Increase Your Fertility and Decrease Adhesions

The female pelvis and reproductive structures are frequent sites for adhesion formation. These glue-like structures can bind a woman’s internal structures, decreasing fertility, and sometimes causing pain. Clear Passage Physical Therapy^SM has over twenty years of experience successfully treating adhesions and female infertility. Results of our work in these areas have been published in some of the world’s most respected gynecologic journals.

Adhesions (or scarring) are a leading cause of female infertility and the primary cause of blocked fallopian tubes. They form as a natural part of healing as the body responds to tissue insult.

Adhesions can form anywhere in the body. When they form within the delicate structures of the female reproductive tract, they tend to glue down structures that are designed to move freely.

Adhesion formation is the first step in the body’s healing process. Adhesions surround areas as they heal, with strong glue-like fibres that create tiny but powerful bonds. These bonds may be shaped like curtains, ropes, woven patterns, or a combination of these (see our general adhesions page for more detail.)

Adhesions or scarring anywhere in the pelvis can cause pain or infertility.

Causes of Adhesion Related Infertility 

There are four main causes of the adhesions that cause infertility:

1. Infection (e.g. vaginal, bladder, yeast)
2. Inflammation (e.g. endometriosis, chlamydia, PID)
3. Surgery (any surgery to the pelvis, abdomen, hip or back)
4. Trauma (fall onto tailbone, back or hip, abuse)

It is an unfortunate fact that once adhesions form, they generally remain in the body for a lifetime. Adhesions may occur in pain-sensitive structures, or they may glue down reproductive structures without causing discomfort. Thus, any woman who has experienced any of the four causes listed above may have adhesions that cause infertility, whether or not she experiences pain.

Diagnosing the Adhesions that Cause Infertility

In cases like blocked fallopian tubes, adhesion-related infertility is relatively easy to diagnose by a minimally invasive dye test called a hysterosalpingogram (HSG). In other cases, diagnosis of adhesions may be suspected by a thorough review of the patient’s history, with a focus on the four events noted above. In these cases, the physician, patient or physical therapist may suspect adhesions, even though they cannot directly visualize them.

The only definitive diagnosis of pelvic adhesions is made by surgery, performed under general anesthesia. During the procedure, the physician will try to cut or burn any adhesions that are accessible. Most physicians tend to avoid cutting in any area where they might do further damage, such as near the bladder, intestines or fallopian tubes.

While surgery may help, many physicians and patients are confounded by the fact that surgery is also a leading cause of adhesion formation. Thus the surgery to remove adhesions may cause more adhesions and scarring, as the body repairs itself in the weeks after the surgical procedure.

Treating Pelvic Adhesions with Surgery

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

While lysis of pelvic 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 pelvic 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.¹ 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.² Thus, 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 Pelvic Adhesions with the Wurn Technique^®

We know pelvic adhesions well. We faced this situation 20 years ago when the physical therapist director of Clear Passage Physical Therapy®, 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 pelvic adhesions in her own patients, she was determined to find a non-surgical way to address pelvic 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 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.

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. 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.
2. 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.

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

 

"Adhesions are a major problem for women with endometriosis, causing pain which can continue for decades, sexual and bowel function problems, difficulty with exercise and other movement. Previously, only surgery was available, which in itself could lead to more adhesions. This book will bring new hope to many women now suffering."

Dr. Mary Lou Ballweg, Co-founder, President
Executive Director of the Endometriosis Association