The alternative knee replacement

“If you don’t have the knee replacement now, you’ll have to do it sometime soon. That knee is only going to get worse, Look at the x-ray.”

That’s what my specialist – the expert – said about my right knee several years ago. And she said it with the utmost authority.

A knee replacement was definitely not on the list of things I wanted to do. So I sat back and murmured something like,

“I’ll think about it.”

If the truth be known, I am a bit of a rebel at heart so I took it all in as much as I can when anyone tells me what I need to do without also saying something like,

“What do you think?”,

or including me in the process in some way.

But I was also scared. I did not want a knee replacement. And this is the moment where many people go out of integrity with themselves and give their power to the expert and the fear. They’re scared, the doctor is the expert so they just go along and say “Yes”.

After all, the doctor knows best.

Yes?

No, not always.

While Western Medicine can come in very handy, I have chosen to make it my last resort when it comes to healing. There are many other things in the universe’s tool box that can heal things in a less invasive way than many forms of Western Medicine.

It has always been of interest to me to watch what people, as well as myself, do when confronted with an expert’s opinion. I’ve noticed that, especially with doctors and medical specialists, we as a society tend to give our power away at alarming levels when told what we need, should, or have to do to be healthy.

It is a fact that for many years, the pharmaceutical companies have underwritten  most medical schools that train doctors.  It is no wonder that natural products and techniques are not taught when you consider the bottom line for big pharma.

There are many people who have no idea of nutrition, have no idea that what we put in our bodies through our mouths have a lot to do with whether we are healthy or not. My understanding is that most medical schools, if not all of them, have less than five hours of nutrition included in the several years it takes someone to become a doctor.

My eating habits were fairly acidic at the time my knee swelled to twice it’s size and said “don’t walk on me.” I have come to realize that was a major contributing factor of why my knee became so inflamed. My body had inflammation because of my diet – and most probably the stress of being a tenant in a not-so-good landlord situation – was taking it’s toll of this precious body..

Rather than jump on someone else’s band wagon just because they qualify as an authority, I long ago set an intention to look inside myself first. Over the years I have learned that my best first response is to ask myself,

“What am I telling myself that is not consistent with a healthy body?”

“What am I doing that is not consistent with a healthy body?”

This is best done in a quiet space within yourself.  It is good to connect with this precious body and allow yourself to feel, both your emotions and your body sensations. Listen to your inner talk and see what is there.

If you do a tapping exercise while doing this, you can access information much quicker and much more deeply than if you are not tapping. If you are interested in doing this, see the article, “Inner Dialogues with EFT”, found elsewhere in this section.

When I did this in response to being told I needed a knee replacement, the information I got was that I was afraid and while in fear, the body’s natural healing abilities are inhibited and greatly compromised. The message was to get out of FEAR first and EFT is the best way I know of doing that so I did some EFT and felt a little better and told myself that it would take time. I tapped using phrases like,

“Even though I am afraid my knee won’t heal, that it is impossible for it to heal, the expert said so, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

“Even though I’m afraid my expert is right, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

There were many tapping sessions over several weeks. Since I knew I was in conflict I also did EFT Parts. Parts acknowledges that we actually are in conflict. A part of me wanted to heal my knee without having a knee replacement and a part of me didn’t know if I could do that.

So I tapped while saying something like the following:

“Even though a part of me knows my knee can heal itself if I give it the nurturance and care it needs, another part of me is saying, ‘Are you nuts? Get the knee replacement. Listen to your expert,’ and I deeply and completely accept both parts. “

If you do not know about Parts EFT, please feel free to contact me for more information.  It is valuable when we are in conflict with ourselves and we are probably in internal conflict more often than we would like to think…..

I felt better and spent six months recuperating. I was taking walks, riding a horse and doing things I hadn’t been able to do for a while. I didn’t feel great, but I felt better. I would now say that while I did a lot of good things for me and my knee, I did not delve as deeply into myself as I needed in order to truly heal. I now feel this is probably because I was afraid that, even if I did everything, I would still have a knee that would need a replacement, so I sabotaged it by not doing the necessary work .

