Scars matter. If you are grappling with long term annoyance due to a pesky knee, arm or back, for example, it is definitely worth having a look at any scars – or tattoos – around the area.
For muscles to be able to contract and relax properly, all the skin in the surrounding area needs to be fully mobile in all directions and at all depths of skin, including the most superficial layer.
How to tell if a scar needs attention? A fully healed scar will be almost invisible: silver, completely flat with no puckering anywhere at all – not at all like the one in the picture. Sometimes the skin over the scar can feel slick and sometimes it can feel dry. Neither is healthy.The age of a scar is irrelevant as to whether it needs attention. I have one in the arch of my foot from my polio vaccine when I was a baby and it has been visible ever since. A good prodfest later and now I can barely see it.
Tattoos can also be troublesome: run your fingers over it. The pesky area will be where the tattoo was most painful when given – the other factor in tattoos is their emotional reason. The more emotion, the more the possible problem.
To rehabilitate a scar you need to work through the various skin receptors that detect fast and slow movements, twisting, light and firm touch and rolling, so it’s not just a quick rub with some cream and hope for the best, and certainly not some posh laser treatment, well, not until the scar is fully rehabilitated or the problems will remain.
Which leads to the final point about any scars/tattoos: you have to be ready, emotionally, to let them go.
As said before, the brain works on prediction and it likes things just the way they are now. There can be many reasons driving chronic pain, and an old scar(s) can be used by the brain to keep you slow and safe.
If you want to keep going – and even get better at it (which is absolutely possible) – you do have to work on what matters.