function!

Noel Gonzalez is the only Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) in private practice in Las Cruces and 1 of only 6,000 CHTs in the world. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology in 2010 from NMSU, he returned to Lubbock, Texas for his graduate studies finishing his Master of Occupational Therapy degree in 2013 at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Within 3 years of graduating, he achieved the highest credential in the specialty of upper extremity treatment. Currently, he is finishing up his Doctorate program.

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Noel prides himself in giving you a therapy experience like no other by providing world class clinical practice and being someone you can relate to and connect with. This is part of the function! difference.

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"When you come work with me, you're going to feel like you have a partner in your care. I am invested in your case and I am just as excited as you are when you return to being able to care for yourself, shave, drive around town, cook, play the piano, return to work, get back on the field and live your life. I literally jump out of bed to go work with you, that's how much I love what I do. I commute from El Paso daily and have been for years, and I'm thinking about you on my way to work. I have said it before that you can go anywhere you'd like for your therapy but you probably won't find a person that cares as much as I do. Here we'll work hard, we'll trade stories and you're going to hear about me barbecuing with my family over the weekend, following my favorite sports teams, the fight/the big game, the latest series on Netflix, trying to get back into exercise, a great spot to eat, and the bourbon or scotch that I enjoy on occasion. Some folks I see two to three weeks and others three to six months; regardless, I cherish our time together and I am grateful for each and every patient that I have the opportunity to work with.

 

Las Cruces is where I've been since 2007 and it's where I will continue to be. My ambitions professionally from day one were hand therapy and to own my own practice. I named it function! because in 2012 I came up with a vision: function restored, livelihood recaptured. Over the years when I ask patients what they'd like to get out of therapy, time and time again they say, 'function!' To live, to work, to play...to function!" When you have function, you feel like yourself again and you have your life back.

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A few highlights of the grad school education that facilitates your positive outcome include: a 3 month gross anatomy cadaver lab, 5 months of upper extremity coursework, 5 additional months of practicum working alongside faculty in a private outpatient clinic in Lubbock and a 3 month rotation at the Covenant Hospital NeuroScience Institute working alongside 2 veteran hand therapists. This, all from 2011 to 2013!

 

Professional development and continuing education thereafter include: coursework through the American Society of Hand Therapists, the International Academy of Orthopedic Medicine, the North American Institute of Orthopedic Manual Therapy and Kevin Wilk's Northeast Seminars focusing on rehab for elite athletes.  

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