There are many levels of fear and I had released the more vocal ones, but still had more subtle fears that I hadn’t heard yet. One morning about 9 months after I started working with my knee, I got out of bed and collapsed on the floor, my knees would not work. I crawled to the front door to unlock it so someone could help me. I was initially both afraid and shocked. In the midst of all that fear, I was able to check in with myself and ask the question again,

“What am I telling myself that is not consistent with having a healthy body?”

I did some EFT and within a few hours was leaning on walls, but walking.

A few hours later my friend arrived and we borrowed some crutches from someone.

By afternoon, I was wheeling around town with the crutches swinging this way and that way.

I knew I had been warned. If it could change that quickly, it was meant to be a lesson and my job was to interpret it. I tapped whenever I had fear thoughts the rest of the day and went to bed exhausted and with crutches leaning against the wall near the bed. The next morning I awoke already questioning how this could have happened.

Immediately I heard the thought,

“I hope my knees work today,”

and realised I had been thinking that for months. That is FEAR. I was sending myself fear every morning – questioning this body’s healing ability and this body was reacting. Some more tapping was in order.

“Even though I am still afraid my knees won’t work right, that I cannot really heal and be well again, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

A few rounds of that and I was sliding out of bed to see if my body could stand. It was tentative and I took the crutches along just in case, but I could move around the house.

Conflicting messages to the body have proven to inhibit the natural healing abilities of the body. I had to do something that would shift my negative beliefs about my knee that actually looked and felt healthy, but part of me didn’t believe it was healthy.

Part of me believed it could get worse any day – any minute – any moment. I can’t tell you which of the following things happened next. They all kind of happened at once. What I can tell you is that they worked together to release any pain and restriction to my knee.

• First I began watching my thoughts about my knee, especially first thing in the morning as I lay in bed contemplating getting up. I caught myself thinking, “I hope my knees work well today. I was sending my body conflicting messages. On the one hand I was giving lip service to the idea that I was healthy and yet there was fear that my knee would not do what it is supposed to do, such as carry me through my day.
• I realized that my body had become the enemy. Instead of nurturing I was sending judgment and fear to a body that needed the opposite. So I started hugging myself and thanking this body for carrying me around all these years.
• I began doing EFT whenever I thought about my knee. I did it throughout the day, every day. It became a practice in that I did it for weeks. “Even though a part of me says I am healthy, a part of me is just waiting for my knee to collapse and need that surgery and I deeply and completely accept both parts.” I believe doing that allowed me to catch the negative thoughts much earlier, thus allowing my body relief from the onslaught of negativity I had unconsciously been sending.
• I also began stretching before getting out of bed, raising my legs and allowing them to collapse so my knees were in a very bent position.
• And I began to talk to my knees with my EFT ‘Inner Dialogues” which are outlined in another article. I began loving my knees, hugging my knees whenever I thought of it during the day, saying “I love you. You are such good girls. You have carried me through my life, no matter what I did or said. Good girls. I love you.” Then I would blow them a kiss and send love and care from my heart of hearts.

EFT was a major part of making my knees really and truly well again. Eating better and catching stressful situations earlier were also a part of my healing.

It has been eight years since I was told I needed a knee replacement and I now sit cross legged in meditation, go to a yoga class, take longer walks on the beach, swim laps in the local pool, ride horses and have even been known to sit in a squat position for at least 20 seconds. That is 20 second longer than I could do that before and I am pleased.

My knees are more flexible than they have been in years. I am totally pain free and that is something I love.

Yes, there is absolutely a place for Western Medicine and I would never tell anyone else what is right for them. I just know what is right for me and that my inner investigations seem to help me have a healthy body at the age of 76 years young.

I am absolutely grateful. The alternative knee replacement is care, love, nurturance and persistence, a lot of that through the EFT process.

I think I’ll take a nice walk on my favourite beach as soon as I proof read this article.