- Okay. We will give you six excellent options
for improving blood flow in your feet and your legs
without exercise.
And we're gonna explain why they're
why exercise may not be an option
which has a realistic case in many cases.
- Can I still exercise if I want to?
- You bet you can always exercise,
therapists we always advocate exercises,
but we're gonna get into that in a little bit.
Wait 9.3 seconds and we'll be right at it.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapist ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Okay, here we are.
As therapists we're talking about circulation in the legs,
how to get the blood flow better.
As a therapist, we almost always recommend
some form of exercise or repositioning of your body
to get gravity to assist.
However, there are three problems that can cause
with different populations, different people.
Number one, there are some people
who just absolutely refuse to exercise.
If you're a therapist, you know those people
because it's pretty obvious.
Sometimes they just come out and tell you
"I am not going to exercise".
And I say, thank you for your honesty
and it helps me guide do treatment
that doesn't include exercise, right?
- Other cases are people with severe dementia
or memory loss.
They do not remember to do the exercises.
They do not remember they have poor swelling,
sometimes they don't know who you are.
So they're not gonna remember.
So these are some options you can try as well with them.
- That's right. And of course there are certain people
who may have a work, you know, work challenges
where they're at work sitting.
It's hard to exercise, they got,
they're just busy, busy people
and exercise just doesn't fit into their day very well,
but these will and without problems.
So let's get on with it.
(whooshing)
- Option number one is elevate your legs
for at least 30 minutes a day.
You can do it laying down like I am
or you can do it in a recliner if it goes back far enough.
I have a leg wedge here you can purchase one
or you could simply just use some pillows.
The goal is to get your feet elevated above your heart
to help with that swelling
and get the circulation flowing better throughout your body.
- Right, and this is very nice to do
one thing if you are on a recliner
and the recliner oftentimes the legs won't go up high enough
in some recliners.
So again, add a couple pillows onto the leg part
right underneath the calves.
And so the pressure is spread out very nicely
and it'll work very well.
(whooshing)
The second one, now this is a really nice option
especially if you're up and about or you're sitting at work
for a long time in front of a workstation,
computer workstation, whatever it may be compression socks.
Okay? Mike has two different options here.
Here we've got a pair, make sure they go not above the knee,
make sure they have more compression.
It's in millimeters of mercury,
like 15 millimeters of mercury around the ankle.
And they'll give this in the description.
And then 20 here is a really popular
very common specs for this.
Okay? So wear those throughout today.
Do not wear them to bed.
Now, if you have severe swelling
or you have, usually typically older people use this,
I know my mother does
where I've worked with a lot of patients
in the geriatric community
and it's using what we call tubigrip.
So here you can see the toes are cut off
and that's because it's called tubigrip
cause it comes in a long
- [Together] Woo. (Brad chuckling)
- Like that and we cut it so the length
is right at the toes, right at the toe line here
at the knuckles of the toes if you will,
and then below the knee and you slide those on.
They don't have the compressive gradient
where it's tighter here than here, but they work quite well
particularly in the population I described.
You can, if they roll down like on this,
if they tend to roll like this, it's called a tourniquet.
It's more, usually happens here,
but I've already put on the Coban tape
which is, does not stick to your skin
but it does stick to itself.
And that can prevent it.
Usually you don't need to use that, I just have that on.
If you do have that problem,
it works very nicely for that population.
So, that's it compression garments,
again, where throughout the day,
not throughout the evening or sleeping.
(whooshing)
- Another way to get circulation going throughout your body
and in your feet, especially is just massage.
So you could start in the bottom of your feet
and just dig in with your thumbs,
make sure to move all around, what feels good.
Obviously I'm in what they call a figure four position
so I can reach my feet.
If you can't reach your feet
you might have to have someone like Brad
massaging for you then.
- Yeah, or do the another option.
(Mike laughing)
The other nice thing about this position Mike is that
it's elevated, so you got gravity working
the fluids and a blood going downhill along with massage.
And it's important you start on the feet
spend them about a minute or so on that.
And then work to the calf,
working that calf belly like Mike is doing right now.
And we're just getting that blood moving
in any areas where it's pocketing if you will,
moving the right direction.
And you know, you're probably gonna spend
three to five minutes and what's gonna happen
that's gonna limit you is your hands are going to get tired.
- Yes.
- So if you do one leg at a time if you do both legs,
you'll figure out quickly how much time you can do this
before your hands fatigue and it becomes uncomfortable.
So you don't wanna get problems and idesis in your fingers
and your knuckles and whatnot.
- Yeah. So this is not really like a good option
for severe edema.
That type of massaging is a little different. So.
- All right. Particularly if you have pitting edema
if you have edema, you know what it means
where you push your thumb in and then you take it off
and a dent stays in that area.
That's called pitting edema.
This would not be for that situation.
All right.
We're carrying on number four. - Four.
(whooshing)
- All right. The next option is again, another massage
but instead of getting sore hands and fingers
like I mentioned previously,
if you happen to have a massage gun,
that could be a great way to get circulation,
moving, relax muscles, et cetera.
So here we have a gun.
This is a - C2,
- C2 like cat.
- T2
- T2 like Tom two.
Okay, T2.
And the head that I like to use for this
like Mike shows is the round head.
There are other heads, there's the bullet head,
there's the air head, not like me.
