By Zolene, Massage Therapist · Updated 19 August 2026
On 23 July 2026 I travelled from Northern Ireland to Leicester for a full day of one-to-one scar therapy training with Hannah Poulton, the women's health physiotherapist and scar specialist behind HLP Therapy. We worked through C-section scars, oncology scars and post-surgical scarring, hands on, for the whole day. I came home with my treatment room rearranged in my head and a list of things I wanted to work on.
- Hannah Poulton is a women's health physiotherapist, scar specialist and Clinical Director of HLP Therapy in Enderby, Leicester.
- My course was a full day, one to one, covering C-section, oncology and post-surgical scars.
- It is rarely too late to start scar massage. Scar tissue keeps remodelling for up to two years, and older scars still respond.
- A caesarean scar is usually healed enough from around six to eight weeks, which is when scar massage normally begins.
- Hannah teaches scar therapy courses online, in groups across the UK, and one to one at her Leicester training school.
- Several therapists at HLP now keep Muscle Mint in their own rooms for their deep tissue massage clients.
In This Article
- Who is Hannah Poulton and what is HLP Therapy?
- What does a one-to-one scar therapy course cover?
- When is it too late to massage scar tissue?
- Why does a C-section scar need attention at all?
- What I changed in my own treatment room
- How Muscle Mint ended up in a Leicester clinic
- Where to train in scar therapy in the UK
Who Is Hannah Poulton and What Is HLP Therapy?
Hannah Poulton is a women's health physiotherapist, scar specialist and acupuncturist, and the Clinical Director of HLP Therapy, Enderby, Leicester. She has been a physiotherapist since 2002, is currently doing PhD research into C-section scarring, and founded the Scar Therapy Network to support other practitioners. Her clinic covers women's health physiotherapy, postnatal recovery, manual lymphatic drainage, acupuncture and reformer pilates, alongside the scar work it is best known for.
I had followed her work for a good while before I booked. What decided it for me was that she treats every kind of scar, not just the postnatal ones. C-section and breast surgery scars, yes, but also oncology scarring, cording, hysterectomy scars, orthopaedic scars, laparoscopic port sites, children's scars. In a small clinic in Northern Ireland you do not get to choose who walks through the door. I wanted to be able to say yes properly rather than politely refer everything on.
She is also, and I want to say this plainly, one of the most generous supporters of women in business I have come across. She took a real interest in Muscle Mint, asked proper questions about it, and understood immediately why a working therapist ends up making her own product.
What Does a One-to-One Scar Therapy Course Cover?
A one-to-one scar therapy course is a full day of hands-on teaching with no other students in the room. Mine covered scar assessment, the stages of tissue healing, C-section and abdominal scars, oncology and post-surgical scarring, and how to progress pressure safely from surface desensitisation through to the deeper layers. Because it was just the two of us, every technique was corrected on my hands as I worked.
That last part is the whole argument for one to one. On a group course you watch, you copy, you hope. Here Hannah showed me mid-technique, moved my fingers, and told me exactly the way she would treat an area.
| Part of the day | What it involved |
|---|---|
| Assessment | Reading a scar properly. Colour, height, adherence, how it moves in each direction, and what the client reports feeling versus what you can see. |
| C-section scars | Working the layers below the line, not just the line itself, and handling the pulling and tugging sensation clients describe. |
| Oncology scars | What is safe, what is not, cording, and when to stop and refer back to the medical team. |
| Post-surgical scars | Orthopaedic and laparoscopic scarring, and how a small port site can cause trouble well away from itself. |
| The emotional side | How to talk to someone who has not touched their own scar in years, and why that first touch is the treatment. |
When Is It Too Late to Massage Scar Tissue?
Usually it is not too late. Scar tissue continues to form and remodel for up to two years after surgery or injury, so there is a long window where massage can still change how a scar feels and moves. Older scars than that can still respond, though progress is slower and you should expect months rather than weeks. What matters far more than the age of the scar is that it is fully healed, with no scabs, no openings and no signs of infection.
Two honest caveats. First, nobody can promise a scar will look different, and any therapist who promises that is selling you something. Second, there is a real difference between a scar that is stiff and a scar that is painful in a new or worsening way. New pain, heat, redness or discharge is a medical question, not a massage one.
