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Bowel Adhesions and Bowel Obstructions

Bowel adhesions can form a ring, completely blocking the passage designed to carry food through the bowel for processing and elimination.Bowel adhesions can form a ring, completely blocking the passage designed to carry food through the bowel for processing and elimination.

Bowel adhesions refer to scarring or tissue repair that occurs in the small intestines (small bowel), and sometimes in the large intestines (large bowel). They form as the first step in the healing process after any surgery, trauma, infection, or inflammation. Wherever they form, adhesions join structures with strong glue-like bonds that can last a lifetime (see our general adhesions page for more detail.)

The small bowel has been measured at 7½ to 12 feet in length (Abdominal Imaging, 1984).1 To maintain its length, the small bowel undergoes dozens of loops and folds as it absorbs nutrients en route from the stomach to the large intestines. Thus, the small bowel is highly susceptible to adhesions. Bowel adhesions may form as curtains or ropes within or between the loops of the intestines. As depicted at left, bowel adhesions can form a ring, completely blocking the passage designed to carry food through the bowel for processing and elimination.

Any narrowing or closing of the intestine by adhesions is referred to as a bowel obstruction, or blockage. The first indication of a bowel obstruction is often pain or nausea. As food fails to pass through the intestines, it becomes backed up. Soon, the stomach itself becomes full of food, and the patient cannot eliminate waste or eat more food. A bowel obstruction is a potentially life-threatening condition and must be treated by a physician.


Treating Bowel Adhesions with Surgery

Lysis of bowel adhesions involves surgery and anesthesia.Lysis of bowel adhesions involves
surgery and anesthesia.

Until recently, lysis of adhesions was the only choice medical science offered to treat bowel adhesions. This involves cutting or burning the bowel adhesions under general anesthesia, via laparoscopy or laparotomy (open surgery).

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

  1. it carries risks from anesthesia and infection, and
  2. despite the best skills of the finest surgeon, the body creates more bowel adhesions as it heals from the surgery designed to remove them.

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.2 Another study reported that 35% of all open abdominal or pelvic surgery patients were readmitted to the hospital more than twice to treat post-surgical adhesions during the 10 years after their original surgery.3 Thus, abdominal surgery itself has been implicated as a major cause of adhesion formation and many patients become trapped in a cycle of surgery-adhesions-surgery – with no end in sight.


Treating Bowel Adhesions with Clear Passage Therapies ®

Belinda Wurn, PT treats a patient with her manual physical therapy which has been shown to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve function, in peer-reviewed medical journals. Belinda Wurn, PT treats a patient with her manual physical therapy which has been shown to reduce adhesions, decrease pain, and improve function, in peer-reviewed medical journals.

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

With her husband, massage therapist Larry Wurn, Belinda took a much deeper look at the etiology and biomechanics of adhesion formation. They found that the chemical bonds that attached each of the tiny collagen fibers to its neighbor 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 “hands-on” work practiced at Clear Passage Therapies® 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.

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. Fanucci A, Cerro P, Fraracci L, Ietto F. Small bowel length measured by radiography. Gastrointest Radiol (& Abdominal Imaging Journal). 1984;9(4):349-51. PMID 6500246.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
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What physicians say:

Learn more about non-surgical therapy for adhesions in our book Miracle Moms, Better Sex, Less Pain (publication date: 9/2009).

“I am excited to see that you have studied and perfected a technique to treat adhesions, with years of experience, scientific 'backup' and case studies to prove it. This technique makes sense.”
- Leslie Mendoza Temple. MD
Medical Director, Integrative Medicine NorthShore University HealthSystem
Professor, Northwestern University Medical School

“In the past treatment for adhesions has been even more surgery, which caused even more adhesions. Now with the amazing ‘Clear Passage’ technique, patients have a safe and effective alternative to surgery. . . . I know it does work and recommend it to all my patients with adhesive disease.”
- Jacques Moritz, MD
Director of Endoscopy Section and Division of Gynecology, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

“The Wurns are revolutionizing woman's health. Tried and proven, documented and studied again and again – the proof is in the results. We have shared many patients who had . . . complete tubal obstruction, scarring or intractable pelvic pain. I have seen their work help all of these conditions, and more. Their therapy is beyond surgical intervention; it taps right into the body's inherent healing capacity.”
- Dr. Randine Lewis, L.Ac.
Author of The Infertility Cure and The Way of the Fertile Soul