Integrative pain and rehabilitation specialist Tina Michaud-Gray, R.N., says she has discovered a formidable recipe for healing injuries and surgery in half the normal time.
The recipe features three main ingredients:
1) Specific frequencies of cold laser to rapidly promote tissue healing.
2) Ondamed, a biofeedback therapy utiizing auditory and visual signals to improve cellular communication, circulation, and pain relief.
3) Earthing.
Tina applies the first two treatments daily to her patients, frequently during home visits, for the first seven to ten days following injury or surgery. During this period they are grounded as close to around-the-clock as possible.
“Mother Earth provides the foundation for the quick bounce back, supplying a powerful anti-inflammatory effect while enhancing the effects of the laser and PEMF to do their repair work,” she says.
Typically, patients use an Earthing mat applied over, or as close to, the injury or surgical site as possible. Sometimes she will use Earthing patches, but she finds that the mat can cover a greater area and achieve better results. Depending on the location of the injury/surgical site, she may cut down the mat to better accommodate the adjacent contours of the body.
Tina has worked with patients who have undergone a wide variety of surgeries, including C-sections, tummy tucks, breast, and uterine, as well as plastic surgery, rotator cuff, and knee and other joint replacement operations. Similarly, her injury patients include different kinds of sports and non-sports trauma.
“This approach quickly takes down inflammation and pain, and substantially accelerates tissue healing within a week to ten days that would otherwise take about two months,” she says. “I’ve applied this integrated method since 2010 on about a hundred patients and the results have been consistent. The pain reduction and tissue healing are remarkable. Doctors are astounded.”
In her daily routine, Tina may make one or two home visits in addition to seeing patients further along in the healing process in her Dover NH and Andover MA offices.
“The first time, I may see them in my office right after they leave the hospital or treatment clinic, or I may literally follow them home and get the process started there. Depends on the situation.
“A home-visit method appeals mostly to highly motivated and compliant patients. These are individuals able to afford the extra level of care, and who need to recover much faster than normal, that is, need to get back as fast as possible to work or caring for family, or, if they are athletes, get back into training, Some of the costs are covered by flex spending accounts.”
“Fast Track” Cases
Tina describes her most extreme case as a 74-year-old woman with a serious medical history of heart disease, cancer, and years of using steroid medication that had compromised her immune system. Following bilateral breast reduction surgery, one of the woman’s nipples had started turning necrotic – that is, the tissue was deteriorating and dying. Applying the integrated treatment not only saved the threatened nipple but enabled the woman to make an “amazing recovery.”
According to Tina, the surgical bruising was gone in large part within one week. Normally signs of bruising last for 6 to 8 weeks. She was able to step pain medication within 4 days. Her daughter, a physician’s assistant, had planned on helping her mother recover for 2 weeks but she was only needed for 1.
Here are other examples of “fast track healing:”
A 48-year-old woman underwent a cervical discectomy and fusion. This means there are 2 surgical sites. Bone tissue is removed from the hip to support the cervical vertebra after removal of the disc. For most people, signs of scarring remain in both locations. After 4 days, the patient was off pain medication. The incisions on the hip and neck were completely healed in 1 week with no sign of scarring after 2 weeks.
Female triathlete, torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while skiing. She feared she would miss the upcoming triathlon season. She didn’t. A torn ACL is a common knee injury among athletes. Following ACL repair surgery, she was able to stop medication in 3 days. Her mobility increased daily with full range of motion and no pain after day 7. ACL surgery like this generally involves a 6 to 8 week recovery. At her 1-week checkup, the surgeon could hardly believe how limber she was and commented that her scarring was more like months old instead of 1-week old.
A 52-year-old male, rotator cuff surgery. After first treatment, the day after surgery, he was able to stop pain medication. At his 2 week checkup, he was wearing his sling only a few hours a day. Normally, a patient requires sling for up to 6 to 8 weeks. His range of motion after 5 treatments was so good that he was back swimming.
A 42-year-old woman, fibroid removal surgery (myomectomy). The daily treatments substantially reduced pain and swelling over the first 3 days, allowing her to move around and discontinue the narcotic pain medication. Generally, such pain meds are used for about 2 weeks. She continued with Tylenol as needed. She was able to care for her 2-year-old, and her husband able to return to work in 1 week. She was back to work herself after 2 weeks instead of 6 to 8 weeks. At her post-operative appointment, the doctor was stunned at how well she could move around and how quickly her body was healing.
A 38-year-old woman, hysterectomy. She was able to discontinue pain medication in 1 ½ days, and back to work in 1 ½ weeks. As a single mom, getting back to work ASAP was very important for her. Normally someone like this would take medication for about 8 to 14 days and not be able to return to work for perhaps 8 weeks.
“I believe this protocol can provide a new and promising opportunity for nurses,” Tina says. “To be able to come into a post-surgical and injury situation and achieve healing in half the time represents a huge benefit for patients and a big cost-saving prospect for healthcare. This is very exciting, and I have already started to train other health professionals.”
Tina developed her healing strategy before having major fibroid removal surgery in 2009. Here’s her story:
“I work for myself. I am a single mom. I didn’t have eight-weeks for a normal recovery. I told my gynecologist beforehand that I thought I would be able to recover in two-weeks. He humored me and basically dismissed it. Two weeks after surgery I returned to see him. I was there waiting in a chair. He asked if I needed help to get up. I said no. I got right up and easily walked to his examination table and jumped up onto the table. There was no scarring. My incisions were healed. He was able to palpate with no discomfort on my part. He was very surprised, to say the least.”
Tina, 46, is also a licensed massage therapist, and often applies massage techniques in her healing program. For more than ten years she has stayed grounded for a good portion of her work day and also sleeps grounded. She now specializes in pain and rehabilitation, and doesn’t do as many massages as before. When she does, however, she works barefoot on Earthing mats that she placed on the floor around her massage table.
“My massage work includes sessions up to five hours long for elite athlete clients. These are very large and muscular men. Thanks to Earthing, my energy and endurance levels are incredible. I can handle this and do much more than I would normally be able to do,” she says.
“With Earthing, I am continuously healing,” she says.
Tina’s website is http://www.healingnh.com/
To learn about how Earthing accelerates healing from sports injuries, read this article.
