Fibrosis and Scar Tissue in the Knee

featuring Lisa Alarcon

Fibrosis and Scar Tissue in the Knee

Fibrosis is another way to look at scar tissue. It's scar tissue plus. Some of the scar tissue that we have, you can think of like spiderwebs If we can move the knee joint a little bit or the shoulder, or whatever joint it happens to be, we can break those spiderwebs and we can get some range of motion back.

Fibrosis is more like duct taping the joint. So now you have a good amount of scar tissue that has set up. The components that make up something that's fibrotic versus something that's strict scar tissue is they're a little bit more intense, they're stronger, their tensile strength is stronger, they're thicker. So fibrosis compared to what I would consider normal scar tissue is just really 'scar tissue on steroids' and it's a lot harder to break through.

Those with fibrosis are the people that need the manipulations because they've had that fibrotic tissue start to set in. And so that's the difference, really, between general scar tissue and something that's gone fibrotic.

The Why of Fibrosis

The why of fibrosis has a few different components that back it up. The when is based on the patient. The less I move, the sooner it happens. If genetically I'm prone to scarring, the sooner it happens, the bigger it happens. You can look at how you scar when you cut your finger and how your body responds to that is a pretty good clue of what's going to happen on the inside. We've seen people that have those really big bumpy gnarly looking scars. Those patients are more likely to have that same kind of body response on the inside.

The When of Fibrosis

The when of the fibrosis depends on genetics. It depends on how long you want to sit still for. It depends on things like, "You know, I had a knee replacement and then I had an infection and then I had another knee replacement." And so if you have all of these other things that come with it, that limit your ability to move that joint, you're going to get that fibrosis a lot faster.

When and Why, Combined

And so the when and the why combine based on genetics and extenuating circumstances, but certainly the less you move the knee, the less frequently you move the knee, the more likely you are to build in that kind of block. And it really feels like a block when you get patients that have that. It's not as springy as as you get when you push them as it is when you get just a general scar tissue.

Fibrosis, Scar Tissue in the Knee, and X10

I think X10 helps prevent scar tissue in general, right? If we can prevent general scar tissue, we certainly can prevent scar tissue on steroids, when you talk about something like a fibrosis, because you get in and you get moving early.

The X10 Meta-Blog

We call it a "Meta-Blog." We step back and give you a broad perspective on all aspects of knee health. We cover knee surgery and recovery as with this article on scar tissue in the knee explained.

In this one-of-a-kind blog we gather together great thinkers, doers, and writers. All our work is related to Knee Surgery, Recovery, Preparation, Care, Success and Failure. Meet physical therapists, coaches, surgeons, patients, and as many smart people as we can gather to create useful articles for you.