SCAR WORK
ScarWork is a gentle form of manual therapy developed by Sharon Wheeler over the last 50 years to help tissue damage associated with scarring. It is practiced directly on the surface of the skin, without the use of lubricants, and working on the scar itself as well as on the surrounding tissues.
It can be used to treat any tissue fibrosis (or "thickening"), adhesions and contracture following a trauma or surgery – C section, cancer-related, hip and knee replacements, abdominal surgery, laparoscopy, thyroidectomy to name a few. It also helps to reduce pain, sensitivity and numbness, and supports optimal recovery and structural balance in the long term.
Almost any scar can be worked on provided releasing them won’t affect a necessary protective pattern or throw a structure off-balance. Combined with other techniques such as myofascial release (MFR), this light touch also often proves emotionally beneficial as well as provides a great holistic recovery treatment.
Some scars can be treated as early as 2 hours after the event, some require a couple of years before they can be released, but most scars can be worked on at some point, even at much later stages in life. The overall NHS guideline to work on the scar itself would be 3 weeks for minor surgical scars and 6 weeks to 3 months in the case of a C section. However we can start releasing the surrounding tissues before that to make room for healing.