Scar tissue in the knee joint can lead to knee pain. How to eliminate knee pain by breaking up scar tissue is a common question I get from many knee pain sufferers.
Before we go into the how to of breaking up scar tissue, let’s get a better understanding of what scar tissue is.
Scar tissue is nothing more than connective tissue or fascia that builds up in the knee at the sight of an injury. If you’ve ever cut your finger, it’s the hard gristly tissue that forms underneath the skin when the body is healing itself.
Scar tissue is the body’s way of protecting the knee from getting injured further, sort of like a brace or cast to keep the body in a safe place. Which is great when the body is first injured but can become problematic when the damaged tissue is healed and now you want to go back to living your life like it was before the knee injury.
Scar tissue can sometimes prevent the knee from bending or extending fully. Breaking up scar tissue can be done either directly or indirectly.
The first way to break up scar tissue is directly. That would look like using a knuckle, elbow or something hard that is putting pressure on the scar tissue to break it up. This can be effective and it can also be very painful. Depending on the amount of pain the body is in it can also leave the knee in more pain than it was before you started working with it.
The second way to break up scar tissue is indirectly. That is a little more difficult to describe. Think of a ball of knotted up yard, now think of looking for the loose parts of the yarn that are easy to pull apart and work with, without having to fight with the ball of yarn at all. These are the loose strings of yarn come apart without much effort that makes the entire ball of yarn shrink. Thus the size of the build of of scar tissue shrinks as well without causing any pain.
Unfortunately we are conditioned to only know the direct way of dealing with scar tissue and many times the body just isn’t prepared to let go of the pain that’s in the scar. The direct approach ends up leaving the body in more pain than before.
From my perspective it’s important to create comfort (indirectly) in the scar tissue allowing the body to begin to unwind and let go of the tension in the scar tissue which begins to give us a “foot in the door” to begin working with the scar tissue directly because the pain level has been reduced enough in the area of the knee to begin working with the scar this way.
Without this holistic approach to dealing with knee pain many chronic knee pain sufferers end up getting caught in a chronic doom loop of more pain, more tension and reduced range of motion in their knee, their body and their life.
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i have bone to bone grinding as result of injury. after two years painfull efforts i will be scheduled for knee replacement but far out tme frame , one symton now is continued pimple type bumps that first start with a deep down itch. the after these pimple type bomps reach the surface, fester the pop and along with release of fluids there will be small solid fragments of teflon like material along with calcium type particles exiting, is this aresult of grinding that is full time and extremely painfull?
Mr. Wayne I had knee knee replacement 4 months ago an d it still hurts. I was in therapy for 4 month. I do have scar tissue on top of knee an d I can not bend the knee all the way back. My range of motion was 120. When in pt doing the stretching leg exercises to bend knee was so painful they had to stop. I have rash on knee scar do you have thoughts on this. It is red an does itch some It has been there 7 weeks. I have used hydrocortisone and Neosporin It does… Read more »
Recently had surgery to repair my leg after a bad accident. but Dermalmd scar serum really has made the scar less puffy and is now helping to fade it out. I get comments during PT how impressed they are with how well it is healing and fading.
That’s great! If you could leave more information as to what you’re doing outside of PT…It would probably be helpful for other dealing with scar tissue…
Judy
That’s going to be pretty comprehensive strategy. Personally I’d stay away from antibiotics and physical therapy for something like Lyme. I’d check out David Wolfe and what he has to say about it. Here’s an interesting video about Lyme’s – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8zYSLDNsZs
Once you get a strategy in place then come back and we can see how the knees are doing at that point.
Bill
Any suggestions for chronic Lyme knee inflammation and pain? Have been on lots of antibiotics and physical therapy only aggravated the situation. Both of my knees are not able to be straightened and I worry about the future.
Thanks
I am six months post op TKR. I did about three months PT and was progressing nicely. Continued PT regimen at home regularily. Pain started in the joint and is getting progressively worse. Surgeon took a culture and determined no infection. All the pieces feel secure and xrays look good. Any idea why a TKR would regress?
