Problem: The end of my left index finger was accidentally severed (approximately 1/2 inch give or take a little — it was not straight across).
Treatment: After coming home from the emergency room on April 17, 2004 at 2 a.m., I fell asleep. After sleeping only a few hours, I woke up feeling very tense and stressed. Of course the finger hurt. I have an Equitonic QGM here, so I held it a few inches away from my hand on the low setting. I did not put it directly on the injured area as it was very sensitive. I also swept down my arm and past my fingers. Because I was so tense, I held the hand set against my chest and then my back. Then I set it on the bed pointed at me and fell back asleep.
After that I used the equipment daily. The end of my finger was very sensitive, so at first I only held it over my palm or swept across the hand. I called the CHI Institute about a week later and talked to Patricia. In addition to using it on my finger (over the bandages), she recommended that I sweep from the heart down my arm, from the heart up the head, and up the back. I did this every night for a few weeks. I spent maybe 15 minutes on the whole procedure and then left the machine on, pointed at me when I went to bed. I tried to do a quick treatment in the mornings also. I am still using the machine on my finger and almost always leave it on at night (I have been using it less that way recently).
The doctors did nothing to my finger so far except clean it and bandage it. The surgeon wanted to see how it would heal on its own before doing anything else. He said he could operate on it and it would heal up faster, but there would be less of it left! I have kept the injury site moist to allow it to continue the healing process. The goal was to allow granulation tissue to form. This is a slower process than just closing it up, but hopefully gives better long-term results.
Quality of Life Improvements: Initially, when I used the machine against my chest after the injury, I felt a great sense of relief and comfort – it was very calming (I also took it to work with me and used it when I had a chance). I didn’t miss a day of work and felt good considering the circumstances. I did have pain medication, but I used less than suggested (it was not very painful until I had to soak it and change the bandages twice a day; that was terrible for about a week). After May 1, I only took some Ibuprofen a couple of times. Although I am often aware of the finger, I would not say it “hurts.” The feeling was, and still is to a certain degree, one of tingling or mild electricity. When I did not use the machine one weekend when I was out of town, it did hurt more. I think that using infrasound has aided the healing process and the injury site is healing well.
The surgeon has only seen it twice (I am scheduled to see a PA next week as the surgeon is booked up). The first time he examined it was almost 5 days after the injury. He said it did not look as bad as he was expecting. When he saw it 2 weeks later, he said it was looking “great!” (it was only after he said it looked great that I told him that I was using infrasound on it). I am very pleased with my experience in using infrasound for pain management, healing and its calming effect.
-Vicki Campbell (Fair Oaks, CA)
