@elsa Hi Elsa. That is great that you are exercising to maintain your strength. Good for you! I think myofascial release can help you, and with many years of scar tissue, it will probably take longer. I also have thoracic outlet syndrome that waited about 10 years before I began MFR work and I have improved a lot because of MFR. My doctor predicted I needed 2 - 3 years of PT with MFR and it was during that time that my bulging cervical disc ruptured and collapsed so I hit a plateau and stopped progressing, but having done that work on my neck and shoulders made it easier for my spine surgeon because my muscle was not as tight, and I had an easier recovery from my cervical fusion. I started working on MFR again at about 6 months post op. It's like peeling layers of an onion to reveal the layers underneath and it changes as you get deeper. The fascia connects like a web through the body and I can also feel it moving down in my leg or hip when my PT is working on my neck or jaw. It also pulls across to the opposite side to the shoulder or opposite hip. Tightness has pulled my pelvis out of alignment from the tightness through my ribs that connects downward. The incision scar on my neck does get tight and can initiate a muscle spasm and periodically needs more stretching. If your body stops moving, things tend to tighten up again. I'm working on rehabbing my leg after an open ankle fracture that had 2 surgeries last spring. After spending 3 months of no weight bearing and sitting on the couch, I'm catching up again on some of the neck and shoulder tightness and working on strength and coordination for walking.

Some of what my therapist has worked on is a big scar on my ribs that is 50 years old that never had stitches by pulling on it. All of that connects to fascia under it. When my PT first started working on my neck, it was stuck together and she could not feel the individual muscles until I'd had about 2 years of MFR that was about 2 times a week. You should be able to feel some improvement soon after you start, and you'll progress faster if you work on the self treating MFR stretching that you can do at home. I've become good at inventing ways to stretch. Once you gain the body awareness to feel the fascia slide and move and where it goes, you can stretch to find that feeling and you just hold it and wait for the fascia to realign itself. When you first start therapy, it might take 15 minutes at first to start to slide, but as you keep working, it will start sliding within 5 minutes or so. Look for a John Barne's trained expert level therapist. There are also some John Barne's workshops for the public to teach the methods about once a year. John is an older guy, so at some point, he may retire. His website is http://www.myofascialrelease.com and there is a provider search.

I think you will benefit from MFR and it will help get muscles aligned better which will align the bones better like the pelvis. When that is off, it causes back or leg pain for me. The pelvis can twist because it has joints and is made of a few different bones. I know when I feel fatigue in half of my low back, it is because my pelvis is off, and it can make one leg seem too long or short. There are some PT moves to realign the pelvis. I've learned in my rehab that gluteus medius on the sides of my hips has a job to keep the pelvis bones from shifting forward, and mine fatigue with walking, but as I regain strength there, I get better pelvis stability. To answer your question, yes, the fascia can be remodeled and realigned after being stuck for years. I have done that myself.

Good for you for avoiding opiates. I never took a single one after I left the hospital after my spine surgery. I had pain, but it was bearable. My ankle fracture was actually much more painful and over a longer time than my spine surgery and I managed to get off the hydrocodone in 2 weeks and I only took a small doses as needed because it nauseates me, so that was not round the clock. I spaced out doses and waited until I had higher pain levels before taking he next one and I alternated with the Ibuprofin. You are welcome to join our MFR discussion. I started it to collect a lot of information as a resource, so the first pages have lots of links. Here is the link.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/