Active release technique - experiences?

July 20, 2016 12:39 PM

I had surgery for compartment syndrome about six months ago. My question is for folks who are athletic and have had experience with the ART (or with an H-Wave machine): What were your personal experiences, and how long did your results last? YANMD, YANMC, etc.

Possible pertinent information:

* It's possible that I'm still healing from the surgery, but I've had a lot of issues with muscle tightness that, thankfully, the ART seems to be resolving. The sticking point is the swelling - it's still a problem. I'm hoping the ART will completely resolve this, and the results so far are good, but slow. I'm worried that at the first sign of impact I'll be back to swelling
* Chiropractor mentioned I might have an overactive immune system. Not a disorder or disease, just an overactive one that treats microtears as foreign objects and reacts with swelling.
* Chiropractor also thought I'd be a good candidate for an H-wave machine.
* The surgery was to release all 4 compartments in both legs
* Ice, heat, elevation all help
* I still can't do simple things without swelling - crouching for any length of time, walking for a half hour or more, standing on my feet for too long all induce a bit of swelling that I can feel.
* Running and any exercise involving impact is out of the question, not for pain, but because of swelling

Again, my snowflake details are just that - snowflakes! I'm looking for anyone who has ART and what your experiences were. Just including a bit more detail if it's needed/wanted.

posted by onecircleaday to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

I had ART and physiotherapy for frozen shoulder 8 years ago and at the time, I thought ART was the thing that healed my shoulder. Now I'm more skeptical because I have read up more on the medical science of frozen shoulder and it is said to go away on its own. The physiotherapy is to gain back strength and range of motion. I actually have frozen shoulder again right now. I kept the instructions for the exercises from the first time and I am just doing those now. It's getting better and it seems to be doing so faster than last time. The ART may have actually irritated me more. But we'll see. If it doesn't go away completely I will try ART again. Right now it's in the "unfreezing" stage. I realize compartment syndrome is very different from frozen shoulder, but you definitely don't want anything that might cause more swelling. Mine didn't, but there was a little bit of bruising from the doctor pressing hard on the tissue. I bruise easily though.

I had electronic muscle stimulation after a knee injury along with physiotherapy, and I responded really well to it. It helped me regain strength faster. Not sure if this is the H-wave thing you're talking about. Neither of those treatments hurt me, but they were kind of expensive and not covered by my insurance.
posted by Beethoven's Sith at 6:51 PM on July 20, 2016