you're not impressed with the "ART Method", perhaps you might look into the "Pete Egoscue Method" for pain relief. With all these theories, books & methods, it's a wonder there's any pain left out there in the world.

[HarryKeogh]

I had a nagging shoulder problem for months. I couldn't bench press or do any pressing motion because of my left shoulder. I also had to alter my sleeping position to deal with the pain.

Went to see an ART (he was also a chiropractor) guy based on a friend's recommendation. He laid me out on a table, stretched out my shoulder and arm, leaned on me this way and that with his full bodyweight (he was a former competitive bodybuilder...pretty big guy) and after about 5 minutes he was done. I asked him how many session till it would be completely fixed. He said about 3 or 4. I saw him two more times. I was fixed and to this day no problems.

Best $150 I've ever spent.

Only anecdotal evidence, sure, but it worked on me. Did it break up lesions or scar tissue? Beats me. But what was killing me for months went away after 3 sessions over 2 weeks with drastic improvement after just the first session.

I think most of chiropractic is non-sense but I would recommend this to someone I know who had the same problem.

[Suezoled]

Originally posted by HarryKeogh
(snipped)

I think most of chiropractic is non-sense but I would recommend this to someone I know who had the same problem.

I would recommend that if someone has the same problem as yourself, to go see a real doctor first; the symptoms might be the same, but the reason for it might not be.

So what doctor did you see before you went to get some ART done?

[Lisa Simpson]

The web page of the second link provided above says he can cure knee meniscal injuries. I had one of those and from what the orthopedic surgeon told me, there isn't anyway to heal the meniscus due to the lack of blood flowing to it.

So that makes me wonder how ART claims to heal such injuries.

[HarryKeogh]

Originally posted by Suezoled
So what doctor did you see before you went to get some ART done?

Didn't see a doctor before the ART guy. I can't imagine what my doctor would have done. Perhaps prescribe some painkillers. Maybe an MRI would have shown something that surgery could have fixed or perhaps rest would have eventually fixed me up as well but I was back in top form very quickly with the ART. I noticed a vast positive difference the next day.

I remember after the last session I was surprised when he told me that should be the end of my sessions. I went to a chiropractor years before and he tried to sign me up for like 20 adjustments at $50 a pop but after 3 or 4 sessions I realized this guy was just cracking my neck and popping my money in his wallet. But this guy patched me up and never tried to bilk me out of more money.

After the ART I was very hesitant during my first few workouts thinking the pain was going to come back but it never did.

Again, all I can say is that it worked for me extremely well.

[thaiboxerken]

Harry, your defense of ART and your anecdotes are typical of all things woo. Heck, you didn't even go to see a real doctor first. Do you place your personal experiences over scientific data? Would you recommend homeopathic solutions if it helped cure your headache? Do you understand what a placebo is?

[HarryKeogh]

Originally posted by thaiboxerken
Harry, your defense of ART and your anecdotes are typical of all things woo. Heck, you didn't even go to see a real doctor first. Do you place your personal experiences over scientific data? Would you recommend homeopathic solutions if it helped cure your headache? Do you understand what a placebo is?

Yes, I understand what a placebo and the placebo effect is. I guess I could be imagining my pain went away...or I could be imagining the pain was even there in the first place...but I highly doubt either scenario. Believe me, I was hurting for a good half year. And now, a couple of years later and I havent had that pain since.

And no, I'd never recommend homeopathy to cure a thing. I also think there are several types of "woo". Those that have absolutely no basis in scientific fact like homeopathy and reflexology and those that might aid a person but not necessarily through the stated mechanism. I think this may fall under that.

I've had bad experiences with general practitioners regarding sports injuries and bodybuilding questions. They are usually very dismissive ("Why do you want big muscles?" or "Don't lift as much"...not very helpful).

Probably the smartest thing for me to have done was to have gone to a doctor who specializes in sports medicine. But if I had a little time machine I wouldn't change a thing. My problem was solved perfectly.

Again, I doubt the mechanism behind my injury recovery is due to muscles adhesions or whatever. Maybe it was a pinched nerve or whatever. But this guy looked me over, did his thing and I got better, 100% better fast.

I can only place my personal experiences on myself and not infer that what worked for me once would work for other people. It worked for me. That's all I can say. And if someone were to ask me if it worked for me I would say yes. I've prefaced my comments on this thread by saying that yes, they are anecdotal in nature.

[KFCA]

Exctly what category do you put this profession in? If you get good results, how does it differ from chiropractic, which, in many respects, at least in my experience, does the same physical things. Is PT a step-child of traditional medicine? Is it a "placebo"...in the form of "attention being paid"?

