Synopses & Reviews
Taking care of your body is always important, and for the 73 million people that undergo surgery annually in the U.S., taking the proper steps to optimize one's self-healing potential can greatly accelerate the recovery process.
The Rapid Recovery Handbook provides powerful insight into ways to fine-tune your body's natural ability to repair and rebuild itself. Written for a variety of patients coping with a large scope of injuries and surgeries, this handbook outlines specific guidelines for a rapid recovery through the use of integrative medicine.
Each chapter begins with a story from a former patient of the authors, who are specialists in integrative medicine and therapeutic nutrition. These personal accounts demonstrate how the powerful yet gentle methods of integrative medicine effectively reduced their recovery time. The holistic view of the healing process relies on three factors: nutrition and botanical support; physical support, including therapies such as acupuncture and acupressure; and mind-body support, including self-hypnosis and mindful breathing to reduce stress. Based on a blend of sound science and their patients experiences, these specialists have compiled the ultimate guide of which foods and supplements to take at the different stages of the pre- and post- surgery process. Additionally, they show how the use of complementary therapies like guided imagery and massage can enhance the recovery process. Complete with a foreword by well-known heart surgeon Mehmet Oz and appendices filled with helpful resources, this fully comprehensive guide will be invaluable for anyone interested in natural healing especially those who desire a smooth and speedy recovery and optimal health after surgery. With skyrocketing health care costs and shorter hospital stays, it's never been more important to take responsibility for your health.
Review
“This innovative guide to enhancing your self-healing potential...exemplifies the benefits of an integrative model of health care.” Susan Gaylor, PhD, director, Program on Integrative Medicine, UNC School of Medicine; editor, Complementary Health Practive Review
Review
“A powerful and effective resource...the strategies presented here should be integrated into standard care. Until then, buy this book!” Tracy W. Gaudet, MD, director, Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, Duke University
Review
“An excellent resource for both the patient and the physician.” Bernie Siegel, MD, author of Love, Medicine & Miracles and Help Me to Heal
Review
“...provides a detailed and reliable roadmap for anyone who has contemplated or embarked on a surgical adventure.” Mark W. McClure, MD, FACS, author of Smart Medicine for a Healthy Prostate, cofounder, Landmark Urology and Complementary Medicine
Synopsis
The ultimate guide to maximizing the body's ability to heal for anyone who is planning for or recovering from surgery, injury or pregnancy.
By understanding the body's marvelous ability to repair and rebuild itself, we can prepare and fine–tune our bodies to optimize our healing potential post surgery. THE RAPID RECOVERY HANDBOOK will provide an understanding of the healing process and the essential tools to make sure self–healing mechanisms are in top working order, covering every repair–related detail a patient needs to know from the planning–for–surgery period through the late stages of recovery at home. Written for a variety of patients dealing with a wide scope of surgeries and injuries, THE RAPID RECOVERY HANDBOOK reveals three practical factors that account for the individualized nature of recovery: nutrition and botanical support (the primary way to prepare for surgery and to enhance healing from injury), physical support (including such beneficial therapies as massage, acupuncture, Reiki, hydrotherapy and others) and mind–body support (including hypnosis and mindful breathing to address the stress response). Complete with a foreword by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the book also has several appendices for lay and science–savvy readers alike.
About the Author
Elizabeth G. Motyka, M.D. is an obstetrician and gynecologist with a private practice focusing on conscious wellness, holistic gynecology and the use of alternative and complementary therapies in repairing and recovering from surgery. She was previously the co-investigator on an NIH grant to study integrative medicine education and was an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Dept of Ob/Gyn for nine years. Dr. Motyka is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at UNC, where she coordinates educational programs on integrative medicine and lectures on the use of alternative and complementary therapies in women's health.
Thomas M. Motyka, D.O. is a clinician, researcher, educator and nationally known speaker in the area of integrative health and osteopathic medicine. He is a board-certified internist, currently in private practice in Chapel Hill, NC. Dr. Motyka is clinical Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, and lectures widely on complementary therapies and the osteopathic approach to pain and musculoskeletal conditions.
Mark Nathaniel Mead is a freelance health writer with a master's degree in Nutrition from the UNC School of Public Health and Medicine. He has coauthored and ghostwritten books on cancer, AIDS, allergies, and autism, in addition to chapters for numerous books on integrative medicine. An editor for Integrative Cancer Therapies (Sage Publications) and former long-time contributing editor to Natural Health, he has also written articles for Utne Reader, American Health, Environmental Health Perspectives, Advances: The Journal of Mind-Body Health, and many other publications. He has lectured at Duke University, the UNC School of Medicine, the National College of Natural Medicine, and other prominent institutions on using nutrition and botanicals in tandem with conventional therapies.