Going on 8 weeks. While swimming but not cycling, I am starting to have a tightening feeling around my incision site. No pain. Lumps from scar tissue
Underlying tissues really starting to heal?
Hi Ducksoup
Are you massaging the area around your scar. My physio recommended that once the tenderness in the scar had subsided we should be massaging the area twice daily for 5 - 10 mins. This apparently encourages the collagen to reform into a normal skin format around the scar and prevent stiffness and puckering of the skin due to uneven healing. He suggested we should continue for at least 6 months for best results
Just use a normal cheap moisture cream like Aqueous Cream BP (available hear in the UK) or Nivea cream or similar. Avoid perfumed creams due to potential skin sensitisation. Bio Oil can also be used but tends to be more expensive for no additional benefit
Sounds pretty normal to me Duck. Had the same and it diminishes in time. May want to rub some New Jell Silicone on it. Reduces the scar. It does work.
I just spoke to my surgeon about the exact same thing a few days ago. I am 7 weeks post op. He said that is is natural to feel the tightening. It is part of the healing process. I started biking on stationary bike yesterday and felt great!!
You can get some wheat germ oil or vitamin E and massage your scar to work out the lumpiness. that should loosen things up.
You mean red wine won’t work?
I am alergic to stationary bikes. I just about had to wrestle with my neurosurgeon to allow me to ride my bike in town so I found an engineer here that wanted to trade my high end Titanium road bike for his high end carbon mountain bike just to ride around town. Now I just ride to our gym/pool and around town. But, I live in the Pyrenees and some of the local uphills cause no stress
What is it? I’m an American Expat living in Spain. We have lots of red wine
DS-
Currently, swimming is my primary exercise along with the PT and stretching with some light weights and machines, but swimming is the standard. I found about a year ago- and I am still waiting for surgery- that my hip was bothered when swimming, a first ever for me. I have a very tight "knot" at the top of my quads, at the attachment to the hip and kicking when swimming the crawl was irritating this. Intuitively I decided to use swim fins as the sensation of swimming with them mimicked the exercise I received from using the resistance bands [actually old bicycle inner tubes] when I looped it over the arch of my foot and stretched it forward with a straight leg while standing. With fins, my kick was slowed down and had more resistance, it also stretched out my body and kept my legs higher in the water. When I swim with fins I very consciously pay attention to the hip flexor attachment and find it relaxes and get strengthened. Don't know if this would address your condition but it might be worth a try. The caveat is- it will likely ruin your kick if you use it too long, it has mine. It may be that I've become dependent on them because now without them I practically sink in the water [ a small exaggeration] but it has definitely reduced my efficiency. Without them though the flexor is still too irritated so I just live with it and continue with the fins. Also, do you use a foam roller to roll out the "lumps"? Don't know if this is approved for post-op patients but I use it daily to smooth out and relax the leg facsia and it helps tremendously.
I swim with fins, have for a year or so
I think so
This stuff is great. Read up on it. Sure it could find its way to Spain
I thought that is what personal lubricant is for? Actually, thanks for the input.
New Jel plus
I’ll look on Amazon. I assume it is a Brittish thing?
Duck, American.
And Donald Trump would sure go for the export. I might even make it in his next State of the Union gig as an example. Looked up the jell plus. On Amazon stateside. And, on second thought, from what I read, it is basically a cosmetic tool. At my age, it just gives me something to talk about.
Still have a line of scar tissue. My Dr. and Physical Therapist said to knead the area with your knuckles to break it up. Ok to be aggressive doing it. Check with your surgeon.
I am going through the same thing. I was told by physiotherapist to use pure vitamn e and do not massage the whole scar. Just the ouside of scar where the bumpiness is. I have been doing this and the bumps are gone and my scar looks like a scratch. I am 7 weeks post op. My sister did the same think on both scars also.