Self Scar Massage

How is scar tissue different from other tissue?

When viewed under a microscope, normal tissue can be organized in a couple of different fashions: dense, regular elongated fibers running in the same direction, such as tendons and ligaments; or dense and loose, irregular with fibers running in multiple directions. In either instance, when tissue is damaged, it will often heal in a fibrotic, haphazard manner and may appear radio-dense under diagnostic ultrasound. The tissue may show thickening, irregular organization or less precise margins as compared to non-injured tissues, which results in a restricted range of motion and, very often, pain and functional limitations.

Cesarean scars can be painful. Some women feel pain or tightness in their scars when they are lifting, leaning, reaching or even standing up straight. If a woman cannot stand up straight without feeling pain or a “pulling” sensation, it may cause her to limit movement, change her posture, and eventually lead to pain in her body (for example, lower back pain).

The scar can also cause muscle, connective tissue, and nerve damage in adjacent areas to the scarring. Over time this can lead to pelvic pain, bowel problems (such as constipation and IBS) and painful sex.

The best thing for a new Mom is rest and recovery. Doing too much, too soon, after a cesarean is a health risk that far too many women take. Of course, it’s important that you keep your incision clean, avoid lifting anything heavy, and eat well to support healing but there’s still more that should be done.

Every scar, no matter how old, could benefit from scar tissue release therapy from injuries to burns to surgical scars.Try not to over stretch or strain your scar at least for the first 6 weeks. Doing this will only cause more pain as the healing skin is re-torn which causes more scar tissue to be formed. Make sure the scar is not sensitive to the touch. Also note, whether it has been months or even years since your cesarean, it isn’t too late to achieve improvements.

When you massage your scar, you help the scar tissues learn where to lie down and relieve it from growing in unwanted places like on the fascia and surrounding organs. Massage can facilitate increased blood flow, which is beneficial for healing the area. Massage aids in smoothing out thick scars and can help stop the scar from growing larger during the initial phase of healing. A scar heals in two phases. The first phase, immature, the scar has just initially formed and healed together. During this phase, the scar can be itchy, painful or sensitive as the nerve endings within the tissue heal. While the scar will look red initially, it eventually will fade to normal flesh color with maturation. You can get the most effect with exercise, massage and heat application during this phase. The second phase is a mature scar. With cesareans, scar tissue can form for up to two years. When scar tissue is no longer being produced then the scar is considered mature. At this point, massaging is still beneficial but requires a more disciplined and vigorous approach.

Self Scar Massage

As soon as the scar is no longer open and considered well healed you can begin gentle massaging. While the scar is in its immature phase you will want to take a mild approach when massaging. Initially the scar may be really tender, red and painful. In this stage, it may be best to work around the scar, focusing on the tissues immediately above and below it. As the scar becomes less sensitive you can follow this procedure with your fingers on top of the scar.

S  Lay comfortably on your back, with a pillow under your knees. Breathe and relax. Go through these steps at your own pace.

S  Place your fingertips so the pads of your fingers lay just above your scar line. You will want to think of the abdomen as having three layers, though there are many more but we are simplifying things here.

S  The first layer is the superficial skin. You lightly put your fingers on the skin and see how mobile the skin is in moving up and down and side to side. Think about placing your fingers on a keyboard and you’re checking to see if all the keys move equally in all directions.

S  Work in the direction of resistance. You may feel it moves down more than it does up so you will want to work more in the upward direction to regain movement in that area. Does it move easier to one side than the other? If so, work more in the direction of resistance, taking the skin till you feel a gentle stretching in the tissue. Hold it there until you feel a release or the tissues melting.

S  To recap, the movements you want to do are up, down, side to side and also little circles. Start by working the tissues around the scar and, in time, progress to doing it on top of the scar as your pain and tenderness allows. Eventually you will want to be able to roll the scar between your fingertips.

S  The second layer just below the skin is the muscular layer. Allow your fingers to melt deeper into your abdomen where you feel the abdominal muscles. Check to see how this layer of the tissues moves. Does one side move less than the other side?

S  Repeat the same movements as with the skin — up, down, side to side, and circles. Once again, you want to do it all around the scar and even on top of the scar as pain/tenderness allows.

S  Feel free to work the entire lower abdomen. Adhesions can form way over on the colon located near your hipbones.

S  Once more, if you feel an area or direction that doesn’t move very well, encourage in that direction. Gently take the tissues to where they don’t want to go and carefully hold them there. You may feel a slight burning sensation, which is normal for stretching tissues. Hold the tissue at their end range of motion until you feel a softening or melting of the tissues. That is scar tissue releasing. It feels like butter melting under your fingertips.

S  If you work respectfully with your tissues, not forcing but encouraging the tissue to have more freedom of movement, you can attain that release or melting feeling. Avoid forcing, as the tissue may fight back and never release.

S  The third layer is the deepest layer working down at the organ level. Right below your scar line lies the small intestines where it rests on top of the uterus and bladder. The bladder sits right behind the pubic bone; the uterus behind and a little up from there.

S  To reach this level you need to be lying down with your knees bent up to allow the lower abdominal tissues to slacken. This lets your fingers dive deeper into the tissues and abdominal cavity. Not only do you want to do this massaging at your scar level but also lower near the pubic bone, you want to sink below the muscles and see if you can move these deeper tissues side to side and up and down.

S  This deeper level needs to be released to ensure you don’t develop low back pain or frequency of urination in years to come. Make sure one side feels as mobile as the other side. If it does not, focus your attention to increase mobility in the area of most resistance until you can’t move it any further. Gently hold this position until you feel the tissues melting and releasing under your fingers. Continue to recheck the tissues mobility and see if it matches from side to side.

S  Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Feel free to take these in steps. Be gentle to yourself. Give love to yourself.

TThe wound is the place where the light enters you. -Rumi