Caesarean Recovery - What the Cesarean Statistics Don't Tell You

Since it’s still April, that means it’s still Caesarean Awareness month. I think it’s really important to share with you some important facts about your caesarean recovery that won’t become apparent until some decades have passed since your section and which are certainly not mentioned in the cesarean statistics.

Your scar has healed to a faint pink or white line and sometimes you forget that your abdomen was ever ripped open so that a human child could be removed.

But, as you enter Menopause, you start to become aware of your skin tone doing all sorts of strange things because of the hormonal imbalance.

And this problem extends to the scar tissue that has built up behind your caesarean scar as well.

Lying just beneath the surface of the skin is a sheet of tissue called the fascia. According to Wikipedia it is an uninterrupted, three-dimensional web of tissue that extends from head to toe, from front to back, from interior to exterior, which interpenetrates and surrounds all the muscle, bones, organs, blood vessels and other tissue which make up the body.

Unbeknownst to the mother recovering from her caesarean, the healing tissue of this wound has interfered with the structure of the local fascia causing it to pucker and adhere to itself and the skin above it in a less effective way. In most cases, the woman is unaware of this for many years, but the hormonal imbalances of the Menopause cause the skin’s tension and elasticity to change. This can result in a ‘tethering’ which affects the surrounding muscles.

In some cases, it can cause problems with the abdominal muscles above it, restricting their movement and causing them to bulge.

For me, it has impeded my hip flexors, interfering with the openness of my pelvic muscles, resulting in a shortening of my hamstrings. I believe that this is the cause of the subsequent calf and hip cramps that have been afflicting me at the most inopportune moments recently.

So, my yoga practice is now focused on hip flexion and hamstring stretches. They’re not painful but, sometimes, the discomfort makes me feel quite sick.

However, I know that I have to keep on stretching if I am to fight the shortening.

What all ladies who are in the process of caesarean recovery should know is that, once healing is complete, they should carefully massage their caesarean scar as often as possible.

To avoid the effects of this type of adhesion problem as they mature, it is vital to ensure that the skin behind that scar stays loose and capable of movement to prevent it from sticking to the flesh behind.