I have this huge mass of scar tissue in my medial knee port after having surgery 8 weeks ago. I really need to get this stuff broken down.
Any imput would be appreciated.
I have found great results with high intensity ultrasound and also with Graston Technique. Friction massage will also help as well.
well 8 weeks doesn’t mean that it’s scar tissue - it may also be residual inflammation.
scar tissue can be a plus at this stage.
so rather than thinking about breaking it down manually, the question might be:
What have you been doing to keep your knee as mobile as possible? moving as much through a full range of motion as possible?
If you look at the science of scar tissue, one of the biggies around the way collagen gets laid down is (forgive me if you know all this) based on direction of stress.
SO if the joint is immobile, the collagen gets laid down in a pretty arbitrary pattern. If the joint is mobile, it gets laid down along the angles of force - which is better.
As for actual scar tissue build up, again, the more mobile the joint, usually the less scar tissue.
This does not mean move into pain - but it does mean “as mobile as possible without pain”
Absolutely manual interventions can help, but active interventions - ie you - are way more potent and usually way more beneficial. Again 8 weeks post surgery ain’t a lot of time - and doubtful all the inflammation has cleared. So, assuming all’s well with your knee and pain is not an issue, do you have a movement program for your knee?
and just fyi, it’s not clear that the GT technique actually does what it says it does about “breaking down” scar tissue - and that may be beside the point anyway - the main thing is strength of the tissue and its mobility. Tissue remodels based on load, so that’s another reason why passive or active therapies can help with scar tissue; compression of tissue along lines of force is often helpful too, which is again why manual therapy can be a great aid, but ensuring active components is really really critical. Working the area yourself to move it in the lines of motion, also good. sometimes that’s just light touch on the skin so your finger tips stick, and just pushing - not so the fingers slide but so they go as far as they can in the direction, and just waiting for release of the tissue can be quite potent.
best
mc