ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUE: A REVIEW

By Jill Gambaro

Even though I talk extensively about #ActiveReleaseTechnique (ART) in my book, I honestly hadn’t really tried the therapy. But between all the #RSI sufferers I know who have experienced significant improvement from ART, and #OSHA approving it as a first-aid treatment, I felt I had to included it in the book. It's just too important to the RSI prevention story not to. Yet my own experience with ART was with a massage therapist who was not certified as an ART practitioner. There's a big difference.

For the past several months, bootstrapping book promotions, I’ve been in a flare up. For years now, I’ve had very few of them, and when I do, they’re in my back. This time, it was in my arms and wrists, so I knew I had to get on it with the big guns.

I’ve now had only two treatments and he worked on my neck and back, not my arms. This ART session was very different than anything I’d previously experienced. He found my knots and dug into them deep, while he had me reach, stretch, turn my head, all in the opposite direction. I immediately felt great.

But then a few hours later, my body started to ache and stiffen. So I took a hot bath. Turns out that was the worst thing I could do. Heat increases blood flow to the area. After my second treatment, the ache came back, but not the stiffness, and not nearly as much as the first time. A lukewarm bath gave me much better results. I’m now feeling well enough to walk my usual 3 miles, even do some yoga.

What I liked most about ART treatment though, is that I didn’t have to go see this chiropractor three times a week for the rest of my life. After a few treatments, I could reduce my visits to as needed. He sent me home with stretching exercises to do everyday. Some for one hand, some for the other, and another set entirely for my neck. Thanks to @NelsonSantos in West Los Angeles, for fixing me up.