When you injure muscles, tendons or ligaments, scar tissue forms around the injury. Scar tissue is created from collagen cells found in these soft tissues. New collagen cells are formed in the wake of an injury, but they often aggregate without order, producing scars. Although scar tissue does not disappear quickly naturally, it is not permanent.  Your body may use a process called remodeling to loosen and replace these collagen cell adhesions. This process may take weeks, months or years to break up without medical intervention.

Active Release Techniques uses manual manipulation to apply compressive, tensile and shear forces to address myofascial restrictions that could be leading to soft tissue dysfunction. The clinician applies deep tension at the area of dysfunction whilst the patient is instructed to actively move the tissue from a shortened to a lengthened position. By placing the contact point near the lesion and instructing the patient to move in a manner that produces a longitudinal sliding motion of soft tissues, e.g, nerves, ligaments and muscles beneath the contact point, ART is effective at restoring soft tissue dysfunction.