WHAT IS SOFT TISSUE MOBILISATION & WHY IS IT USED?

Soft tissue mobilisation is a treatment method designed to restore normal function to the muscles, tendons, ligaments nerves and fascia of the body. These tissues become damaged or altered through overuse, previous injury and /or current injury. When an injury occurs in the tissue, whether repetitive or sudden, part of the repair process is to grow fibrous scar tissue over the area of injury to help it heal. This scar tissue sticks not only to either side of the torn tissue, but also to surrounding healthy areas causing tissue layers to become stuck together. When tissue layers are unable to slide above, below and/or through one another, dysfunction and pain follows.

The soft tissue mobilisation techniques used at Sport & Spine include Active Release Technique (ART) which has long been the soft tissue treatment of choice in the greater athletic community, and Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation (IASTM). Both methods have proven to be very effective at breaking down areas of problematic scar tissue.

ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUES® (ART):

Active Release Techniques (ART), is a patented manual soft-tissue treatment system that addresses the problematic sticky scar tissue described above. It involves a manual release of scar tissue build up by hand. Generally the positive effects of ART can be noticed immediately, if applied correctly, which is why it has become one of the most sought after treatment systems in the world.

INSTRUMENT ASSISTED SOFT TISSUE MOBILISATION (IASTM)

Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation (IASTM) involves the gentle application of a specialised instrument to problem scar tissue to restore mobility of the soft tissues as opposed to a release method applied by hand.