The bottom line
Duke Gomez got his knee bending again quickly after surgery for a broken femur, and the movements that used to bring on shooting pain stopped hurting. At Thrive in Belmar, NJ, he had acupuncture with Clint Price, L.Ac., and weekly occupational therapy with Dan Van Clef, working toward a stronger quad and a steadier knee.
- Duke Gomez
- Broken femur patient
- Knee bend
- Back quickly
- Shooting pain
- Gone in tests
- Up next
- Quad strength
A broken femur and surgery
Duke Gomez broke his femur, the thigh bone, and had surgery. He came to us in Belmar for post-surgery rehab, and by then the one place he was still really feeling discomfort was his knee.
“The nerve pain was insane. I was shooting nerves up into my groin like all the time.”
Acupuncture at Duke's pace
Communication is a big part of how we treat at Thrive. We only take treatment as far as the patient is comfortable, and we ask patients to speak up whenever something bothers them. That's how Clint Price, one of our acupuncturists in Belmar, restored the range of motion in Duke's knee. Duke couldn't believe how quickly it bent again, and the movements that used to set off his shooting pain stopped hurting.
His acupuncture also targeted his quad, the muscle at the front of the thigh, with electro-acupuncture: a mild electric current through needles in the muscle helps it recruit more of its fibers.
Taking the pressure off his hip
Duke's limp put pressure on his hip and left his hip flexor sore and tight, a kind of hip pain he felt down in his knee too.
His weekly occupational therapy with Dan Van Clef, one of our occupational therapists in Belmar, focused on loosening his hip flexors and IT band and strengthening his quad, the same muscle Clint targeted with acupuncture, to make his knee more stable.
Key takeaways
- Duke Gomez got his knee bending again quickly after surgery for a broken femur, with acupuncture and occupational therapy at Thrive in Belmar, NJ.
- After his broken femur, pushing and squeezing with his leg used to bring on shooting pain for Duke Gomez. During his rehab at Thrive in Belmar, NJ, those movements stopped hurting.
- Clint Price, an acupuncturist at Thrive in Belmar, NJ, used electro-acupuncture on Duke Gomez's quad after his femur surgery to help the muscle recruit more of its fibers.
- Duke Gomez's limp after a broken femur left his hip flexor sore, so his weekly occupational therapy with Dan Van Clef in Belmar, NJ focused on loosening his hip and strengthening his quad to steady his knee.
