ART and STR - the differences?

Our blog is now featured on our website (www.globaltherapies.com). You should be redirected automatically to this article on our new site.

If you get an ERROR MESSAGE, or you are not redirected please press the REFRESH button on your browser.

I've had a few clients come for a first treatment, and they have mentioned that during trips to the USA they received a marvellous and almost magical treatment called ART. They explained it as a stretching kind of motion which caused an almost "Chinese burn" like sensation.

Now to me as a Sports Massage Therapist, this sounded remarkably like STR (Soft Tissue Release), very much one of the standard techniques that we are taught and use on a day to day basis. When I proceeded to do STR on them, they were astounded and the remarks were generally along the lines of

"Yup- that's it, that's ART- wow, it feels MUCH better now."

Interesting.

So what is the difference between ART and STR? Are there any? I decided to do a little bit of delving and see what I could find. Obviously from a position where I use STR on a daily basis, most of my research was based around looking at what ART is and how (if it does at all) it differs.

My first port of call was, as ever, the internet, ART- Active Release Technique "the gold standard in soft tissue therapy" Brilliant, so I get to find out what it is. But not quite.
ART, it seems is a patented version of Soft Tissue Release. You pay your money, and go on a seminar, and learn to do ART. Which is pretty cool... but is there actually a difference between the two techniques - especially as STR certainly isn't patented. As Mel Cash says - you can patent a way to teach something, but you can't actually patent a technique.

I asked around a few therapists, and a few authors of Soft Tissue Release books, and received the somewhat underwhelming response that they thought the techniques were very similar, but weren't really sure.

Thankfully I found a colleague who has been trained in both STR and ART - and is someone I look up to as a tutor and a therapist, he was able to give a little more insight into the similarities and, more importantly, the differences between the two techniques.

It would appear that the main difference between the two techniques in terms of "hands on" palpation is that in STR we apply a lock into the tissue, creating a false insertion to the muscle - creating a restricted range of motion. The muscle is then moved through this restricted range. I suppose you could ultimately call this a "pin and stretch" technique.

ART uses more of a slide and move between components. There is no specific "lock", but more of a non-specific parallel tension - and the limb/muscle is pretty much always moved through the full range of movement. There is no movement of the contact hand- certainly no slide, but perhaps a slight proximal or distal grip.

It would appear that the technique is quite subtle and there are various releases that don't seem to be covered by STR as a rule - things like nerve entrapment releases - which sound really quite intriguing. It has been explained that the tension is used in a way to try to separate myofascia - and seems to be more precise in terms of depth, area and location.

The main massive difference is the way in which it is taught - and this is where ART and STR differ and where the patent comes in. STR is widely publicised and is very much a part of the Soft Tissue Therapists daily tool box. It requires a knowledge of how muscles and fascia work and in which direction they work in, and the subtlety comes from the practitioner. Precise techniques are developed over time and mastery is very much something that you get to from your own exploration of the technique.

From what I've been told, ART is taught in a very regimented and exacting way. Each myofascial structure, each muscle, each nerve and joint capsule has a working protocol and it is all standardised. When you learn, you learn exactly as demonstrated and you do not deviate from the way it is done by the tutor - which is the way it has been handed down from the guy who patented it.

Both versions of this myofascial release and the way in which they are taught have their benefits and their downfalls, but they both get the job done in remarkably similar ways.

As such, I will continue treating with STR, but now, when people ask about ART and the treatment they may have had elsewhere, I know where they are coming from and what they are expecting in terms of treatment. Interestingly, I often feel that STR might be a little too aggressive and choose to let the lock slide, so perhaps I'm already using some form of ART to obtain more subtle tissue changes.  I would like to actually go on an ART course in order to have hands on experience of the differences between them, but unfortunately as far as continual professional development, my time and resources have been allocated already for the moment. Hopefully next year I will get a chance to see and feel the difference. When I do, I would hope to be able to give more of an insight as to the differences, instead of just writing down what I have gleaned from other people.

