Performance Care

ART® Performance Care is a unique approach to helping you perform at your best while training and competing. Efficient movement is the key to optimum performance. When your muscles are moving fully and freely, your performance will be enhanced.

For example, the extreme demands of Ironman training and competition can damage muscle. When muscle is overused, it tends to shorten. This is a result of fibrous scar tissue, or adhesions, that build up within muscles and between muscle fibers. Normal muscle acts like a bundle of rubber bands - able to shorten and lengthen freely. When a muscle is overused, scar tissue adhesions build up.

There are four basic processes that cause scar-tissue adhesions:

1. Injuries (like tearing from a muscle pull)
2. Micro trauma (the accumulation of small injuries over time)
3. Hypoxia (when a muscle doesn't get enough oxygen, adhesions build up)
4. Excessive friction (during movement, muscles must slide against other structures, muscles, nerve, etc.)

Over time, the build-up of scar tissue adhesions will cause noticeable symptoms like pain and weakness. However, long before symptoms are felt, athletic performance is influenced - this is especially true for distance athletes.

ART® is a state-of-the-art soft tissue treatment system designed to identify and treat scar tissue adhesions. While it is the treatment of choice for injuries to muscles, tendons, nerves, etc, ART® Performance Care is unique in the healthcare industry because it allows an athlete to have his or her performance evaluated, biomechanically, and corrected through treatment. For example, a trained and certified ART® biomechanics provider will observe a runner and determine which muscles are hindering the performance. By combining this evaluation with patented ART® treatment protocols, ART® providers can treat scar tissue adhesions and help an athlete perform at his or her best.

Personal Injury Care

A car crash is a highly stressful experience, especially when you - or your loved ones - are injured. Our doctors and staff strive to provide the best care and also to manage the cases correctly, from the start. Injuries from car crashes are often complicated and symptoms may not surface for months or even years following the incident. We specialize in management of cases, such as these, to provide our patients and their lawyers the information required to get the care necessary to restore those injured to normal life.

Performance Back Systems

Performance Back Systems is a comprehensive spine-reconditioning program. We utilize MedX medical machines to correct musculoskeletal weakness and instability. Our treatment program consists of re-activation exercise protocols that are recommended, taught, and published by the University of California, San Diego Department of Orthopedics; and the University of Florida Colleges of Medicine and Health and Human Performance.

MedX machines are specifically designed to provide the most effective means of isolating, safely testing, and directly strengthening the muscles in the low back and neck. The effectiveness of MedX is attested in more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, such as Spine and Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

In the Performance Back program, participants are initially evaluated in order to determine deficiencies in strength and range of motion. A specialized treatment protocol is implemented to address weakness and restrictions using progressive-resistance exercises, functional stretches, and reconditioning exercises. One-on-one supervision is provided by well-trained therapists.

Patients are scheduled three times per week for the first two weeks and twice per week thereafter. Re-evaluations are performed every four weeks to determine when maximum benefits have been achieved. The average duration of the program is six to ten weeks.

The goal of the Performance Back program is to return the patient to normal function. At the completion of the program, patients are encouraged to continue their progress through self-directed strengthening and stretching exercises. For those who wish to transition to a community gym, our therapy staff offers complimentary on-site training as part of their program.

Performance Back was the first therapy clinic to bring MedX equipment to the state of Colorado. We have been successfully helping patients return to pre-injury status - or better - for more than 15 years.

However, Performance Back is not limited to spine care. We are experienced in treating a wide range of injuries and providing comprehensive rehabilitation for the entire individual.

ART® Corporate Solutions

Champion Health is the foundation of Active Release Techniques'® Corporate Solutions program. ART Corporate Solutions® is the ground-breaking concept that corporations, both large and small can actively reduce the lost time and expense of workplace injury by treating the problem before it becomes recordable. We do this by providing soft tissue injury care on site for employees with repetitive and cumulative soft tissue injury. By doing this before the injury causes lost time and a doctor's visit, we help the employee eliminate their pain and learn how to prevent it in the future. The very first corporation we worked with in Colorado Springs saved nearly $800,000 in one year, in comparison of their prior year's records.