- All right.
If you want to improve blood flow in your feet
and your legs, we're gonna show you three options
that's gonna make this very easy to do.
No exercise, no medication.
As a matter of fact, if you do not do a couple of these,
your blood circulation will not get better.
- Sure. - Very simple.
You're gonna find out in a couple seconds.
9.3 actually.
- Yeah.
♪ Bob and Brad, ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet. ♪
- All right, Bob, you know my mother.
She has some issues with her leg circulation.
- I do.
- As a matter of fact,
I've been dealing with that right now.
So I thought I'm gonna make a video,
'cause I know there's other people
that are having similar. - Very common.
- Circulation problems. - Yeah.
- So the first thing that you have to address
is the footwear.
- Right.
- You can do everything you want.
- It's crucial. - Yep.
If your footwear is not loose enough, particularly
in the forefoot, you can do all the exercises you want,
and your circulation in your feet will not get better.
- Right.
- So let's look at the biggest thing,
and we searched for quite a while with my mother to
find footwear that had a wide enough toe box.
We're gonna back back up,
and I'll talk to you a little about what I found with her.
But in the average person.
- That's a narrow one.
- Yep.
You look at a walking shoe or running shoe, but you know
typically it's gonna be a walking shoe with this population,
they come to a point,
and that point jams the toes together,
taking the circulation and limiting it.
It just.
- What do they think we're elves?
- Yeah. Yeah.
It's like, you know, it's a style.
It's a fashion and that's
why they're doing it. - Yeah, right, it is fashion.
- You can get shoes now that are shaped like,
well let's compare these two. - Compare the two.
Right. - Yeah.
Is that pretty clear?
- That's how the feet are naturally.
Right, that's the natural shape of the feet.
Now, the cheapest way that you can
buy shoes shaped like this, is simply get a pair of Crocs.
They're loose fitting.
Make sure they're loose fitting.
That's a crock. (both therapists laugh)
Yeah, it's not a crock.
They're actually, and I didn't realize how useful
and how healthy these are for your feet-
- Right.
- In regards to circulation.
Plus they don't have a lot of support
which can be, depending on your feet,
some people might need support
if their feet are really in bad shape,-
- Sure. - But for the average person,
you want less support in the feet,
they're finding out, now.
- How much do they cost?
- These were 22.99.
I bought 'em 18 years ago.
(Bob laughs)
No, I think they're around 50, $60.
- Oh they are?
Yeah. They're a little more expensive-
- Wow. - Than I thought.
But the benefits you get, they last a long time.
When they get dirty, you throw 'em right in the slap sink
and scrub 'em down with a little Spic and Span.
You know, they work well.
Seriously. They're a nice option.
- And they're comfy.
Right.
Relatively cheap, compared to the shoes I had to buy
for my mom, which were extra wide.
They were Velcro and that we spent about $190 on.
- Wow.
But it was hard to get ones, 'casue she has edema
and she has a lot of swelling.
- Sure.
- So you get, you do what you have to do,
when it's for your mom.
- Right.
- This is a shoe that I bought.
I just wanna show this is a hiking shoe.
So this- - Pretty wide, these too.
- Yep. It's got the wide toe box.
So there's more manufacturers.
I think Merrill, I heard, is gonna start making
a wide toe box, weird shape. - Come on Merrill.
- Yeah.
I have a feeling that this is one of those things,
that in another five years,-
- Yeah, that's gonna be standard, right.
- It's gonna be cool to wear this, you know.
So anyways, let's go onto to the next point.
Alright.
The next thing you wanna address,
and this is very simple, but very helpful,
is simply elevate the feet.
So if you're lying in bed, on the couch, on the floor,
just, simply, get some pillows out.
Put 'em underneath your legs.
The rule of thumb is so that your feet
are higher than your heart.
You know, just do it so it's comfortable.
This is two.
I could easily put another one under there, huh Bob?
- Right. Yep.
- The next thing, if you do want to find something
that's even more comfortable, is one of these leg wedges.
Bob and I have used these for years,
with thousands of patients, I'd imagine.
- [Bob] They work great.
- And I would say 95% of the people are very happy with it.
And it's better than a pillow.
- [Bob] Also good for back pain.
- Yep. They're good for back pain.
