The majority of these studies referred only to pain after surgery and did not define location or intensity. Vancouver
Coastal Health (2007) stated that patients experience a “sensation of tightness, pulling, and numbness in the abdominal and rib cage areas.” Petit et al. (1997) studied abdominal strength and mild back pain in pedicled and bipedicled (two flaps are tunneled for a bilateral reconstruction) TRAM flap reconstructions. The researchers found weakness in the upper portion of the rectus abdominis muscle and the oblique muscle in 50% of those receiving a pedicle procedure and in 60% of patients who underwent a bipedicle procedure.