My Back Pain's Coming From What??

JoAnn showed up for her initial evaluation at ALTA desperate to find the cause of her unrelenting low back pain. Almost any movement hurt, so she had spent much of the summer checking recreational activities off her list. No more rock climbing, no more dancing. Pretty soon she envisioned that her weekends would be spent lying on the couch. The list of practitioners she had seen was impressive, but so far nothing had changed her pain. 

On her intake form, JoAnn noted that she had an appendectomy 10 years ago. A closer look during her evaluation revealed severe restrictions from her scar. I began releasing her scar and she exclaimed, "That is creating the pain I get when I climb!" So, we knew we were on to something. After Visceral Mobilization and Integrative Manual Therapy, JoAnn started exercises to regain strength. After her 6th visit she was climbing and dancing without low back pain. 

Never underestimate the power of any abdominal or pelvic surgery to affect alignment or movement. Get these areas treated before a problem interferes with the activities you love.

Although abdominal pain might not be your problem, if gentle pressure on your abdomen causes discomfort, the odds are good that adhesions are present. 

The Power of Scars

By Mary McClure, MMSc, PT

I flew through surgery a year and a half ago to remove a large ovarian tumor that fortunately was benign. Unfortunately, I have a monster incision that runs from just above my belly button down to the top of my pubic bone. My recovery was fabulous, thanks to my good friends and therapists at ALTA.

I began treatment 6 weeks after surgery to release scar tissue adhesions. Adhesions occur in 67-100% of patients following abdominal surgery and 55-100% of patients following gynecological surgery. Lori and Jane used a combination of Integrative Manual Therapy, Visceral Manipulation and BodyTalk to address poor blood circulation and the adhesions that occurred after surgery.

Six weeks ago I went in for a second surgery to repair a hernia that developed at the incision. The surgeon found absolutely no adhesions to release during the surgery. He was astounded. How's that for beating the odds? 

15-20% of all vertical incisions in the abdomen fail for no known reason. The remaining 80-85% are caused by too much tension during suturing or increased stress on the scar from a patient's activity level. 

We'll never know for sure what caused my sutures to fail, but I take partial responsibility. Normal tissue healing time is 6-8 weeks, no matter what the injury. I felt so good that I thought the rules did not apply to me. Consequently, I sat through a 5-day seminar 2 weeks after surgery and returned to work one week after that instead of waiting the suggested 4-6 weeks.

Learn from my misfortune. Understanding the 3 stages of tissue healing will help you heal with fewer complications.