Overcome Your Post Surgical Pain Naturally

Surgical pain generally passes within the first days or weeks after a surgery. In the most invasive surgeries, pain may take two or three weeks to dissipate. When surgery pain persists several weeks or more after surgery, it is often the result of  post surgical adhesions (scars) that occur to help the body heal from surgery.

Post surgical adhesions can cause ongoing pain or dysfunction long after the surface scars have healed. Repeat surgery can remove some internal scars; yet, it can also cause new adhesions to form, with recurring post surgical pain and dysfunction. Clear Passage Physical TherapySM has over two decades of experience relieving post surgical pain, without the need for surgery or drugs.

Adhesions and Post Surgery Pain

Post surgical adhesion symptoms can range from confusing and annoying to totally debilitating. In some cases, a sharp or piercing pain occurs as a direct response to adhesions attaching to nerves. In other cases, adhesions can create a pull into broad areas or larger pain sensitive structures, such as muscles and organs, and their support tissues. This pain may be specific but is usually duller and may come with certain movements or positions.

Because many of the body’s structures and systems are intimately involved, it is not uncommon for post surgical adhesions to create unusual symptoms and pulls in the body, distant from the surgical site, causing post surgery pain. When any area of the body undergoes a surgical procedure, part of the surgeon’s challenge is to repair the structures in need, without traumatizing nearby tissues. Unfortunately, post surgical adhesions and scars are a natural and necessary part of recovery; adhesions form as the first step in the healing process.

Adhesions that form after open surgery (laparotomy) are a major concern for patients and their physicians. This problem was highlighted in a study from Lancet: The British Journal of Surgery which reported that 35% of all open abdominal or pelvic surgery patients had to be re-admitted to the hospital an average of twice more to treat post-surgical adhesions after their surgery. Many follow-up surgeries (22%) occurred in the first year after surgery, and hospital readmissions continued steadily over the next ten years.[1]

Even modern, minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries, such as those that treat the delicate tissues of the female reproductive organs can cause problems. The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research reports that “adhesion formation and reformation are an unavoidable event in reproductive pelvic surgery in spite of the variable skills in microsurgery, endoscopic or laser surgery.”[2]

Drugs and Surgical Treatment

The usual medical solution to post surgical adhesions is to first administer pharmaceuticals to decrease inflammation, ease the pain, and improve function. If medications fail to adequately address the symptoms, the physician may suggest another surgery and lysis of adhesions. Until recently, lysis of adhesions was the only choice medical science offered to treat adhesions. This involves cutting or burning the adhesions under general anesthesia, via laparoscopy or laparotomy (open surgery).

While lysis of adhesions can be effective, surgery has two major drawbacks:

• it carries risks from anesthesia and infection, and

• despite the best skills of the finest surgeon, the body creates more adhesions as it heals from the surgery designed to remove them, creating a cycle of adhesions and surgery pain for many people.

For even the most skilled surgeon, surgery is a primary cause of adhesions. A study in Digestive Surgery showed that more than 90% of patients develop adhesions following open abdominal surgery and 55% to 100% of women develop adhesions following pelvic surgery.[3] 

Non-Surgical Treatment: the Wurn Technique

At Clear Passage Physical Therapy we know post surgical adhesions well. We faced this situation 20 years ago when our physical therapist director, Belinda Wurn, developed severe adhesions after pelvic surgery and radiation therapy to her abdomen. Unable to work due to surgery pain and radiation therapy, and having seen the devastating and debilitating effects of adhesions in her own patients, she was determined to find a non-surgical way to address adhesions.

With her husband, massage therapist Larry Wurn, Belinda took a much deeper look at the etiology and biomechanics of adhesion formation. The Wurns found that the chemical bonds that attached each of the tiny collagen fibers to its neighbors appeared to dissipate or dissolve when placed under sustained pressure over time. With this knowledge, they developed the Wurn Technique® to unravel the bonds between the crosslinks that comprise adhesions.

The manual physical therapy practiced at Clear Passage Physical Therapy clinics is designed to reduce or eliminate adhesions, crosslink by crosslink. It has been shown in peer-reviewed medical journals to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve soft tissue mobility, without the risks of surgery or drugs.
We treat men, women, and some children for post surgical pain and dysfunction due to post surgical adhesions, and recurring small bowel obstructions. Visit our “what treatment is like” web page for more information, or click the link at the bottom of this page now, to complete a medical history questionnaire and apply for a free, in-depth consultation.

1. Ellis H, Moran BJ, Thompson JN, Parker MC, Wilson MS, Menzies D, McGuire A, Lower AM, Hawthorn RJ, O’Brien F, Buchan S, Crowe AM. Adhesion-related hospital readmissions after abdominal and pelvic surgery: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Br J Med. 1999; 353: 1476-80. PMID 10232313.
2. EI-Mowafi DM, Diamond MP. Pelvic Adhesions. Geneva Foundation for Medical Research and Education. Edited by Aldo Campana, September 4, 2008. Retrieved from http://www.gfmer.ch/International_activities_En/El_Mowafi/Pelvic_adhesions.htm
3. Liakakos T, Thomakos N, Fine PM, Dervenis C, Young RL. Peritoneal Adhesions: Etiology, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Significance.Dig Surg. 2001; 18: 260-273. PMID 11528133.

Doctors comment on the Wurn Technique®
and the book Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain

"As a surgeon, I know that most patients are going to develop some form of adhesive disease after surgery. In the past, treatment for adhesions has been more surgery - which caused more adhesions. Now with the amazing Wurn Technique®, patients have a safe and effective alternative to surgery."

Dr. Jacques Moritz, Director of Endoscopy and Gynecology
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, New York
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

 

"What a much-needed, useful and safe way to deal with the common, yet mystifying problem of adhesions. You have perfected a technique to treat adhesions, with years of experience, scientific 'backup' and case studies to prove it."

Dr. Leslie Mendoza Temple, Medical Director, Integrative Medicine
Faculty: Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine