"Scar Tissue and Adhesions"

When tissues in the body are interrupted by injury or impact, scar tissue forms as part of a several stage wound healing process. Scar tissue and its precursor substances help mend together the separated ends of the disrupted tissue. You could think of scar tissue as similar to a scab that forms when you scrape your skin, except that it is found internally in the body.

People who have experienced multiple back surgeries tend to have more adhesions -- every time the doctor goes in with the “knife,” tissues in the spine are disrupted and need to be reunited. Minimally invasive spine surgery uses only a very small incision through the skin, and expansion of tissues found under the skin. The result is the formation of fewer adhesions as compared to traditional back surgery.

_Sources:

Lodish, Berk, Zipursky, Matsudaira, Baltimore, Darnell. Molecular Cell Biology. Fourth Edition. W. H. FREEMAN. 2000. New York.
Moore, K., Dalley, A. Clinically Oriented Anatomy. Fifth Edition. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. 2006. Baltimore.

Kisner and Colby Therapeutic Exercise, Foundations and Techniques, 4th ed. F.A. Davis Company. 2002. Philadelphia.
Mosby's Medical Dictionary. 7th edition. 2006. Mosby Elsevier. St. Louis, Mo.