By Brian Rosetti
Throughout my experiences as a coach and runner/guinea pig for my athletes, I’ve learned a lot about injury treatment and prevention. Over the course of my career I’ve had my fair share of injuries but I’ve always tried to learn as much as possible throughout the process to prevent future problems. Over time I’ve avoided serious setbacks more often and one big reason for that is the success I’ve had working with certified active release practitioners. Here’s why:
Proper assessment
I’ve seen too many clients who come to us after getting hurt and it’s clear their injury was never properly assessed, meaning, what caused the problem in the first place? You should always increase your chances of a full resolution by seeing a medical professional who actively tries to diagnose the different factors that caused the breakdown. ART practitioners are trained to examine the body for imbalances and tightness before they begin treatment.
For instance, if you develop shin splints and you simply treat the where the pain is referring you may miss what caused the injury, maybe tightness/weakness in your calf muscles, and end up with repeated layoffs from your training cycle.
Effective treatment
I’ve always had great success with ART on soft tissue related injuries, which are the most common for runners. Recently, while training for a marathon, I went down with an Achilles issue that would have sidelined me for weeks in the past but after one or two ART sessions I was back running at full strength.
ART effectively treats and removes scar tissue adhesions which prevent soft tissue from moving freely. Runners often experience what many call the “cumulative injury cycle” when these adhesions are left untreated. “Muscles become shorter and weaker; additional tension and friction develop; more scar tissue forms; and nerves can become entrapped. The result – progressive loss of function and increasing pain. Additionally, the body compensates for dysfunction in one area by shifting the burden to other areas not designed to handle the increased load – this, in turn, can cause further injury to develop.” (Soft Tissue Solutions)
Prevention
Some of my best training has occurred after repeated sessions with one of my ART providers here in New York City. He would detect tightness and work on areas that hadn’t turned into a full blown injury yet. He was therefore able to work out any compensation that was occurring and I soon became a much more efficient runner. I have never recovered so quickly after workouts like I did after committing to weekly maintenance ART sessions. Just because you’re not actively experiencing pain or discomfort doesn’t mean your body couldn’t use treatment. The quality of your training and well being will drastically improve by making injury prevention with ART a priority.
Find an ART Provider In Your Area
Check out the official website and punch in your zip code to find certified ART providers in your area. Runners should look for someone certified in biomechanics as well.
My local ART guy is fantastic. When my knee was hurting it was nice to not be worried at all with the thinking that “Dr. Stam can handle this no problem.”
Right now my achilles is taking more than just a few sessions to fix and aggravating but at least I feel as though itll eventually get fixed.