Mastectomy Pain

We Treat Mastectomy Pain Without Drugs or Surgery

Mastectomy is a major surgery – one that can cause adhesions to form, with pain that lasts long after the surgery. Clear Passage is a world leader in the non-surgical treatment of adhesion-related pain, with over 20 years experience treating women’s health issues using manual physio/physical therapy. Complete our online Request Consultation form to receive a free phone consultation with an expert therapist and learn whether our therapy can help you.

The body forms adhesions after surgical procedures, including mastectomy. Learn about how the Wurn Technique^® treats post-surgical adhesions and pain:

 

Mastectomy Pain Overview

Mastectomy is a life saving treatment for many women diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet, like other surgeries, it can leave painful adhesions and scarring. Moreover, some patients are left with significant nerve damage after a mastectomy. Radiation therapy can cause additional adhesion formation in  the irradiated areas.

In a total mastectomy, the entire breast is removed but the lymph nodes that extend into the armpit are left intact. This is often the course of action to treat and prevent further cancer when the lymph nodes are not involved. A modified radical mastectomy is even more invasive than the total mastectomy; it involves removal of the lymph nodes along the armpit and removal of the entire breast and nipple. Many women who undergo a modified radical mastectomy choose to proceed with an immediate or delayed breast reconstruction.

Women who have undergone a mastectomy may experience a variety of post-surgical symptoms. Pain may occur at the surgical scar, throughout the chest wall and into the neck, shoulders or arms. Mild to severe tightness can occur at the surgical site, and throughout the chest cavity and neighboring structures, as adhesive straitjackets envelop the area after the surgery. While pain in some women is attributed to cut nerves (which may be irreversible), we find adhesion formation to be a major cause of pain and tightness, or “frozen shoulder,” after mastectomy in our patients.

As the first step in the healing process after surgery, tiny strands of collagen rush to the site that has been cut or irradiated. There, they lay down in a random pattern to create the powerful bonds we call adhesions. After a mastectomy, these adhesions remain in the body for life as a permanent by-product of the surgery.

Treatment for Mastectomy Pain (Wurn Technique)

We have over 20 years of experience treating cancer-related post-surgical adhesions. We faced this situation two decades ago when our Director of Services, physical therapist Belinda Wurn, developed severe adhesions after surgery and radiation therapy to treat cancer in her pelvis. Unable to work due to the pain and having seen the devastating effects of post-surgical 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. 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 fibers that comprise adhesions.