When I approach the idea of scar treatment with my patients I get a few different reactions. One that is always crazy to me is, “Oh, I had that once and it was very painful.” Sometimes they agree to it despite this, saying that they’ll endure the pain for good outcomes. A lot of people carry this belief, that scar work needs a lot of force or has to be painful. Like any massage treatment it may recreate some of the pain you come in with but there is no reason to exceed that level. Yet, this belief prevails. I believe this approach may be related to the phrasing that we are trying to “break up” scar tissue. Science tells us that this is not possible. Collagen is incredibly strong. We can, however, decompress a restricted and overactive area making changes to the tissue which will decrease numbness and pain levels. The body, the nervous system in particular, is highly adaptable. Anything that decompresses and calms the area should be able to provide relief but the idea that it takes a lot of force to work on scar tissue is false.

The mechanoreceptors in the body, receptors in our cells that react to touch or force, respond to many stimuli but the receptors with the most diverse impacts respond to varied pressure and direction with light to medium pressure, tangential force, and cyclical pressure being some of the most impactful. Deep pressure has fewer impacts, though it is great for nervous system regulation when applied slowly. With this in mind the use of forceful, painful treatments seem less relevant.

A combination of light and deep work may be needed, each person is different, but trying to use force alone will likely cause the body to guard and make it less able to release the held tension. It can seem so counterproductive to use such light pressure but if you trust your care provider and just go with the flow you may be pleasantly surprised. Pain does not always mean gain and I hope more people try the slow and steady approach. Happy healing!