Not many clients come in and say their scar is the problem. They say their back is sore, or their trousers feel wrong, or they cannot fully straighten up in the morning. The scar comes up third or fourth, almost as an aside.
Zolene, Massage Therapist and founder of Muscle Mint
Why Does a C-Section Scar Need Attention at All?
Because a caesarean cuts through several layers of tissue, and the scar that forms can pull on everything around it. Women describe tugging when they stand up, numbness around the area, trousers that sit wrong, and back ache that nobody connects to the scar. Scar massage after a caesarean aims at comfort, movement and confidence, not at making the line disappear.
There are a lot of these scars. NHS England recorded 542,235 deliveries in England in 2024-25, and for women aged 30 and over, caesarean was the most common method of birth (NHS Maternity Statistics, 2024-25). The aftercare most women describe afterwards is lacking.
On timing, guidance from Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust notes that a caesarean scar is usually fully healed six to eight weeks after birth, with no scabs or open areas, and that scar tissue keeps forming for up to two years afterwards. Check with your midwife or GP before you start, particularly if anything about the scar has been slow to settle.
What I Changed in My Own Treatment Room
How I have adapted my treatments when working with scar clients
I ask about surgery on the consultation form now, all surgery, not just recent surgery. A gallbladder removal from eleven years ago is relevant.
And I stopped rushing the first touch. If someone has been avoiding their own scar since surgery, the treatment that day might be nothing more than them putting their own hand on it while I talk them through it. Hannah told me at the end of the day that I work really nicely with my hands, which I have thought about more than once since.
One honest limitation, because I would rather say it than have someone find out the hard way. Scar therapy is not a cure and it does not make a scar disappear. It is about comfort, movement and feeling at home in your own body again. Anything that looks infected, opens up, or changes suddenly goes straight back to a GP or the surgical team, not onto my couch.
How Muscle Mint Ended Up in a Leicester Clinic
I did not travel to Leicester to sell anything. Just happen to mention my small business when chatting and Hannah asked about Muscle Mint over the course of the day, the way therapists do when they find out you make something, and by the end of it she had a few samples for herself and her team to try. A number of the therapists at HLP have been using it since, in their own treatment rooms and on their own hands.
That last part is the bit people outside the trade miss. Manual therapy is hard on the therapist. Thumbs, forearms, shoulders, neck. I made Muscle Mint originally because I wanted something for my own clients that was not sticky and did not smell medicinal, and it turned out therapists were using it on themselves between appointments as much as anything. If you work with your hands all day, make sure you take proper recovery time for yourself!
The neck and shoulder routine I use is worth ten minutes of your evening, and there is more in my guide to natural ways to relieve muscle tension.
To be clear about one thing: Muscle Mint is not a scar product. It is a peppermint and eucalyptus menthol cream in a sunflower oil base, and it belongs on tired, worked muscles, not on scar tissue, healed or otherwise. Scars want the products your scar therapist recommends.
A peppermint and eucalyptus menthol cream in a sunflower oil base, made in Northern Ireland, UK. It creates a strong, temporary cooling tingle on the skin.
Where to Train in Scar Therapy in the UK
If you are a therapist thinking about scar training, HLP runs scar therapy courses for health professionals in three formats: online, group courses across the UK, and one-to-one training at the Leicester scar training school. The in-person courses include supervised practice on real clients, which is the part I would not skip. If you are in the Midlands and looking for treatment rather than training, the clinic details are below.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Clinic | HLP Therapy Limited |
| Address | 1A Clarence Road, Enderby, Leicester, LE19 2BB |
| Phone | 0116 216 6088 |
| info@hlp-therapy.co.uk | |
| Website | hlp-therapy.co.uk |
| Training formats | Online courses, group courses across the UK, and one-to-one training in Leicester |
Related Reading
Frequently asked questions
When is it too late to massage scar tissue?
Can massaging a scar make it worse?
When can you start massaging a C-section scar?
Where can I train in scar therapy in the UK?
Can you use Muscle Mint on a scar?
Where is HLP Therapy?
Written by Zolene
Zolene is a massage therapist with more than fifteen years of hands-on experience. She created Muscle Mint in Northern Ireland, UK, for the minutes after effort.
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