Integrative pain and rehabilitation specialist Tina Michaud-Gray says she has discovered a formidable recipe for healing injuries and recovering from surgery in half the normal time.

Tina’s recipe features three main ingredients:

1) Specific frequencies of cold laser to rapidly promote tissue healing at the cellular level.

2) Sound wave therapy, a specialized biofeedback therapy utilizing auditory and visual signals to improve cellular communication, circulation, and pain relief.

3) Electron therapy, to reduce inflammation and pain.

Tina applies the first two treatments daily to her patients, and often during home visits, for the first seven to ten days following injury or surgery. During this period, the patient is also undergoing electron therapy as close to around-the-clock as possible.

“Electron therapy provides the foundation for the quick bounce back, supplying a powerful anti-inflammatory effect while enhancing the effects of the laser and sound wave therapy as they do their repair work,” she says.

Typically, patients use an electron therapy mat applied over or as close to the injury or surgical site as possible. Sometimes Tina will use electron therapy patches, but she finds that the mat can cover a greater area and achieve better results. Depending on the location of the injury or the surgical site, Tina may reduce the size of the mat to better accommodate the adjacent contours of the body.

Tina has used her proprietary therapy with patients who have undergone a wide variety of surgeries, including C-sections, tummy tucks, breast surgeries, hysterectomies, plastic surgeries of all sorts, rotator cuff repairs, hernias, knee, tendon, and all kinds of other joint repair or replacement operations. Similarly, she has treated injury patients have for a variety of different kinds of sports and non-sports induced traumas, working on both hard and soft tissue repairs.

“Our approach quickly reduces inflammation and pain, and substantially accelerates tissue healing, giving us results within a week to ten days that would otherwise take about two months via traditional methods,” Tina says. “I’ve applied this integrated method since 2010 on over five hundred patients and our results have been consistent in providing healing in half the time. The pain reduction and tissue healing are remarkable – our patient’s doctors are astounded by their healing.”

In her daily routine, Tina may make one or two home-bound patient visits in addition to seeing ambulatory patients in her Dover NH and Andover MA offices, a very rare service these days. “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 from their surgeries and get the process started right away, I tailor our service to each individual’s unique situation.”

Tina explains, “The home-visit method appeals both to highly motivated and complication-plagued patients. There also are individuals who want to purchase an extra level of care, who need to recover much faster than normal because they have to get back as fast as possible to work, caring for family, or, if they are athletes, get back into training soon as possible. Much of the costs can be covered by flex spending accounts, which many people have today.”

“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 Rapid Recovery System treatment not only saved the threatened nipple and brought it back to normal health – but it also enabled the woman to make an “amazing recovery in much less than half the time”.

According to Tina, the patient’s surgical bruising was gone in large part within just one week. Normally signs of bruising last for 6 to 8 weeks. The patient was able to step down pain medication within 4 days. The patient’s daughter, a physician’s assistant, had planned on helping her mother recover for 2 weeks, but ended up only being needed for one week.

Here are other examples of the Rapid Recovery System’s “fast track healing”:

A 48-year-old woman underwent a cervical discectomy and spinal 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, Tina’s 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.

A female triathlete tore an 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, usually season-ending. Following ACL repair surgery immediately with a series of Rapid Recovery treatments, the patient was able to stop pain medication in 3 days. Her mobility increased daily, with full range of motion and no pain achieved after day 7. ACL surgery like this traditionally involves a 6 to 8 week recovery. At the patient’s 1-week checkup, the surgeon could hardly believe how limber she was and commented that her scarring was more like months old instead of just 1 week old.

A 52-year-old male had rotator cuff surgery. After the first Rapid Recovery treatment (done 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 Rapid Recovery treatments was so good that he was back swimming.

A 42-year-old woman had a fibroid removal surgery (myomectomy). The daily Rapid Recovery treatments substantially reduced her pain and abdominal 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 was able to return to work in 1 week. She was back to work herself after just 2 weeks instead of the normal 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 underwent a hysterectomy. She was able to discontinue pain medication in 1 ½ days, and was 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 pain medication for about 8 to 14 days and not be able to return to work for perhaps 8 weeks.

“I believe our Rapid Recovery System can provide a new and promising opportunity for patients,” 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 potential for healthcare. This is very exciting – we can get patients back to their lives quicker, and off the pain meds much sooner. In light of our nation’s opioid epidemic, the system’s secondary ability to keep chronic pain from developing can prevent pain medication dependency. Using the Rapid Recovery System as soon as possible after surgery or injury is a huge change in traditional treatment patterns that can eliminate one of the greatest dangers to lives today.”

Tina developed the Rapid Recovery System in planning for having major fibroid removal surgery herself 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 is also a licensed medical massage therapist, and often applies medical massage techniques in her healing program. For more than ten years she has used electron therapy herself during the work day and also while she sleeps. She now specializes in pain and rehabilitation, and doesn’t do as many massages as before. When she does, however, she works barefoot on electron therapy mats that she places 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 electron therapy, 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 electron therapy, I am continuously healing,” she says.

Tina’s website is http://www.newenglandrapidrecovery.com/