What do all of the following have in common?
Caesarean “C” Section
Breast reduction
Breast implant
Appendectomy
Laparoscopy
Arthroscopy
Well that is easy right? They are all surgeries. But would it surprise you to know that 6 out of 10 women who walk into my office do not consider C- Sections or breast work surgeries? Yes, you did read that correctly.
There is an alarm gong off in my head. At first it was a small ding and as the years have gone by it has been getting louder and louder. These days it is going off like an air raid siren. When a new client comes to see me I, as with all health professionals, I have them fill out a medical history intake form. It is very common for people to “forget” about past injuries, illness and yes even a minor surgery. It has always amazes me none the less, I mean really how does one forget they broke an arm or an ankle?
Here are some of the many conversations/comments that have resulted from the “Please list all surgeries” section on the form:
“Surgery? No..not really… Well…I had a c-section but I do not consider that surgery.”
“Why is that?”
“Well..it wasn’t planned it was an emergency.”
“No surgery…I just had my breasts done but that doesn’t count.”
” I did have my toe chopped off but they sewed it back on and that was so long ago it doesn’t matter.”
No.. No surgeries ..just had some work done on my mouth twice.”
“Do you mean you had Oral surgery?”
“Yes”
“Well I did have my uterus taken out. But they did that through my belly button- barely even see the scar..so no, no surgery.”
During a session I will observe a scar and inquire as to its origin. The client inevitably says “What scar? where? Oh right? …That’s from when I wiped out on my motorcycle…yeah I ruptured my spleen and they had to do surgery” and this one on your leg? “Oh that? I was dragged by the bike on asphalt pretty narlly huh?!”
Scar tissue therapy is generally overlooked by health professionals because the extent of physiological effects scars can have on the body have never really been acknowledged. If the Doctors are ignoring the effects then what hope does the patient have of ever understanding the that the slightest restriction, in the elaborate matrix of fascia, can have major repercussions from one end of the body to the other.
During the course of my career I’ve treated many patients whose problems could be traced back to a scar they had forgotten they even had. Almost everyone has a scar. While not every scar presents a problem, often they can.
I never know what amazes me more the body’s ability to respond so quickly to the release of adhered tissues or the shock on the patient’s face when their body is freed from it’s restrictions and pain due to that scar they forgot they even had. But the one thing I do know is that ignorance is not bliss. The time has come for the public to be made aware of effects of scar tissue and adhesions.