Post-Surgical EFT Eliminates Pain, Encourages Hope

Elise (names are changed for privacy) is a wonderful, active, energetic 87-year-old woman. She recently broke her ankle, and came to me to work on post-surgical concerns—she particularly wanted to accelerate the wound repair and healing, as well as moderate pain in her leg. Her daughter referred her. Her daughter and I had worked together a few times, and she (Kate), was enthusiastic about her own results, and wanted her mother to benefit from EFT. She was out to be with her mother for the surgery, and they arranged for a session by phone with me just a few days after the surgery. Kate had done some tapping rounds with Elise, to introduce her to the procedure and familiarize Elise with the points.

First we began by discussing what was most troubling, what was “in the way” of healing, if anything. We discovered a number of things. Elise was very disappointed in having the break, because she has just about fully recovered from a recent sprain on her other ankle, and was days away from getting a supporting boot off her left leg (and having it on was probably what caused her to fall in a contorted way, and breaking the right ankle). She is planning on a trip to visit friends in three weeks, and doesn’t want this new injury to cause her to cancel the trip. Additionally, her current surgeon is the very same surgeon who had worked on her left leg ten years earlier, who had not given her the option of surgery, and as a result the left ankle had healed badly.

Tapping on Negative Emotion and Talking to the Muscles

We tapped on each of these concerns — first the frustration and disappointment about having broken the ankle, then the frustration about not being sure about whether she could travel. We then worked on the frustration and resentment she had toward her doctor. She also was experiencing compensatory muscle tension in her right hip, thigh, and glutes, and it was often painful. So we tapped on that, and “talked” to those muscles. She was extremely relaxed.

We then moved on to the wound-healing encouragement. She had told me that in the past, she always surprised doctors by her quick healing, and so we used that language. We talked to her fibula (which was broken and now mended surgically), encouraging it to grow perfectly and quickly, and as easily as an 8-year-old’s. We thanked her ankle for supporting her all these years, and told it it can just grow and grow, mend beautifully, quickly, perfectly. We included the metal and pin that are now in the fibula, and acknowledged that Elise is now a “bionic woman.”

After each round, she was more and more relaxed. There was no pain or discomfort, and she was energized and delighted. She said that once we began “talking” to the fibula, she felt as if she could feel it, and could feel tingling and what she felt was growing. She felt as if the whole area was mending, and that the tingling was part of that. It was absolutely delightful to work with Elise. We will be meeting for a few more sessions, and she will, no doubt, once again surprise her doctors with her fast rate of repair!

Lynne Shaner, PhD is an EFT International Accredited Certified EFT Master Trainer and Advanced Practitioner in Rockville, Maryland, US. She is also a certified hypnotherapist and holds a PhD in the field of Mind-Body Medicine.

From the EFTfree Archives, which are now a part of EFT International .
Originally published on March 2, 2013