Our skin is a precious organ that keeps things moist within and warns us of dangers. It needs to be elastic so we can move freely. Damage to the skin is repaired rapidly, leaving a scar which is less elastic than the skin around it. It may also be generating pain. Breaking up the scar tissue helps it reform with better elasticity.
The other important skin fact is that it responds to the stress hormones and not to the relaxation hormones. People think of the stress response as being a massive event, but in fact we don’t really notice most stress responses. If we carry a scar that reduces our movement or is associated with past trauma, the brain knows this and we can never relax quite as much as if we deactivate the scar.
What makes a scar active? You can’t tell your unthinking part of your brain that ‘I need this surgery and the injury I am about to receive will make me better’. If we undergo surgery, we go to sleep and then we wake up in pain, with a huge scar plus the needed internal damage. This gives the nervous system a huge shock. We have apparently woken up much worse for wear than when we went to sleep. The scar in the above video is 20 years old and is the result of surgery to reattach the Achilles tendon. The man with this scar has come in to restore his good movement. And so it is for everybody. Scars as a result of surgery should be given a good prodding and the brain needs to rediscover the nearby joints .
Tattoos can also cause scar trauma. Once everything is completely healed, working over a tattoo will help rejuvenate the skin and underlying muscles.
If you can always find an excuse to not exercise, if your performance is not as good as you would like or if you are simply not sleeping very well, examine each and every scar on your body, seeking pain, stiffness or restriction – and get that scar deactivated.