Electroacupuncture (EA) Treatment for a Chronic Severe Femoral Nerve Injury:  A Case Report

Hossein Haghir; Hamid Reza  Bahrami-Taghanak

doi:10.18502/tim.v10i2.19061

Hossein Haghir Department of Acupuncture, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Hamid Reza Bahrami-Taghanak Department of Acupuncture, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/tim.v10i2.19061

Keywords: Electroacupuncture; Femoral nerve; Peripheral nerve injuries; Case report

Abstract

Although there have been a few reports of improvement in peripheral nerve injury (PNI) with electroacupuncture (EA), this seems to be the first report of treating a patient with chronic femoral nerve injury using EA. A 35-year-old Iranian woman visited the university acupuncture clinic because of severe difficulties in hip flexion, extension of knee, and sensory loss on the medial side of leg on the right side. The diagnosis of femoral nerve injury was confirmed by physical examination and nerve conduction study (NCS). EA treatment was done three times a week for 12 sessions. A post-treatment physical examination and NCS showed improvement in the patient's motor and sensory symptoms. The patient continued to improve at the follow-up physical examination 7 months after treatment. This case report provides clinical and NCS evidence that EA may effectively treat a chronic severe femoral nerve injury.