Helps the, everyone says knees, hips, back.
It's just a comfortable wedge.
- [Bob] Right.
- They're not real expensive.
I think they're around $30.
- [Bob] Oh, feel great.
- Yeah. All right, let's go on.
There's, if you're sitting, this is a thing
I have with my mother, is she has to get her recliner up.
She doesn't like to, she just doesn't like it.
But anyways, we're working with her.
Otherwise have an Autobahn, get your feet up
so that your feet are not dangling.
- Ottoman. (laughs)
The Autobahn, that's the highway isn't it, in Europe?
- Yep. - Yeah.
- Drive fast.
- I'm going there next year, so you know.
Alright, so that's really important.
Take the time, get the pillows, get your auto min auto.
- (laughs) Autobahn.
(both therapist laugh)
And we got one more important thing to go through.
The last thing, which is very easy to do as well,
is get yourself a pair of compressive socks.
They should be,
what's the word,
ah, graduated.
In other words, they're tighter around the foot,
and as it goes up towards the calf,
there's not as much compression.
Typically, if you look at how they're rated,
it should be 15 to 20 millimeters of mercury.
The more tight ones are closer to 30 millimeters of mercury.
Or right at that point.
- You can ask your doctor.
- Yeah.
Talk to your doctor or your therapist
that's familiar with compressive garments.
They will know.
If you don't, you know.
If you don't want to go to a doctor
because you don't have a serious problem,
just get the lighter ones.
You're safe with that.
These are iReliev.
We like their product, but there's a lot
of different products that are good.
I have a pair on right here.
One thing you have to avoid at all costs,
like these are a little long for me
'cause I can pull 'em up past my knee, and that's no good.
I wore these on a plane to Alaska over the summer
and I left them there.
And what happened was, they rolled down
and we call that a tourniquet syndrome.
And so what happens is, it gets really tight, right
around that roll, and it was very uncomfortable,
and it actually cuts off the circulation.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] Particularly with the lymph,
but also with the blood flow.
So if you have socks and they're too long,
make sure you double 'em up and spread that out.
You probably cannot see this 'cause it's black on black.
But there you can see.
I got about three or four inches there, that'll be okay.
The best thing is to get the right length right off the bat.
So they come below the knee.
Below the knee.
The crux of the knee.
- Or way above the knee.
- Yeah. Or way up so they don't roll down.
- Right. - Right.
If you, like with my mother and
for some people, these are hard to get
on, my mother-
- Very hard to get on.
- Is not gonna put these on.
- No.
I even, like five years ago I said, "Can you try these on?"
And both her and my dad, they were both having the problem
and they said, "Take 'em back."
- They're terrible.
But if you use Tubigrip, this is a nice product.
It comes in rolls, and you measure it to the right length.
So that goes just below the knee,
and so the toes are exposed, actually.
- It's fairly inexpensive, right?
- Yeah.
This is 10 yards and I don't remember what I bought.
- Ah.
- But anyways, it's not real cheap,
but it's not real expensive.
- Right. It's definitely cheap,
I think it's cheaper than buying these.
And then you wash 'em and you can have two sets.
So that one pair you're wearing
and the other ones you're washing.
- Right.
- Air dry 'em, hand wash 'em is a good idea.
But here they are.
And this, also has a really problem with tourniqueting, so.
- Sure.
- The person has to be attentive to it
and, you know, pull 'em up and keep it from tourniqueting.
Sometimes they'll stay.
If it's a real problem,
you can get something called Coban, which is a tape.
I've got that on another video.
But it's a simple tape that stretches,
and you wrap it around.
It doesn't get tight.
- And it holds in place.
- Yep. Coban.
So anyways, that's important.
Call your, you know, if you're really having problems
with circulation and you're trying these things,
or if you have so much-
- Edema?
- Edema or circulation problems where you're turning red,
things are, like my mom is starting to seep the other day.
- Yeah. Weep.
- Yeah weep.
Which the fluid's actually going through the skin.
- Right.
- It's a problem.
You gotta get after it. - Yeah.
And then I would see a doctor for sure.
- Yep.
- But these things all work well and they will help.
Bob, what say you? - Agreed.
- Bob concurs. Say no more.
We have spoken.
(Therapists laugh)
(upbeat music)