Adhesions: Pain & Problems After Healing

Home » Adhesions: Pain & Problems After Healing

What Are Adhesions

Adhesions are bands of internal scar tissue that form as the first step in healing from tissue damage. After a surgery, injury, infection, or inflammation, adhesions create an internal cover to isolate the affected tissue and start tissue repair. Over time, tiny adhesions can grow and spread from their original site, creating powerful glue-like bonds or internal straitjackets that can cause pain or unusual pulls anywhere in the body.

At their core, adhesions are comprised of strong but microscopic collagen fibers. Collagen is a naturally occurring body tissue that does not appear on X-ray, MRI, or any other diagnostic test. Thus, adhesions can be totally overlooked by physicians or dismissed as ‘phantom’ or ‘unexplained pain.’ All the while, they can create significant symptoms due to a pull estimated at 2,000 pounds per square inch (140 kilos per cm2) anywhere they attach. You could literally lift a horse with a single square inch of these naturally occurring bonds!

Where Adhesions Form

Adhesions can form  throughout the body

While adhesions can form anywhere in the body, they are commonly found in the abdomen and pelvis. Unprotected by ribs, these areas are subject to injury from outside sources. In addition, adhesions can form due to many of the complex processes and conditions that can occur within the body’s complex array of digestive, reproductive, and endocrine systems. While some adhesions can form and disrupt normal function without causing obvious symptoms, others can create internal straitjackets that cause chronic pain, restricted mobility, digestive or reproductive problems, and organ dysfunction.

Adhesions can form  throughout the body. While adhesions form in the natural course of healing, they can grow in size, strength, and geography beyond the initial site of tissue damage. When this occurs, their fibrous scar tissue can restrict organs or attach bodily structures that are designed to move freely, without restriction. Considering their remarkable strength and the fact that they are invisible to diagnostic tests, adhesions can cause significant pain or disrupt bodily processes in ways that can confuse patients and even physicians.

Common causes:

Post-surgical Adhesions

Surgery (especially abdominal or pelvic surgery such as C-sections, hysterectomy, myomectomy, or bowel surgery)
Infection (pelvic inflammatory disease, appendicitis, peritonitis)
Inflammation (endometriosis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis)
Trauma or injury to internal tissues
Radiation therapy

Adhesions can develop weeks, months, or even years after the original event and may progress over time. Not all adhesions cause symptoms, but when they restrict organ movement or involve nerves, they can lead to pain and functional problems.

Why Choose Clear Passage®

We know adhesions well. We faced this situation over 30 years ago when the director of Clear Passage®, physical therapist Belinda Wurn, developed severe adhesions after pelvic surgery and radiation therapy to her abdomen and pelvis. Unable to work or breathe without debilitating pain, and knowing that another surgery would create more adhesions, she and her husband, Larry, a massage therapist, dedicated their lives to finding a non-surgical way to decrease Belinda’s adhesions. While their hope was to simply help her return to a simple life worth living, what they learned would change the lives of thousands of people and would significantly change the course of many fields of medicine significantly.

Altogether, the Wurns spent several years studying the structure and nature of adhesions. They sought relief and answers in various disciplines and medical schools around the world. After each course, they would return home and use their newfound knowledge to develop non-surgical methods they developed to decrease Belinda’s adhesions without surgery. Three years after they began, Belinda was able to return to work full-time, and without pain.

Having seen the devastating and debilitating effects of adhesions in her own body, Belinda and Larry were determined to help others suffering from the pain and dysfunction of adhesions. What they learned has become what today is called Clear Passage® therapy – a non-surgical treatment cited as safe and effective for decreasing adhesions without surgery in top medical journals.

Common Symptoms

Infertility or difficulty conceiving
Unexplained pain long after surgery
Chronic or recurring abdominal or pelvic pain
Cramping or pressure in the abdomen or pelvis
Pain that worsens with movement, stretching, or activity
Bloating or abdominal distension
Restricted tissue or organ mobility
Digestive changes, such as constipation or diarrhea
Painful bowel movements
Menstrual abnormalities (light periods, absent periods, or increased pain)
Pelvic discomfort during menstruation
Pain during or after intercourse (dyspareunia)
Pregnancy complications or recurrent miscarriage (more specific to Asherman’s syndrome)
Fatigue associated with chronic pain
Blocked or swollen fallopian tubes – Hydrosalpinx