Climbing and Massage

Our blog is now featured on our website (www.globaltherapies.com). You should be redirected automatically to this article on our new site.

If you get an ERROR MESSAGE, or you are not redirected please press the REFRESH button on your browser.

Why on earth would you want sports massage if you are a climber? Is there ANY relevance at all?
well....

When you exercise your muscles use oxygen, and give out metabolic waste products. For muscles to operate efficiently, they need to contract and relax - a bit like a pump, getting new oxygenated blood in, and getting old blood out and back to the heart and lungs again. Climbing is an interesting one as the muscles are generally contracted for large amounts of time, and not relaxed so much - which means the pump - which works to a point, is not as efficient as it can be.
The tighter the muscle contraction is held, the less oxygenated blood can get in to the muscle to give it nutrients it needs - and the less waste product it can transport out.

This is where your Pump comes from after a hard session - blood which sits in the muscles and doesn't get out - if you don't stretch at the end of a session, and the metabolic waste products are not released from muscles for a while, they can cause cramps, pain, and DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness. That's the pain you feel up to a couple of days after a hard session.

Massage helps get rid of these issues. It is not only good for helping with circulation - which is a very superficial part of the massage process.
I know some of you will have heard of Duputreyans condition- for those of you who haven't- look here http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1312 Massage - specifically a technique called Soft Tissue Release (or ART if you are American) can help as a preventative measure against this rather nasty condition.

I know a lot of climbers (myself included) who have had issues with the rotator cuff - a minor issue in saying I have a problem with the rotator cuff is which part of it?! There are from 4 to 12 muscles involved in the rotator cuff - depending on who you talk to. We can help- looking not only at the muscles, but also the fascia surrounding the joint complex.

Once injured, it is somewhat difficult to get it back to the exact working order that it was it previous to the injury. Preventative work may well be the way forward - maintenance massage once or twice a month, working out the kinks in the muscle and fascia through the areas that you use the most, getting an assessment as to how the tissues feel - whether you are working too hard, what feels tense, and what is painful - this self-knowledge will give you more of an idea of your body's overall health.

As a remedial modality, massage can help in rebalancing the muscles in the body. Be it for general posture, assisting in creating more body awareness and general proprioception, or even assisting in gaining greater flexibility. We can help you get better, or just get BETTER.

Back in the day- Mark Twight, Dr Death himself, advocated massage in his book, Extreme Alpinism, saying "deep tissue massage aids recovery. Treat yourself to a massage every 10-15 days. Shun those touchy-feely masseuses. Find someone who can dig, restructure and strip apart bound-up muscle tissue."
And more recently in his writings as director of Gym Jones- "Recovery is 50% of the process of training...Respect recovery... Deep tissue massage focused on restructuring muscle and fascia is a very effective monthly tool."

Eric Horst- writer of "How to climb 5.12", and more recently, "Training for Climbing" has said "Sports massage helps reduce the number of small and generally unfelt spasms that regularly occur in muscles. These spasms may go unchallenged by regular stretching and warm-up and left unchecked, may rob you of co-ordination and induce mechanical resistance and premature fatigue."

And our own Dave McLeod has said in "9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes" - "Consider experimenting with other stress relieving activities such as sports massage, stretching or yoga... don't underestimate the cumulative, long terms effects of poor recovery and management of training stress. It will put a lid on your improvement if you are ignorant of it. Treat your body nicely and it will return the favour."

Perhaps what Mark says is the most important. If you want to improve, if you want to get better, and, perhaps more importantly stay injury free, getting a massage isn't going to be about a relaxing, chillout massage. These are all very well for feeling nice and fluffy, and excellent if you are taking time out.
However, if you are training hard, and not resting enough, your muscles will be bound together with abnormal crosslinked fascia, it is likely that they may not be working efficiently, and your ability to get the maximum amount of power from them is compromised. Those muscles need to be worked on deeply, restructured, and made to be more efficient.

