Scars and Pain: The Hidden Connections in the Body

When most people think of scars, they picture the mark they see in the mirror—a reminder of a surgery, accident, or life event. But scars don’t just live on the surface. They can reach down into deeper layers of tissue and quietly affect how your body moves, sometimes even years later.

As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I often meet people who are frustrated with pain that doesn’t make sense. They’ve stretched, exercised, even rested—but the discomfort keeps coming back. Sometimes the missing link is an old scar.

How scars affect the body

Inside your body is a stretchy web of connective tissue called fascia. It surrounds your muscles, bones, nerves, and even your organs. When fascia moves freely, your body can bend, twist, and recover with ease. But when a scar forms, that smooth movement can get stuck.

Think of it like a sweater: if you pull on one little snag, the tension travels far from where it started. In the same way, a scar in your abdomen can create a pull that affects your shoulder, hip, or even your pelvic floor.

“My Shoulder Hurts… But Why My Belly?”

One woman came to see me with nagging pain in her left shoulder. She had tried all the usual things—stretching, posture work, strengthening—but nothing made a lasting difference.

When we talked through her health history, she mentioned a colon resection surgery she’d had over 20 years earlier. When I examined the scar, I found tightness and restriction in the tissues around it. After some gentle hands-on work to release the scar and surrounding fascia, her shoulder pain began to ease.

Her shoulder wasn’t the real issue—the scar in her abdomen had been pulling through her fascia and organs which was limiting her shoulder’s movement and causing pain. Once that restriction softened, her shoulder could finally move freely again.

“The Runner and the Forgotten Scar”

Another patient came in with right hip pain that was keeping him from long-distance running. We worked on the hip itself, and while that gave some short-term relief, the pain  was not fully resolved.

Then he mentioned he’d had an appendectomy as a teenager. Sure enough, when I checked the scar, it was tethered to the tissues in his pelvis. Once we worked on both the hip and the old appendectomy scar, the pain finally let go. Before long, he was back to running the miles he loved—without pain holding him back.

“The Cyclist Who Couldn’t Find Her Seat”

One very active woman came to me with pudendal neuralgia—a painful condition affecting the nerves in the pelvic floor. Cycling wasn’t just her sport, it was also how she got around town. But she felt unable to sit evenly on her bike seat, no matter what she tried. She even sought out a professional bike fit, but the adjustments made things worse. She was desperate, because biking was a big part of her life.

During her assessment, I noticed large scars running along the sides of her thighs from a car accident 20 years ago, as well as a lower abdominal scar from a hysterectomy she’d had a couple years ago. She had never considered that these scars could be part of the problem.

When we began working gently on the hysterectomy scar, she immediately felt the familiar pain referring into her pudendal nerve. That moment helped her connect the dots: her scars were influencing her pelvic pain. By addressing the fascial restrictions around her scars and pelvis—not just the site of her pain—she began to notice real relief. We’re continuing to make progress, and she’s making gains into being able to bike longer hours with no pain.

What this means for you…

Scars are more than skin deep. They can quietly affect the way your fascia, muscles, nerves, and even organs move, creating pain in places that don’t seem connected.

The good news is that with the right type of manual therapy and exercises scars can become more flexible and your body can move freely again.

So if you’ve been dealing with pain that just doesn’t make sense—and you’ve had surgery or injury in the past—it may be worth taking another look at your scars. Sometimes the key to healing is hidden in your history.

At Method Physical Therapy, we specialize in uncovering these hidden connections and helping your body move freely again.

Struggling? You can contact us at info@methodptnm.com or call 505-218-9740 to book an appointment and start your journey toward lasting relief.