[DPT]

Exctly what category do you put this profession in? If you get good results, how does it differ from chiropractic, which, in many respects, at least in my experience, does the same physical things. Is PT a step-child of traditional medicine? Is it a "placebo"...in the form of "attention being paid"?

If someone presents with pain and/or restricted or obstructed movements, in PT and others we all try to make a change, such as improved movement with less or no pain. I personally look for some immediate change to occur so I have some reasoning for believing that what I am doing is helping and it's not just spontaneous remission or natural resolution.

With regard to Active Release, if this helps someone, I'm fine with it, however, there appears to be many hypothetical/theoreticals being bantered about as conclusives. For example, their manual discusses how people with low back pain, it's important to treat the iliolumbar ligament, it's most often involved, etc. etc.. there is also verbiage about muscles tearing from lifting and sharp pain produce from interspinous ligaments, etc.. All of this is 'unknowable' and purely 'assumptive.' Dr. S. Kuslich performed 1000's of studies on pain generating capabilities of tissues via live dissections of tissues on surgical patients. He lays out pain generating capabilities of various tissues, but even after doing 1000's of such investigations, he STILL QUALIFIES himself indicating that continued research is needed, even when consistent findings are noted. the ART people, and other soft tissue enthusiasts, make bold pronouncements of tissue involvement and they do not and could not have an answer as to how they make such an assumption. It would be better for them to use words like, "We theorize or hypothesize that these muscles could tear or could produce pain under these circumstances, etc.." There is one procedure where he talks about a lateral lean and blames the intertransversarri muscles. He then procedures to slacken these muscles via moving in the direction of the lean. In 20 years of practice, people with such a lean are typically demonstrating a derangement problem, theorized to be disc in origin. By him leaning toward the direction of the shift or lean, he could be increasing pressure on the disc and increase a disc bulge. I've treated many lateral shifts and they most often resolve w/in 3 treatments, each session shows an improvement. Tissue doesn't stretch out that fast, so anatomically, the disc model makes more sense, especially if it accompanys radiculopathy. He also talks about interspinous muscles being at fault when sharp pain emanates while performing spinal flexion. Pure assumption and if you read Kuscliche's work, muscles will not generate sharp pain as described; but then maybe it depends upon how he or one defines 'sharp.'

He also needs to tell practitioners to evaluated the spinal mechanics first, working inside to outside whereas ART is working from outside (soft issues) to inside (spinal motion segments) and could cause harm more easily. This is the problem with massage therapists who are doing this approach, they aren't trained in spinal evaluation so they naturally jump to the soft tissues right off the bat. Even with all this said, I believe many technques can be useful, but perhaps for reasons other than that which is taught. Instructors need to start qualifying their materials and their comments if they want professionals to take them seriously.

[DPT]

I had a nagging shoulder problem for months. I couldn't bench press or do any pressing motion because of my left shoulder. I also had to alter my sleeping position to deal with the pain.

Went to see an ART (he was also a chiropractor) guy based on a friend's recommendation. He laid me out on a table, stretched out my shoulder and arm, leaned on me this way and that with his full bodyweight (he was a former competitive bodybuilder...pretty big guy) and after about 5 minutes he was done. I asked him how many session till it would be completely fixed. He said about 3 or 4. I saw him two more times. I was fixed and to this day no problems.

Best $150 I've ever spent.

Only anecdotal evidence, sure, but it worked on me. Did it break up lesions or scar tissue? Beats me. But what was killing me for months went away after 3 sessions over 2 weeks with drastic improvement after just the first session.

I think most of chiropractic is non-sense but I would recommend this to someone I know who had the same problem.

From a PT's perspective, I'm fine with receiving a treatment which seems to have helped; the reason for such help is certainly up for debate and may not fit with the ART theoretical model. Yes, spontaneous remission could have occurred, that's why I look for changes during the application of a treatment. I've got the same results you speak of with joint mobilization procedures, but then again, I don't care about how or what, it just helped at the time of application; I could debate the reasons, but in the end, the change is what counts.

[DPT]

It looks to me like ART is just, yet, another form of quackery that is growing money from the gullible.

Procedures might help, but I must say that such procedures I would not use as a first approach. For back problems I'd focus upon the spinal mechanics and then if I felt the need I'd add ART procedures as an adjunct 'in the event' it may help. How many back pain patients have their muscles operated on? Muscles, if anything, may be secondary responders as with a guarding response, not primary. However, if it's possible to improve their ability to move more freely, hypothetically speaking, I don't have a problem using it as an 'ADJUNCT'..