This video I'm going to show you how to instantly improve
circulation and blood flow in your legs. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
really easy exercises that will quickly improve blood flow and
circulation in the legs. I'm going to show the video in
different parts that are going to focus on different
positions. That way, you can do this in bed in a chair even
standing. Go through them all, use what gives you the best
results. As a bonus, all of the exercises can be done at home
require no special equipment and you may find get quick
results even with in 30 seconds. So, with that being
said, let's get started. So, let's start with some really
easy leg circulation exercises that you can do in bed or on a
floor. Just start lying flat on your back just like this and
you can use a pillow or rolled up towel underneath your neck
too if you need a little bit more support. Let's straighten
our legs just like this. The first one is going to be called
a toe pointer, very straightforward. We're just
going to take our feet and point our toes away from us as
much as we can. Really focusing on trying to engage as many
muscles in the legs as you can. You're going to hold this
comfortably for a second and then you're going to do the
opposite. Let's bring those toes back towards us as much as
we can. I really feel this one in the calves. Again, holding
this comfortably for a second. You're just going to relax and
then repeat this 10 times in both directions and with each
repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more. You
really want to focus on engaging these muscles
throughout the legs as much as we can. From here, we're going
to do what is known as windshield wipers. So, kind of
like a windshield wiper. We're just going to turn our toes and
feet towards one way as much as we can. Hold that for a second
and then go in the opposite direction. When I do this
exercise, I really like to move through my ankles to begin with
and then take it a little bit more until I really start to
feel it around my hips and that's when I'm going to hold
it for a second but again, let's do this 110 times on both
sides and now, we're going to take it to the next level and
focus a little bit more on these legs right here. So, this
one is going to be called a foot slider. Let's bend our
knees like this, keep our feet flat and what you're going to
do is slowly straighten one leg forward like this pointing your
toes away from you as much as you can at the same time. Once
you feel a deep activation of that leg right here, you're
going to hold that for a second and then, you're just going to
slide it back while now sliding the other leg out like this at
the same time. So, it's kind of like a nice, fluid movement
like this. 10 times on both sides. So, let's take this one
to even the next level by bending our knees at 90 degrees
just like this. So, our knees should be roughly 90 degrees
and our knees should be pointed up towards the ceiling. You
want to bring your knees back towards your chest just
slightly until you start to feel the muscles on the top
part of the legs start to engage. This will include the
quadriceps and the hip flex or muscles. Once we feel that,
we're then going to do very similar movements like we did
earlier. So, let's do that toe pointer. We're going to hold
this position and now point our toes away from us holding that
for a second and then bringing them back like this. It just
makes it a little bit more challenging and hopefully we'll
get that blood flowing just a little bit more. 10 times in
both directions and then from there, we're going to do our
windshield wipers but this is just a really easy way to get a
lot more circulation in the legs in bed and you can do this
throughout the day anytime that you need it. So, let's move on
to some really easy exercises that you can do seated. I find
that scooting more towards the edge of a chair works the best
for this one. To get into position, have very good
upright posture. Have your back as straight as possible. You
want your legs roughly hip width apart, knees bend at 90
degrees, and start off with your feet flat. We're going to
begin with a movement called a heel toe raise, very straight
forward. I'm going to take the Balsma feet and also my toes
and press them into the floor and then raise up on my heels
like this so I'm driving my heels upward towards the
ceiling as much as I can when you do this you're going to
feel a really good activation of the muscles in the leg
including the calves you want to hold this one comfortably
for a second or two and then you're going to go in reverse
so now press your heels into the floor and raise your toes
upward towards the ceiling as much as you can hit the legs
just a little bit differently but what you want to do is this
right for five repetitions and with each repetition try to
build into it just a little bit more if you would like to take
this one to the next level as you press down with your heels
and raise your toes up go as far as you can hold that
position and now do a windshield wiper so take your
toes gently towards one side as much as you can hold that for a
second or two and then repeat on the other side so give that
one a try you'll probably find that helps out just a little
bit more so we're now going to move on to what is called a
heel slider so let's get back into our original position for
this one I'm going to slide one heel out and I'm going to keep
contact on the floor so gently press your heel into the floor
and then slide it away from you as much as you can
straightening your knee when you can't go any further you're
