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Scar tissue after knee replacement
I had knee replacement surgery 6 weeks ago . Through PT I have been working on breaking up the scar tissue only for it to regrow by the time I get back to PT two days later. I have been massaging at home, using a hand held massager and roller. It is painful and swollen. I am getting very disheartened. Any suggestions as to what else I can do. Has anyone had laser treatments to break up scar tissue? Were they effective?
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Chris,
Thank you for the information. I am afraid I do not know really much about Myofascial Release Therapy. What do you mean by "It took about six weeks to get the restrictive fascia and scar tissue released and then it was over"? Do you mean that the therapist was able to correct your issue and pain? At my initial PT after my TKR, I left therapy with flexion of 116... I have now regressed to 82... with extreme pushing and pain they can get me to 95 but it regresses back to 82 to 90. Its stuck!! and in so much pain daily. I just want to be out of pain daily. I have shed so many tears. I feel hopeless.
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1 ReactionYes, I might have a helpful answer.
I had a sever laceration on my forearm which took 30 sutures to close. The scar was terrible. Two months after the injury I discovered Scar Tape available on Amazon and I started wearing it according to directions. The healing and minimizing of the scar is amazing. The tape covers the scar stays in place. I do feel some tickling sensations occasionally.
I’m up to 20 hours a day and the improvement is 50% reduction.
The tape is reusable take off while swimming or bathing.
@krenn I think I can explain a bit how MFR works. Imagine that your leg is bound up in so many rubber bands that it is really hard for you to move and walk and the bands also connect up through your hips and back. There are layers on top of layers and it all wraps around your replaced knee joint too. What if you could stretch those rubber bands so they will allow you to move without cutting them?
Think about your habits like always sleeping in the same position, or posture. Are you a person with perfect posture all the time? How flexible are you? We all have habits, and if we don't stretch and move, our bodies can get stuck in positions of what we do all the time.
Fascia is like interconnecting cobwebs that stretch except that they also get tied up in knots and kinked, dehydrated, and then start pulling and putting a lot of pressure on the body. This fascia weaves through the muscles and organs. It is part of connective tissue that holds everything together. The video Chris shared shows how living fascia unwinds and reorganizes itself. It lengthens and changes state between being a semisolid and a liquid and then back to a semisolid again. That is what happens when you apply a gentle stretch and just hold it, and give the tissue time to respond. If you stretch too forcibly, the fascia can tear, and create scar tissue within it making things worse. Have you removed the skin from a raw piece of chicken and seen the cobweb stuff under the skin? That is non living fascia. It is a bit stretchy, but in life it can expand so much more than what you see there. Watch the video and you'll see. You can skip the first part and get to where you see the video like the still photo displayed on the video link.
Releasing fascia restrictions lets the body move better, allows body fluids to enter, and can reduce pain a lot actually, if tight tissue is the cause of that pain. It takes patience and working with the right therapist who has been trained in the John Barns methods. Surgery creates scar tissue, and myofascial release can mitigate that. I had a great recovery from spine surgery because I was doing MFR before and after the surgery, and Chris has a similar success with her knee replacement and she had a better recovery for the second one because of MFR. MFR shouldn't be painful. It feels like a yoga stretch that you just hold for awhile and wait.
This member @golfshrink also describes a similar situation of struggling after knee replacement and that MFR was the solution.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/247122/
Here is a link to a short article written by John Barnes explaining how fascia works as a lever.
https://myofascialrelease.com/downloads/articles/FasciaAsALever.pdf
I helped Chris discover myofascial release and at the beginning, she didn't understand why it helped, but she tried it and was patient, and it gave her back mobility. @artscaping, Chris can tell you how much it helped her. I was lucky to find an expert level trained therapist ten years ago who has helped me and taught me how all of this works. MFR has done a lot for me as well. There is an MFR provider search at http://mfrtherapists.com/
Do you have any questions about myofascial release?
@krenn @artscaping Here is a wonderful explanation of how myofascial release works that explains the science behind it. You probably have heard of hyaluronic acid as a supplement that helps skin. It is a component of joints as well as it holds water. It turns out this is also part of how fascia works that creates the layers that slide. I find this fascinating!
https://myofascialrelease.com/downloads/articles/TheresTheRub.pdfHere is a scientific article about hyaluronic acid and how important this is to the body. Cells have receptors that bind to hylaurinic acid which makes sense to describe how the fascia attaches and weaves between the cells of muscles and organs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583886/This may be more than you ever wanted to know about fascia. I love knowing how the body works, but you may have already guessed that!
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1 ReactionThank you, I am understanding how it works. I would love to investigate more.
I did check the list of therapist.. there is none in my area. I am in Washington NC
@krenn If you call Therapy on the Rocks which is the practice of John Barns, you can ask for names of therapists who have trained there. They have to pay for the listing on the website provider search, and not all do that, but they can possibly find someone in your area. It's worth a try. You can also travel to one of the John Barns practices (also one in Pennsylvania) and do an intensive therapy for a couple weeks. It is pricey and may not be covered by insurance, but you may advance faster because of having treatment everyday.
Here is the link for information. https://therapyontherocks.net/
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2 ReactionsRecommend you look into myofascial release therapy and shock wave therapy, the latter a small jackhammer like tool that sends sound waves in to break down scar tissue. It doesn’t hurt like the MFR but don’t mind the MFR as long as it’s working.
@mpirruccel Myofascial release isn't supposed to hurt, and it doesn't use aggressive tools. I know there was something called a fascia blaster, but that wasn't MFR. If it hurts and forces are too aggressive, you risk tearing the fascia causing more scar tissue and just making it worse. MFR is very gentle pressure and you just wait for the fascia to unwind itself. This is how the John Barns methods work as the inventor of the method through the skilled hands of the therapist who can feel the pathways of tight tissues and apply gentle pressure, like pushing to kneed bread dough, except you push and hold the pressure and just wait.
What were the methods that you were describing?
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3 ReactionsThe MFR doesn’t hurt per se but definitely is a deep pressure on the scar tissue. I do feel better afterwards. I am just sorry I didn’t do it sooner.
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1 ReactionThe video while very technical enabled to see this amazing function in terms that I can begin to understand and see the importance MFR as a critical therapy and should be incorporated as part of healing after surgery or trauma.
Fascinating.
Thank you, Jill Mosher