Clinical significance of active scars

Overview

Active scars are a model of soft tissue lesions. Soft tissues surround everywhere the locomotorsystém.They have to shift and stretch in harmony with joints and muscles. Active scars interfere withthis type of movement thus disturbing the function of the entire motor system. Clinical diagnosis isbased on increased resistance of the surface to stretch, by a thickened fold of deep connective tissue,by impaired mobility against deep tissues in particular bone and resistance palpated in the abdominalcavity, which gives under slight pressure.51 cases are presented which have benn sufficiently followed up, mainly scars after surgery. Thepatients suffered from various types of what is called myofascial pain.Treatment consisted mainly ofsoft tissue manipulation making use of the barrier phenomenon.As lesions of function are multifactorial as a rule, active scares, too, are frequently only one of manyfactors. Therefore its relevance is dicisive. They proved to be highly relevant in 36 cases, only partlyrelevant in 13 and entirely irrelevant in 3 cases.Treatment of active scars is highly effective in a great number of patients, in particular after surgery.If undiagosed and untreated they are an important cause of therapeutic falure and recurrence. It alsowidens the scope of manipulative therapy.

Key words:
active scars, soft tissue lesions, the barrier phenomenon, relevance, impairedfunction of the motor system