Ouch - anybody ever done ART for an injury?

[milee]

I've had tendonitis in my elbow/forearm (tennis elbow) for a few months now.  Got sore in March, got better by June, then came back very sore in late July.  Wearing the elbow brace helped a little and wearing a wrist splint at night (keeps you from sleeping with your wrists curled which aggravates it) helped as well, but it's still very sore.  One of my friends who is a physical therapist suggested I see a local sports doc who does ART.  Think it stands for "active release technique".

Anyway, went for the first appointment yesterday.  Treatment consists of massaging the sore area with ever increasing and pointed pressure to release any muscle adhesions.  Can you say "ouchie"?  Because I sure did.

It does feel a little better today but I'm dreading going back tomorrow for the next treatment.  Anybody have any good stories to tell?  Help me to know this is really gonna work or scare me off enough to cancel the appointment.  Either way, it's all good.

[greeniis10]

Sorry, no personal experience with that treatment, but I'll be interested to hear about your next treatment and the results.  How long would you have to do it (as in, how many visits)?  Or does that depend on the the pain level and healing process?  I have an ongoing ankle issue (torn tendons years ago and now they are very weak) so I'd be willing to try this if it works. 

Hope someone else has better info!

[milee]

Don't know if it was based on the injury level or the placement of the injury, but he thinks I'll have to do this 3-4 times before it's feeling better. 

I'm going to have a few stiff drinks before the next appointment.  Which will be interesting because it's at 9:30 in the morning.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Yep.....I've gotten it to break up the adhesions caused by scar tissue from multiple surgery.  I notice each time, the joint moves much smoother.  At this point, I think my PT has broken up as much scar tissue as she can.  Of the 35 appointments I've had thus far, she's probably done this at 1/3 of them.

My suggestion is to take a dose of ibuprofen before your appointment and the evening afterwards.  The achiness is pretty short lived.

[wvugurl26]

Aug 8, 2013 11:34:36 GMT -5 milee said:

Don't know if it was based on the injury level or the placement of the injury, but he thinks I'll have to do this 3-4 times before it's feeling better. 

I'm going to have a few stiff drinks before the next appointment.  Which will be interesting because it's at 9:30 in the morning.

Mimosa or bloody mary breakfast? The daquiris I make are full of fresh fruit so you could just call it a smoothie.

If you can make it through, it will probably help.

[milee]

OK, you guys have convinced me. 

I'll go... but I'm having a big "smoothie" first.

[Miss Tequila]

My husband just started this Monday for the same type of injury on his elbow. He has had two treatments so far and did say that it is feeling some what better. He said it hurt like a bitch during it, thiug

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

I think this this one of the PT options my doctor wants me to try.  She said it hurts like the devil but many patients say it helps. 

[Clever Username]

I had hand surgery and followed it up with a bunch of sessions of PT.
They used all sorts of techniques and equipment.
I'm a firm believer in good PT.

[Malarky]

Treatment consists of massaging the sore area with ever increasing and pointed pressure to release any muscle adhesions. Can you say "ouchie"? Because I sure did.


I'm having this done twice a week in conjunction with other therapies for my shoulder.  Yes, it hurts at the time, but it really helps in the long run.  I actually look forward to it. 

Do you get e-stim  or any other soothing therapy to end the session? 

On days when I have this done, I usually don't need pain medication. 

[Deleted]

I'll go... but I'm having a big "smoothie" first.

With vitamin V aka momma's little helper?




One of my girlfriends has gone through the technique and says the same as everyone else. Hurts like a b*tch but you feel much better and quicker. I should try it myself. I had a bad fall while we were in Germany and while I did a bunch of PT I can still feel that muscle mass.

One thing that you probably are aware of, we tend to re-injure these same areas. Once you start having issues again you really need to rest/baby it rather than trying to tough it out. You'll recover much faster vs doing more damage.

[milee]

Aug 8, 2013 17:33:48 GMT -5 @bonnap said:

I'll go... but I'm having a big "smoothie" first.

With vitamin V aka momma's little helper?




One of my girlfriends has gone through the technique and says the same as everyone else. Hurts like a b*tch but you feel much better and quicker. I should try it myself. I had a bad fall while we were in Germany and while I did a bunch of PT I can still feel that muscle mass.

One thing that you probably are aware of, we tend to re-injure these same areas. Once you start having issues again you really need to rest/baby it rather than trying to tough it out. You'll recover much faster vs doing more damage.

I'm not a prescription drug kinda girl, figured the smoothie would just be fortified with rum.

You're right about the injury thing.  It was starting to feel better a few months ago, so I started ramping up the push ups and aggressive sailboat racing again... bad idea.  Not sure how long I can avoid either of those things, so hoping that the ART works and I can go back to normal stuff in a few weeks.  It's funny that it's called "tennis elbow".  I don't play tennis, never tried.  I'm so uncoordinated, I'd probably manage to kill myself with the racket.  So it's a bit unfair to have a "tennis" injury.

[Deleted]

That would be Vodka not Valium.

I don't play tennis, never tried. I'm so uncoordinated, I'd probably manage to kill myself with the racket. So it's a bit unfair to have a "tennis" injury

Oh, I understand. I have recurring bicepital tendonitis...from painting. I'm not a weight lifter

[milee]

Oh, gotcha on the V.  I had a different connotation.