Wayne Yes, tension and stress that builds up in your nervous system from the initial knee injury, the years of pain in the knees, the trauma from the knee replacement surgery. It is something that will never show up on an x-ray, CT scan or MRI because it is something you feel. The trauma your body experienced over your lifetime didn’t go away just because they sawed off the bones in your legs and replaced them with plastic and metal. This will continue to increase over time and get worse until you learn to address that stress and tension on… Read more »
Bill…thanks for your reply.
To be honest, no it does not make sense. This is my second TKR, The one on my other leg was 18 years ago and zero problems. It has experienced the same tension and stress as the new one. And, this knee never underwent any traumatic injury like the first one did several times. It just degraded gradually to the point that it needed replacement. The knee still feels raw inside and the pain increases and decreases from day to day but never goes away.
Wayne
You’re making the assumption that both knees experience the same stress and tension.
See if this helps. 4 tires on the same car but 2 tires wear faster than the other two.
All the tires drove the same distance…
Why are the tires wearing unevenly?
Now of course your body isn’t like a car yet your thinking as if it is…
Does it makes sense now?
Bill
I’m sorry, but I can’t follow that logic. I can easily explain mechanically why tires wear differently. And none of them relate to the electrical system…or nervous system in a human body when discussing the knees.
Wayne
No need to be sorry. You asked if I had an idea…which I do. I apologize for not having the ability to convey it in a way so your mind understands. Good luck with your search!
Regards
Bill
How do you treat knee pain associated with the unhappy triad injury? I had the surgery, scar tissue removed afterwards, 30% meniscus removed due to a tear & had it cleaned up a fourth time. Full range of motion seems impossible! Nothing I take for pain helps & neither do any pain creams. It’s been three years since my injury & this has slowed me down tremendously! Never do I not feel my knee whether I’m sitting, standing, walking or even sleeping. I’ve never been able to run after the surgeries.
Sherry
Ouch! The unhappy triad injury! That’s a bad one. Not to worry though, I worked with clients with that one. Right now your body is just tensing up to protect itself from such a traumatic injury the subsequent surgeries. My program teaches your body how to relax your knee so it can start to feel normal. Go schedule a consultation with me (see over on the right of this page at the top) and we’ll get you feeling like yourself again.
Hello Bill,
First thank you for your teachings and guidance on knee pain.
I have just read and watched you video on ‘Breaking up scar tissue’
Okay but how do you go about the indirect approach, no information at all on how to put the indirect approach in to practice.
Could you please explain or point us in the right direction. The ‘indirect’ link brought to a page that I completely had no idea of what they were talking about.
Once again thanks for teachings and wisdom.
Regards
Karlos.
Hello Karlos,
Thank you for reaching out to us! I suggest booking a free 30 min consultation/knee evaluation with Bill to discuss what your experiencing. Bill will be able to provide great advice and recommendations/solutions for whats going on. If your interested, please click on the link below to complete the consultation form and schedule a date and time that is best for you. Feel free to reach out to me for further assistance.
https://thekneepainguru.com/lp/knee-recovery-program/free-introductory-session/questionnaire/
Kind regards,
Mimi | Customer Service
” Top 4 massage points that control knee pain” was offered as a PDF by filling out name and email and it would be emailed immediately. I did as instructed and got a screen saying Iwas already enrolled. That was I. with no further instructions. How do I get the PDF????
Hi Ginny!
Thank you for your message and I’m sorry to hear that you haven’t received your PDF. To better assist you, I have forwarded the document to you via email. Please ensure to check your spam/junk folders just in case they landed in there. Feel free to reach out to us for further assistance at customerservice@thekneepainguru.com
Kind regards,
Mimi
Customer Support
I had surgery top remove my scar tissue. I food vigorous physical therapy outdoor to surgery and it didn’t manage to strengthen my at free time weakened knee. Hopefully now I’ll be able to get back to my normal routine once i complete physical therapy, yet again.