Background
When I first started this work almost 20 years ago, the primary medical treatment for abdominal adhesions was surgery. Over time, there has been a pretty radical shift away from surgery-as-treatment.
On one hand, that shift reflects a positive development. It largely resulted from long-term research recognizing that surgery sets up the possibility of more adhesions [1] in addition to finding that chronic pain often occurs after abdominal surgery within about six months [2].
On the other hand, surgical techniques become strikingly less available for adhesions has created a new dynamic … people are frequently being told that there is nothing to help them and they will just have to live with the adhesions and their symptoms for the rest of their lives.
Current Day
While surgery will always have some place on the adhesion care continuum, there are a couple of really helpful non-surgical ways to think about what adhesions are and how we can work with them.
- Adhesions don’t have to be completely gone in order to get better function and comfort in the belly.
- Often, new or mild sticky spots within the tissues can be released rather completely.
- Older, more fibrous, or very large swaths of adhesions or scars may not fully resolve or “break apart” but they can be made more supple. That way, the restrictions they cause (that then cause more pain or distress) can ease.
Natural Methods
While there are a number of modalities that can help with abdominal health (Visceral Manipulation, Chi Nei Tsang, Wurn technique, Arvigo technique, and more) the techniques I have found most useful to scar tissue and adhesions over time are soft tissue manipulations rooted in Direct Release Myofascial technique, Trigger Point therapy, and Gil Hedley’s anatomical approach that illustrates the truly enmeshed and interdependent nature of the physical body’s systems (my words, not his).
Working directly with scar tissue (and other tissues that have stuck together in your belly) can be an empowering experience that creates a lot of relief from chronic pain and distress.
References
- Okabayashi, K., Ashrafian, H., Zacharakis, E., Hasegawa, H., Kitagawa, Y., Athanasiou, T., & Darzi, A. (2013). Adhesions after abdominal surgery: a systematic review of the incidence, distribution and severity. Surgery Today, 44(3), 405–420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-013-0591-8
- Strik, C., Stommel, M. W. J., Hol, J. C., van Goor, H., & ten Broek, R. P. G. (2018). Quality of life, functional status and adhesiolysis during elective abdominal surgery. The American Journal of Surgery, 215(1), 104–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2017.08.001