One of my favorite memories was of meeting some of the women who founded our local women's sailing group.  They started the group in the early '70s when it was rare to see women on the boat even as crew and women were never ever skippers of their own boat.  Well, this small group of adventurous women decided to change that and started their own sailing club.  First it was 2 of them and they recruited all their friends to join.  One of the friends who joined the first year came to our club's last year's Christmas party to reminisce about how it all started...

Picture this tiny, sweet little old lady.  She is maybe 4'11" with bones as fine as a bird's and perfectly coiffed white hair.  She looks like she has just cooked a batch of cookies, hung up her apron and stepped onto the porch to visit with her great grandchildren.  When she opens her mouth to speak, it is with a sweet, quiet voice and here is her story.  "My friend Lilly really wanted to get all of us to sail.  I loved Lilly but was afraid.  The first day, the wind was blowing and we were all too afraid to sail.  So Lilly pulled us aside and gives us a little vitamin.  I felt so much better.  We went out to sail and all capsized.  We were underneath the capsized boat but weren't worried at all because there was an inch of air we could breathe and we still felt really good.  That Valium is good stuff."

This was what all 50 of us listening to the story looked like: 

It was a lot like hearing your grandma describing her first acid trip.

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

Milee I had never heard of this but I googled it. It sounds like manual version of the PT treatment I am currently getting through electrodes which are supposedly breaking up the masses / adhesions caused by the chronic tendinitis in my hip. My PT sets up the electrodes and tells me to tell him when I can't take the pain anymore. I tell him, and then he leaves it for another 10-15 seconds. 

I had four sessions (with the electrodes, not the massage). So, I KNOW it's not the same therapy but I THINK it's the same principle.

I climbed the highest point in Petra about 10 days ago, without ONE SINGLE TWINGE. And I have been in pain with that hip for YEARS! 

I have also had yearly infiltrations. They alleviate the pain to some extent. But the fact that I had NO pain during that climb is absolutely miraculous to me! 

You could always schedule your appt at the end of the day, after Gin O'Clock LOL ...

[JustLurkin]

I had it, in my back.  Actually something went weird with the area above my hips, so it was very lower back.  Hurt like hell, I cried after the first visit and couldn't imagine going back...but I did, between that and the PT everything is fine now--although they did say I may need it again in the future.

[Deleted]

You could always schedule your appt at the end of the day, after Gin O'Clock LOL ...

@debthaven2, then she'd have to share!



That's really good news BTW regarding your hip. I've got an annual exam set for next week. I'll see if my HMO does this kind of therapy. I like the idea of being "twinge free".

[Deleted]

I had no progress on tennis elbow PT until I got a therapist that did the ouchie/pointed pressure approach.  It worked & hasn't come back since.  I think I went once a week for a total of 10 weeks (they didn't change the therapy until 3rd or 4th week, so what they were doing in the beginning wasn't working).  

[milee]

Went to the second appointment today.  I'm still pissed that you guys talked me into paying someone money to torture me.  By tomorrow, I'll probably feel differently, though if it feels better. 

[wvugurl26]

Aug 9, 2013 8:51:58 GMT -5 milee said:

Went to the second appointment today.  I'm still pissed that you guys talked me into paying someone money to torture me.  By tomorrow, I'll probably feel differently, though if it feels better. 

I thought that about my physical therapist but he really did help me.

[Deleted]

milee,

Didn't you have your smoothie?

[Malarky]

LOL.  I see my physical therapist on Mondays and Thursdays.

And I have a veritable plethora of pharmaceutical options open to me. 

I'm indulging in my homemade "smoothie".  Fruit is the primary ingredient.  Rum is the most important. 

I feel better. 

[Nazgul Girl]

    You people are evidently wusses.   I had the same therapy for the same shoulder adhesions, and I didn't have vitamin Vodka, Vitamin Valium, or Rum Smoothies to help me.   I got thru it, but I sure was crabby when I got home each time after the sessions !!  

    I was in physical therapy for almost six months, and went from not bein able to move my arm to a little bove my waist while yelling/screaming in terrible pain to being able to do full arm rotations forward and backward and lifitng up my arm all the way above my head.   Everything is painless.

    That therapy is worth all of the pain it causes at the time of receiving it.   Keep on going to your appointments.   You won't be sorry in the long run.

[milee]

Didn't do the smoothie pre-treatment because the appointment was only 30 minutes after boot camp was over, so just enough time to shower and be ready.  Pretty sure going to boot camp tipsy would have been a sure way to kill myself.  It takes all my coordination to do those $#)@ box jumps and I can't imagine trying that with a smoothie in me. 

But NazgulGirl is right, apparently I'm a wuss because I thought the ART was painful. 

On the plus side, it does all feel a little better today, so I think it's working.

[Deleted]

On the plus side, it does all feel a little better today, so I think it's working.

 That's what counts!

[bean29]

I have had it done.  My insurance does not cover it so it is very expensive. 

I also have tendonitis in my arms.  It goes away if I stop excercising but when I stopped excercising I gained abt 20 lbs.  I am back to excercising and the tendonitis is flaring up again.

I agree that it is painful when she is doing the massage but I really noticed a difference the next day.