ART Treatment from a Massage Therapist
Active Release Techniques® (ART®) trains hundreds of health care professionals in various fields each year. Most ART Certified Providers™ are chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, athletic trainers, occupational therapists, and acupuncturists.
A patient’s ART treatment experience is dependent on the licensure of their health care professional.
What is ART treatment?
ART treatment is a non-invasive system that treats soft-tissue and nerve dysfunction at the source. This hands-on treatment uses a combination of provider touch, depth, and tension with patient movement to pinpoint and treat the origin of the affected area.
Why can the profession change my ART treatment experience?
Each health care profession has its own specialty and because ART Certified Providers obtain different licensures, they focus on different anatomy aspects when treating patients.
What should I expect if a massage therapist is providing ART treatment?
Licensed massage therapist (LMT) and Elite Provider™, Emilie Wyrick, sat down for a quick Q&A to walk us through what ART treatment looks like for her patients.
Keep reading to learn more.
Q&A with Elite Provider, Emilie Wyrick, LMT
Q: How do you incorporate ART treatment with massage therapy?
A: ART [treatment] is my main mode of manual therapy in my sessions, along with movement assessment and coaching because I am also a Certified Personal Trainer. From time to time, I incorporate other manual therapy techniques in sessions as needed. I have found that my ART training has given me a unique skillset of assessment and effective treatment that has been invaluable in my work, and absolutely irreplaceable.
Q: What should a patient expect if they receive ART treatment from a massage therapist?
A: I am unique in that I do not offer classic therapeutic massage. My sessions are done with the patient in athletic clothing that allows them to move freely in all the ranges of motion and movements that they need to go through for me to assess and treat the issues they come in for.
Q: How does a treatment session look different when incorporating ART into your practice instead of just massage therapy?
A: My sessions look much more like physical therapy sessions than massage. I perform active and passive assessments, identify the underlying issue in a system that results in the symptoms presented, treat that system as thoroughly as possible, and then coach the client on how to maintain the treatment, as well as how to prevent it from recurring.
Q: What changes have you seen in your practice after incorporating ART treatment?
A: ART [treatment] was part of my initial LMT training, so I have used it from the very beginning. Although, at first, I did offer more classic therapeutic/recovery-type sessions, I quickly realized that I could be so much more effective at helping to create real change by shifting to the model I now use.
Do you want ART treatment?
More than 80% of soft-tissue dysfunction is resolved in five or fewer short treatment sessions.
Thinking ART treatment sounds like a good option for you?
Click here to find an ART Certified Provider near you.