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My broken leg healed in half the time… all because I meditated
DaltheJigsaw
Mountain View Veteran
Meditation is often touted as a panacea for all manner of ailments, from chronic pain to anxiety, stress and even depression.
Like most sensible people, I’d always taken such sweeping claims with a large pinch of salt. However, five years ago I learned the power of meditation for myself after an accident left me critically injured and in constant pain.
A freak gust of wind caught me off-guard as I was paragliding over the Cotswolds. One moment my paraglider was flying normally, the next its wing had collapsed, sending me tumbling into the hillside 30ft below.
I was struck with the most agonising pain imaginable. The bone in the lower half of my right leg had been driven up through my knee and into my thigh. I could see the outline of my fractured shin bone sticking through the cloth of my jeans. I went into shock and my body was racked with violent uncontrollable spasms.
As I lay on the hillside, I remembered a form of meditation I’d been taught in the sixth form of my comprehensive school in Neston, Cheshire, as a way of tackling exam nerves.
Over the years I’d used it to deal with the usual stresses and strains of daily life, but never in times of physical pain. But I knew that meditation (and self-hypnosis) had been used for pain relief and, as I lay on the hillside, in sheer desperation I tried them both.
Like most sensible people, I’d always taken such sweeping claims with a large pinch of salt. However, five years ago I learned the power of meditation for myself after an accident left me critically injured and in constant pain.
A freak gust of wind caught me off-guard as I was paragliding over the Cotswolds. One moment my paraglider was flying normally, the next its wing had collapsed, sending me tumbling into the hillside 30ft below.
I was struck with the most agonising pain imaginable. The bone in the lower half of my right leg had been driven up through my knee and into my thigh. I could see the outline of my fractured shin bone sticking through the cloth of my jeans. I went into shock and my body was racked with violent uncontrollable spasms.
As I lay on the hillside, I remembered a form of meditation I’d been taught in the sixth form of my comprehensive school in Neston, Cheshire, as a way of tackling exam nerves.
Over the years I’d used it to deal with the usual stresses and strains of daily life, but never in times of physical pain. But I knew that meditation (and self-hypnosis) had been used for pain relief and, as I lay on the hillside, in sheer desperation I tried them both.
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Comments
"When in doubt, meditate" I'd like to remind myself that. I would not doubt that I am where I am because of meditation, but this is just my opinion.
may you find true happiness
Collar bone (clavicle): 3-8 weeks
Upper arm (humerus): 4-10 weeks
Wrist: 4-12 weeks
Fingers: 4-6 weeks
Pelvis: 4 - 6 weeks
Knee (patella): 4-6 weeks
Lower leg (tibia,fibula): 10-24 weeks
Foot: 3 - 12 weeks
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1387736/My-broken-leg-healed-half-time--I-meditated.html
For those who are curious to read further.
"Taken from the manufacturers blurb "Typical external fixator patients wear the device from four to twelve months" so 17 weeks is well within the 'normal' time expected for healing to take place. "The severity of the problem you need reconstructed, your health, weight and other factors play a role in the length of time you will need to wear the external fixator." Presumably, given your mechanism of injury, you're generally, fit,well and a healthy weight. I think you owe more to the skill of the orthopod who applied your frame than to meditation!"
Thank you so much for doing that!
"I meditate, therefore I am (not)"
If you coupled your treatment with meditation, or alternative relaxation therapies you probably could "reduce your healing time". But this is a little misleading. Instead of thinking of it as an ability to speed up the immune system, think of it as the ability to maintain 100% immune efficiency (well maybe only 90% if you don't also eat healthy). Our body's are very capable machines that work all day every day to repair damage from the cellular level up. When we drink, smoke, stay up late, stress, or run our body's down, then we hinder our own healing process. Just eating the right nutrients is important for healing, so that our body has access to materials it needs to rebuild. Hospitals nowadays are putting more emphasis on coping with stress and pain through additional alternative means besides just medication. (Well some hospitals... our hospital is trying at least).
may you find true happiness
So when there is a stress related illness, I think meditation can provide some incredible results, from my own personal experience. Healing bones, cancer and other problems like that, I doubt that it is very effective. There are many people who meditate long and hard hours of every day who end up dying quite young.