Active Release Technique for Athletes and Non-Athletes
Pain in your shoulders can affect a wide range of activities. ART® providers treat cases of shoulder pain resulting from as little as working at your computer to participating in activities such as tennis, swimming, and golf. Shoulder pain is commonly slow to respond to traditional treatments, and if shoulder pain progresses, it can make simple tasks, such as reaching for things and sleeping, painful.
As with any type of injury, ART® first looks at the underlying cause of shoulder pain. The shoulder provides a great deal of motion for a single joint, and allows people to reach overhead, behind their bodies, across their chest, and to rotate their arms. The shoulder joint is comprised of the rounded end of the arm bone called the “humerus,” and the flat surface of the shoulder blade, known as the “scapula.” Because the shoulder is the joining of a flat and a round surface, it is a relatively loose joint, which is what enables it to provide such a wide range of motions. Stability and control of this motion is provided by the rotator cuffs and scapular stabilizers.
Shoulder injuries occur most often when significant stress or repetitive motion inhibit the rotator cuffs and scapular stabilizers from doing their job. Many people realize that sports such as tennis or golf can cause shoulder injuries easily. This is because these activities demand both a great deal of force from the rotator cuffs and scapular stabilizers, as their swinging motion requires the arm to reach far behind and in front of the body, and numerous repetitions of those motions.