At Global Therapies we are versed in a number of types of massage from the relaxing, soothing "touchy feely" to the deep tissue restructuring, and fascial release side. We have the knowledge, we have the experience.

Sports Massage and Remedial Massage is beginning to become more popular at Climbing centres across the country - The Castle and the Arch down in London, Big Rock in Milton Keynes, The Barn in Devon.

We are proud to be helping climbers around the Manchester and Derbyshire/High Peak area recover more, and become better, harder climbers through recovery, restructuring and injury proofing. Don't wait until you break yourself, get a maintenance massage.

Mount Famine

Our blog is now featured on our website (www.globaltherapies.com). You should be redirected automatically to this article on our new site.

If you get an ERROR MESSAGE, or you are not redirected please press the REFRESH button on your browser.

Well, what a race. Brutal is a word you could use.
We got over to Hayfield with plenty of time to wander up and have a quick look at the final run in- and also at the start. Which is quite a daunting crazy hill straight up the side of a hill with a large amount of rather lush vegetation.
Changed and numbered up, I was running my first race in club colours- Glossopdale, and having had a couple of races in which I was put somewhat at a disadvantage by letting others charge off and waiting til the back to start, I thought I would go in with a slightly different race tactic of going hell for leather up the slope, and seeing how things pan out for the rest of the race. Maybe not my greatest tactical move ever.

3,2,1, off we go, not so much running as scrambling over the roots, brambles and through trees, then it gets steeper, and someone remarked that it was like breaking out of prison. (prison? which prison was that guy in?!). and after a mercifully short time, we were back on the flat and going oh, not flat, but up to the dragons back up toward Mount Famine itself.
I had done what I wanted, and was within spitting distance of the fast group, and slowly bleed places as I shuffled my way up the hill, trying with all my might to get my pulse back down to somewhere resembling a non-max HR. It didnt work.
So for the next couple of km's I steadily dropped back down the field, but not so much that I was particularly worried. I seem to be slower than average on the ups. Something of a theme in my running, and by the time I was at the first peak, I was with a team mate who indicated to the steep incline to our left and said- yup we've got to come back up that in a minute.
Down, up and down into the clough, I managed to hold my place there, but on the climb back up I had nothing. overtaken by another 3 guys, and then, after scrambling my way back to the top of Famine, a real hands and feet job, I turned and saw another of Glossopdale in close pursuit. Damn.

I stumbled off the top, leaden legs swinging my way toward home, back down the dragons back, finally managed to take back one of the places robbed of me on that last climb- (his shoe laces were coming undone by that point, so it didnt really count), and on, down into the the wood- nearly catching another who had caught me- when Dave comes past me saying "come on Tim"... nice- my retort... "I'll be with you in a minute".

We over took the next guy and he homed in on a- I think he was a Dark Peaker, but I just didn't have the legs in me at that point. I knew we were 400metres from home, and I'd done myself in. My breathing was laboured and my diaphragm was beginning to spasm. It would respond really well to Soft Tissue Release, or a session of MET, but at the end of a race, they aren't really an option. I was a good 30 metres behind them, and just about managed to stay in touch. The distance ground away, and I stopped concentrating on the guy behind, and followed Daves heels. He took the DPer on a short incline, then he was taken back, we hung a right, then a quick left into the play park, was still a good 30 metres behind, the funnel came into view, and even though a few moments ago I honestly thought I was a gonner, and my lungs were bursting somehow, from somewhere my legs started going, bang, it was like the other two had slowed down- I guess they hadn't because they were racing for the line, but in those last 20metres I had the final burst of speed and dropped them both, not even 5 metres from the end.

Just pipped them at the post- going so fast Lynne 

didn't have a chance to catch my face... (probably a good thing)

54.47 by my watch. (didn't know that til I looked on the computer- I was so excited by the end I forgot to stop my watch).

Me at the end. Watch still running

Nice to see so many of the Glossopdale lot out, and nice to feel properly knackered at the end of it as well. Couldnt stay for cake as my contact lenses were playing up.
Tactics need to be developed somewhat. As does my climbing...