Last week I reluctantly headed off to my first A.R.T. session. Although I had no glaring ailments, I thought it would be a good idea to start to incorporate into my training regiment. The place I chose in NOLA was a chiropractic place. After being scolded for my bad posture, weak scapular stabilizers/bad scapular mobility, tight hamstrings/hip flexors my guy went to town. He paid special attention to my psoas, pirformis, and posterior tibialis tendon which was super contracted. As a warning the hip flexor technique is by far the worst/most painful. Despite the painful session, I walked out of there feeling A-M-A-Z-I-N-G....
I heard about A.R.T awhile back but never really got around to trying it since I wasn't technically injured. I've heard countless other triathletes rave about how well it works. In case you haven't heard of it.... (from their website):
ART is a soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. With the rigors of training, our bodies can produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area(s). This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendinitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain.
As a physical therapist, I have yet to read any relevant research or randomized controlled trials for A.R.T therapy. Despite the missing evidence, I can say I've become a huge fan after my 1st two sessions. My belief is that it's better to fix the small issues now before they lead to bigger issues down the road. I think I'm enough of a believer to become an A.R.T provider myself....
The big test will be next weekend.... Bring it Rev3... I'm feeling ready :)
