Eliminate Your C-Section Pain

Cesarean section delivery (C-section) is the most common surgery among women in the United States.¹ During a C-section, the physician cuts through the skin and abdominal walls, then cuts the uterus with an incision large enough to remove the newborn infant(s).

C-section is seldom a matter of choice for an expecting mother. Complications such as a breech baby or a vaginal birth that is not progressing may call for a C-section. Most physicians we know feel that a vaginal birth is safer and healthier for the mother and infant. 

Abdominal adhesions refer to scarring or tissue repair that occurs anywhere in the abdomen. 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.)

Pain and Dysfunction after C-Section

According to a recent study in Birth (2008), 18 percent of women who underwent C-section surgery reported pain at the incision six months postpartum.² An earlier study found that women who underwent C-sections were more likely to experience bowel problems than women with vaginal deliveries.³

In our patients, we find that dysfunction or pain after C-section is often due to post-surgical adhesions. As the first step in the healing process, tiny strands of collagen rush to the site that has been cut. There, they lay down in a random pattern to create the powerful bonds we call adhesions (see our general adhesions page for more detail). After a C-section, these adhesions remain in the body for life, as a permanent by-product of the surgery.

As adhesions repair surgical incisions, they can also attach structures to neighboring tissues. This can result in an uncomfortable pulling sensation or pain. When adhesions form in the delicate folds of the bowels, they can create pain or digestive problems such as diarrhea, constipation, or irritable bowel syndrome. In severe cases, these adhesions can cause bowel obstruction, a potentially life-threatening condition. C-section adhesions can also form in the delicate tissues of the reproductive tract, causing secondary infertility, pelvic pain or intercourse pain.

Surgery for C-section Pain

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

While lysis of abdominal 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 abdominal 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.⁴ 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.⁵ 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 Adhesions with Clear Passage Physical Therapy

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 surgery and radiation therapy to her pelvis. 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 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.

When a patient who has undergone C-section comes to our clinic with pain, dysfunction or infertility, our physical therapists evaluate the uterus and pelvic and abdominal structures for areas of tension or restricted mobility. They pay particular attention to the areas around incisions. Considering the tendency of adhesions to spread, they then examine the entire body for areas of decreased mobility, tension, and pain. The “hands-on” work practiced at Clear Passage Physical Therapy clinics 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.  http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/hysterectomy.cfm
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18307483?ordinalpos=37&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12051189?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
4. 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.
5. 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.