What is ART Performance Care?
Performance Care, a combination of biomechanics, Active Release Techniques, and exercises, acts to improve an athlete's performance in his or her chosen sport.
We know that subtle or gross changes in the physiology of an athlete's body can have a tremendous impact upon the time and effort required to perform an activity.
A difference of just a few seconds improvement in a runners performance can mean the difference between a win or loss.
However, difficult training regimes, repetitive motions (swimming, running, cycling), and overworked muscles all place a great deal of stress on an athlete's body. These stresses cause physiological changes that cannot be counter-acted by simple exercise regimes. They require physical manipulation of the tissues to remove the problem and return the athlete to optimal performance.
ART, with its ability to remove restrictive adhesive tissue, can help improve performance in any sport, from skiing, weight lifting, and football, to running, cycling, golf, and swimming.
How does ART Performance Care Differ from ART Injury Care?
ART Injury Care deals with known, existing, identifiable injuries to soft tissue. It's goal is to remove the cause of these injuries, and return the soft tissues to normal condition.
In contrast, ART Performance Care is used to increase the performance of an athlete (speed, endurance, strength) by working with soft tissues to enhance their performance. Performance Care identifies unnoticed, or hidden restrictions in the motion of the body, and removes these restrictions to restore full function to the soft tissues. Performance Care requires a good understanding of the biomechanics of the human body.
What is Biomechanical Motion Analysis?
Biomechanical Motion Analysis is the art and science of observing and identifying biomechanical dysfunctions by watching the gait, movement, and performance of the various parts of the human body. With ART, this process also includes the identification of appropriate treatment protocols, the execution of these protocols, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of these treatments.
The process of Biomechanical Motion Analysis requires:
The ability to analyze motion.An understanding of the normal motion of a joint or soft tissue structure.An understanding of the function of each muscle, joint, nerve, or soft tissue in the execution of that motion.An understanding of the relationship between a motion and the soft tissues that execute that motion.The ability to identify abnormal motion.