If you thought you'd have to live with that bum shoulder or trick knee forever, you'll want to learn about a break through treatment that may prove you wrong.

When it comes to muscles and related injuries, understanding soft tissues' functions and anatomical relationships is key to speedy patient recoverty and long-term results. For example, muscles and soft tissues possess a desirable range of motion and tension. Thus, if a muscle stays tight for any length of time, it weakens (dispelling myths that tight muscles equal strength).

Consequently, research is proving that old remedies for injured muscles, ice and a few weeks of rest, simply don't deliver the results patients need. Today, there is a new fix for these injuries called Active Release Technique (ART). Proven to effectively accelerate the healing process, certified ART providers have noted a vast gain in the therapy's popularity as patients appreciate ART's unparalleled results - resumed daily activities and sports regimes.

What is ART? ART is a hands-on technique that specifically finds and releases areas of scar tissue and adhesion (tears in a muscle). ART providers, including the staff at Winchester-Hilgefort Spine & Joint Center, find the tissue that's injured and physically work it back to the texture, tension and movement it should have.

How is ART different from stretching or massage? The problem with stretching is that it's not specific. You cannot isolate injured tissues when you stretch, which is why healthy tissues surrounding the site of injury often become injured after stretching. With massage, although ART might appear similar a key difference is the direction of the muscle manipulation, says Bill Ross, M.D., a sports medicine specialist at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. "Other kinds of deep-tissue massage move in any direction," Dr. Ross noted. "ART lengthens the tissue in the same direction as muscle fibers naturally move. That's what speeds up the healing process and sets ART apart."

What conditions respond to ART treatments? ART treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, shoulder pain, sciatica, knee problems and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. In fact, most conditions can be fixed in as little as four to six treatments, even if the patient has suffered with the problem for years.

Who is qualified to perform Active Release Techniques? Regrettably, there are few health care providers certified to perform ART. Given that there are more than 500 specific ART treatment protocols, extensive instruction and rigorous testing is mandatory to become ART certified. Fortunately for Lincoln County, both Dr. Hilgefort and Dr. Winchester are nationally credentialed ART providers.