then going to press your toes downward towards the floor
kind of like pressing into a gas pedal you should feel a
really good activation of the muscles throughout the leg
including right here on the top of your thigh. You're going to
hold this position right here comfortably for a second or
two. You're going to relax and then you're going to repeat on
the other side. You want to do this one nice and slowly for
five repetitions on both sides. So if you'd like to take this
one to the next level and make it a little bit more
challenging and hopefully strengthen these muscles. This
is what you can do. So let's get back into our original
position like this. Press those toes away from you as much as
you can and now slowly lift your leg upward keeping your
legs straight. Just lift it up towards the ceiling as much as
you can. This will really challenge those muscles. You
should feel it right here on the front of your thigh and I
would try to hold this for about five seconds and then
just kind of lower it down like this and then repeat on the
other side. You can do that for five repetitions. Just make
sure that whatever you do on one side to do on the other to
keep everything in balance. So, the last position that we're
going to do is a simple marching motion. For this one,
just take your hands, grab off to the side of the chair for
support. Let's get back into original position and we're
just going to march 1 leg up like this. So, driving the knee
upward towards the ceiling. When you do this, you should
feel those hip flexors right here on the top part of your
thighs start to engage. Goes right towards the groin. You
want to hold this one comfortably for a second or
two. You're going to relax it and then repeat on the other
side. Again, let's try to do this one for five repetitions
on both sides. To take this one to the next level, what we can
do is get back into that and now do a twirling motion with
our ankle so let's lift that leg up as much as we can hold
this position and do a big wide circle with our toes I like to
do this for about five repetitions going clockwise and
then I switch it up and go counterclockwise and then from
there I just repeat on the other side so here's a really
easy set of exercises that you can do standing the great part
about these ones they're going to be more focused on
strengthening the legs too so for this we're going to go next
to a staircase you're going to step up on the bottom stairs.
So, it should look just like this. You want your legs
roughly hip width apart and the nice thing is too is you can
grab off to the side just like this for support if needed but
have your heels off the edge of that step and all of your body
weight onto the balls of your feet and toes. Let's start off
by doing a simple heel raise. So, we're going to lift our
heels upward towards the ceiling as much as we can. As
you do this, you're going to feel a really good activation
of the muscles in the leg especially the calves. You want
to hold this one comfort or comfortably for three to five
seconds and then you're going to go in reverse. So, lowering
your heels downward towards the floor. This time around, it
should feel more like a deep stretch in your calves and if
your step isn't that high, kind of like with my step up
board right here and your heels touch the floor, no big deal.
You just want a nice, comfortable stretch. Again,
holding that one for three to 5 seconds and then, you're going
to repeat this one nice and slowly for five repetitions.
So, with each repetition, build into it just a little bit more.
To take this one to the next level, let's add a stepping
motion in there to help a little bit more with the knees
and target some more muscles. So, let's go right up to our
step. We're going to do that heel raiser again for about 5
seconds. We're going to relax and then step up on the board
and then repeat, lifting our heels up and then, just kind of
coming back down like this. You want to do this whole cycle for
about five repetitions and again, with each repetition,
try to build into it just a little bit more. So, let's move
on to one of my favorite exercises, the wall sit or the
wall squat. With this one, it's going to focus a little bit
more on strengthening the glutes and also helping with
our lower back. So, for this, you need a flat surface like a
wall but you can also use something like a door frame.
You're going to put your whole backside flush against it. Put
your feet out slightly in front of you just like this. Legs
roughly hip width apart. You're going to put all of your body
weight onto your during this exercise and slightly point
your toes out about five to 10degrees it helps take tension
off of the knees so once we're in that position we're then
going to tighten our core brace it's kind of like taking your
belly button towards your spine and then you're going to
squeeze the glutes from there we're just going to do a
sitting or squatting motion so slide downward as much as you
can the more that you go down the more challenging this will
be you should really start to feel those legs start to fire
this will really get that blood flowing well you feel the
activation of the muscles in the legs and the glutes right
here, you're going to hold this position for about five seconds
and then you're going to come back up, take a breather, and
then repeat this one five to 10 times and with each repetition,
try to build into it just a little bit more. If the
exercises help, please support the channel by giving this
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any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.