As with any exercise program, if at any point during your workout you begin to feel faint, dizzy, or have physical discomfort, you should stop immediately and consult a physician.
Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated to our beloved parents -
Mr. and Mrs. Abelson and
Dr. and Mrs. Radhakrishnan,
whose love and support made
many things possible in our lives.
We have been looking forward to releasing the second edition of Release Your Pain for several years now. We were both very happy when our first edition achieved international best-seller status and became available in both Italian and English.
That being said, we believe that you will enjoy the second edition of Release Your Pain even more than the first. Our many and abundant THANKS go out to all our readers, patients, friends, fellow practitioners, and physicians for their great feedback, which has resulted in many of the changes to this new edition, as well as to the generation of a whole collection of new books in the Release Your Kinetic Chain and Release Your Body series. (These two new series of books address the many requests made by our patients and practitioners for a deeper and more detailed explanation of biomechanics and anatomy as they relate to soft-tissue injury care and recovery – while keeping these explanations easy-to-read and understand.) We invite you to check out our website at www.releaseyourbody.com for more information about these new books.
Learning and teaching Active Release Techniques for me has been a great experience. At the present time I am no longer teaching ART but am primarily a practitioner (Kinetic Health, Calgary AB) and a writer on the subjects of musculoskeletal injuries and sports performance. Even though I believe in integrating numerous techniques into multidisciplinary strategies, Active Release Techniques is still my primary therapy of choice. Every technique has its strengths and weaknesses, but for me ART is by far one of the best soft-tissue techniques in the world today. So let me take the opportunity to give special thanks to many individuals who inspired us to write this second edition.
Our special thanks go to Dr. Mike Leahy, the developer and creator of Active Release Techniques. Without Dr. Leahy, Active Release Techniques (ART) would not exist. In addition to being one of the most incredible soft-tissue practitioners alive today, Dr. Leahy has done a remarkable job in keeping ART as an ever-growing and expanding field of knowledge. ART has brought relief to thousands of lives and has often been the key factor in changing a dysfunctional life into a life of joy.
ART today is a very different entity from when I first started practicing its techniques. As amazing as ART was in those exciting early days, ART now provides much more, with its always expanding courses and treatment protocols, as well as several entirely new programs. ART has grown tremendously over the last decade with the development of long nerve tract techniques, the expanded biomechanics course, web broadcasts, and the integration of new research material. If you are a soft tissue practitioner and are interested in taking any of the ART courses, then you will need to go to www.activerelease.com for course listings. At this time, these are the only official ART courses that are authorized by Dr. Leahy.
Speaking of Dr. Leahy, I need to thank him for giving me the opportunity to express my own personal opinions in this book, even when those opinions do not always coincide with his. I remember a few years ago, sitting down with Dr. Leahy (Mike) at a course I was helping to teach in Vancouver, BC. At this course I asked Mike what he would like to see in a second edition of Release Your Pain. His answer was quite simply “Write on what you think is important, it’s your writing.” So, I Thank You Mike, for giving me the freedom to write about a technique that is undeniably yours. As you are reading this book, please keep in mind that I have interspersed many of my own opinions and perspectives into this new edition.
The last decade of working with Dr. Leahy and my fellow teachers as we instruct courses in ART has been a great learning experience. My many thanks go to each practitioner who has helped me discover new information and new pathways in an ever-expanding field.
Kamali and I would also like to thank all the special individuals involved in the production of this book. Special thanks go to Dr. Tarveen Ahluwalia, DC for her help during many of our photo shoots and productions. Our many thanks also go to our ever-so-patient models Arlynd and Jenny Fletcher, Miki Water, Sherry Sands, and Corrine Lloyd. Thanks also go to our amazing photographer, artist, and friend Lavanya Balasubramanian – you are wonderful in so many ways. Our deepest gratitude goes to our editors Hannah MacLeod, Kristin Meidal, and Dr. Evangelos Mylonas for their abundant “red marks” that help everyone understand my ramblings.
But there is one person who must receive credit above all the others – that is my dear wife, Kamali. Kamali is much more than just my co-author and editor, she is my partner in life, a wonderful mother to our children, and my best friend. Without her help in converting the contents of my web brain into intelligible English, this second edition would never be possible. So I thank my Indian Goddess for all her help, and for putting up with me throughout this process.
We hope you enjoy and benefit from this second edition of Release Your Pain.
Dr. Brian Abelson, DC
Foreword by
Dr. P. Michael Leahy
ART is a patented, state-of-the-art soft-tissue system that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common – they often result from injury to over-used muscles.
Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness, and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely-directed tension with very specific patient movements.
These treatment protocols – over 500 of them - are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that affect each individual patient. ART is not a cookie-cutter approach. Each course of therapy is individually designed to resolve the patient’s problems. Whether you are an office worker, a weekend warrior, or a world-class athlete, the preventative and restorative benefits of ART can help you perform at your best.
Active Release Techniques follows a simple concept, but it is not easy to execute the treatments, nor is it easy to describe how it works. Kamali Abelson and Dr. Brian Abelson manage to describe ART in a way that is easy to grasp - without missing any of the important facts. This is only possible because Brian has a deep understanding of soft-tissue injuries and the methods for treating these injuries. This understanding allows him to make the descriptions simple, clear, and understandable. This is refreshing in a world of overstated claims and hype.
This is the book to read for anyone (practitioners, patients, or friends) who wants to achieve an understanding of what causes the majority of soft-tissue injuries, and for anyone who wants