A friend of mine, who's working towards becoming a practitioner, bashed her toes really hard on the raised lip of a shower tray recently. She had to be mobile because she was looking after a rather anxious and energetic dog who needed walking; I was also looking after an elderly dog who didn't like other dogs on her territory at all, so when Angie and Terry the dog called round she couldn't stay too long. I noticed she was limping a little and although Terry was already starting to bark out in the kitchen I insisted on giving her toes a little QT. They were looking a little swollen and red, and were very painful. I probably did less than two minutes QT, actually, but she said the pain was less. She went on her way, not limping. Next day I again saw her and gave maybe another minute of QT. Her toes weren't swollen any more, just a little bit red where she'd hit them. They didn't hurt much at all and she could walk normally.
After that second treatment, and a total of about 3 minutes healing, her toes were absolutely fine - no pain, no swelling, and no bruising. Next day I looked at them and couldn't tell she'd done anything. Just as well since we were due to go on holiday for a week! She was able to walk normally and enjoy her holiday without any discomfort at all.
What's really interesting is that she also hit one toe on her other foot, but not nearly so hard, and it didn't give her any real pain, so I didn't give it any treatment. In fact I don't think she mentioned it until a week later, when she noticed it had a small line of bruising on it. That took a while to disappear. Yet on her severely bashed toes there was no sign there had been any injury at all! I used only the basic breathing and sweeping technique - incredibly effective! I'm wondering if the fact I knew I only had a minute or two 'compressed' the healing into the available time - I think it certainly made me focus quickly and give it my all!
