Scars….Big ones, little ones, tight ones, soft ones, painful ones, numb ones, old ones, new ones, they are all still scars that need to be released.
Scars Locations Do not matter
Scars can create adhesions
It is sometimes beyond my own comprehension at how far and wide the scar tissue can reach its tentacles. A scar on my chin from when I was 7-8 years old, approximately 36 years ago while being treated and released during one of my most recent MFR sessions was actually connected to the scar in my left knee from a scope in 2000. How did that happen?
Scar tissue is a form of connective tissue that knows no boundaries. It is dense and has less elastic qualities and its sole purpose is to bind the tissue together again. In doing so, it sometimes doesn’t know when enough is enough and continues to lay down more and more layers which can turn into adhesions. These adhesions literally can attach the skin all the way down to the bone and restrict normal movement. Then when you combine everyday life into the mix which results in possibly further injuries, poor posture, repetitive motions, and the body’s fascial system seems to hit a tipping point. It is at this point that it begins to bind everything together, near and far with a crushing 2000 pounds per square inch of pressure to everything it touches. Because of this fact one can then see where the statement “Find the Pain, Look Elsewhere for the Cause” has undeniable merit and truth which can be felt.
It is the scar tissue of my life that made me the believer in Myofascial Release and drove me to become the therapist I am today, specializing in Myofascial Release. What I thought was my initial injury, a fall off of a treadmill at 40% incline not once but twice, catching myself with my left arm, never stopping and pulling my feet back under me and continuing on like the good exerciser I was with the “ No Pain, No Gain” mentality, was not the ultimate source of my pain. In looking back, I remember constantly having to twist, stretch, jam, crack, manipulate my spine throughout the day. I remember my left knee constantly swelling beyond normal and being very painful and like the good PTA I was, I iced it, Ultrasounded it, taped it, took some iBuphren and soldier on. I would have to rotate exercise schedules because it would hurt if I did that exercise and that would hurt if I did this exercise. But not until the treadmill fall where I partially tore my rotator cuff was I even aware that scar tissue could behave in this manner. Actually I once thought scars shrank and disappeared over time because that is what I was taught in school. So as the newest injury was the catalyst to spark my scars to bare down on my body and ultimately sent me down the path to John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Approach. It was when all the surgical pieces (scars) come together.
The vast majority of my scar tissue was from the 8 breast surgeries that I had, 2 breast biopsies, 5 failed implant surgeries, and ultimately a complete reduction and removal but after so many surgeries the chest was left without feeling and not even an awareness of the tightness that was actually pulling my spine and head forward so much so that T1 had a major bulge which is rare and I had lost all natural curvature of my cervical spine. So my last fall was the straw that broke this camel’s back. The fascia kicked into high gear and began to bind my tissues even harder, pain was now 24/7 and all it took for the awareness of a connection was the gifted, soft and gentle hands of my mentor John Barnes’ and Myofascial Release. Within 5 minutes I felt the pain in the back connect to areas where scar tissue resided for the first time in 12 years. Areas that had been numb I could feel. “Wow, the pain in the back was actually coming from scars on the front!” Though this is just a snippet of the story of my scars, please read the article written by my mentor himself at the link below. It is so important to release the scars before they begin to make undercover connection throughout your body, slowing and effortlessly pulling and tugging and twisting your body into unnatural tightness and just waiting to take a strong hold on your life by seizing control of your mobility and flexibility and creating pain which takes away your ability to leave a joyful and pain-free active life. Myofascial Release and Wellness of Tampa Bay can help you release the restrictions and return to living life how you were meant to be, with Fascial Freedom and Pain-Free.