(Mike laughing)
But anyways the round head I think is the best.
And we'll go, why?
Well demonstrate why now, here we go.
Mike supine position again.
So gravity assists with the blood flow going down
is a big advantage.
And it's real comfortable.
This is the way I like to massage my legs
particularly lying down. - This feels nice.
- Yeah.
Make sure, the massage should feel good.
If it's too aggressive, there's five settings
on this particular gun, slow it down a little bit,
so it's not so aggressive.
- I'm just on number one on the bottom of my feet.
And this is gonna be less aggressive going lateral
versus directly into it.
- Right.
Move the ground.
And that's the big advantage of the Roundhead.
It allows you to change the angle
which then in turn changes the intensity of the massage.
Should feel good very relaxing.
Again, start at the feet,
work down to the muscle belly of the calf.
So the blood is going with gravity
and the percussion of the gun making it go down
proximal to the core and into the system.
How you doing Mike?
- I'm good.
You know when said airhead,
it ran me over that old movie, Airheads.
You probably never seen it.
Brendan Fraser and Adam Sandler.
- [Bold] Yeah. I've heard of Adam Sandler.
(Mike laughing)
- I think Adam Sandler's in it.
- [Bold] Does he play golf?
- No, that's Happy Gilmore.
- [Bold] Oh yeah, Happy Gilmore,
that's the one I would think of.
So again, working the quadriceps, these are large muscles.
There's a lot of blood involved in these muscles,
so we need to get the fluid moving down
and that'll actually open up the pathways
for circulation from the feet and the calves.
- Should we go on to the next option?
- Absolutely. And this your hands don't wear out.
You can spend five minutes,
very happily doing this by the way.
- That's very easy
- And it feels good.
(whooshing)
Yet another option to get that blood flow,
moving in the legs and proximal where you want it to go
is the foam roller.
- Yes.
- This does take a more abled bodied person.
It's a little more effort to do.
They work quite well, however, just a little difficult
and you'll see why.
You also probably want to get the foam roller
that's not so dense.
It actually squish in it's a little more comfortable
but some people like the black ones
are more denser to the, dense one they make.
And that does get into the muscle
and actually massages the muscle more aggressively.
That's your choice.
So Mike's starting.
Again, we're gonna start on the feet line super,
go ahead Mike, tell him what you're doing.
- I wanna get a little more aggressive with this.
I can lift my butt off.
It takes a little more balance and coordination to do that.
Also works your hamstrings quite a bit.
And it's just digging in down my plan fascia area. Yeah.
Really massaging in and just start here
and work your way up.
I can go up to my cast pretty easy.
You could do double, single whichever you prefer.
I do single a lot I don't know what you do.
- [Brad] I usually do doubles cause it gets done faster.
But if you have one side that's tighter than the other.
Maybe you got a knot in there,
you'll wanna go on that one side single like this.
- My foam roller is half the length.
So that's probably why I do one.
- [Brad] Sure.
- And you can also turn your toes out and turn them in.
It works different areas of the calf when you do that.
- [Brad] Yep.
- This is usually where I feel it the most.
I like an aggressive one.
Mine has actual little nodules in it.
- [Brad] Oh. Yes.
- But that's just me pick what one you prefer
and what works best for you.
Brad, are you gonna show the
- Yep. Anterior tip the muscle here.
You just have to flip over I'm gonna do it for Mike
so he doesn't have to bounce around so much on the floor.
And you just simply go like this turn sideways,
feels great actually. It's nice massage.
You're getting that blood flow moving.
And then up to the hamstrings.
- Hamstrings, we're back on this side and
just go from your buttock to the back of your knee,
keep your leg straight.
You can do single leg or you can do double leg if you want.
Takes a little more balance with both.
And it feels pretty good personally.
- Yeah. Yep.
And again, you can kind of roll side to side with this.
The quads you need to go prone stomach down.
And this is the way I work that.
So I go back and forth
and I always go on my side a little bit
do one leg at a time so I get those lateral quadriceps,
both sides.
You're probably gonna spend about 15 to 30 seconds
on each one of these groups as you work up
and they can get all the way into the glute muscles as well.
- Yeah. You can massage the glute on here.
I like to kind of figure four personally
and kind of roll around in different positions.
- [Brad] Yeah.
- That's just me. That's why I feel it more.
- [Brad] Sure.
- So my buttock itself is fine
but I can feel a little more pure forms when I do this.
- Yeah. I would say this is kind of optional.
When you get up into the glutes
you're already got the leg, the ankles
the legs pretty well massage, but
- Yeah.
- You're doing it. You might as well be complete
and get the muscle groups all the way up to the hips.
Yeah. You feel much better, Mike?
- Yeah. Are we gonna get on the option six?
- Oh yeah, but we're gonna take a break.
- Oh, okay.
(whooshing)
- All right. Short break.
Number six. This is probably the most desired way
to get circulation going in your legs.
It is for me.
And that's simply hire a massage therapist.
They're excellent at their job.
They'll get the muscles loose.
They'll move the blood flow in the right direction.
Cause that's what they do and they're experts at it.
The big thing is it costs money and you gotta do it.
That's why I never use them.
- Yeah. They're
- It's a treat.
You know, if I'm gonna get one, it's gonna be a treat
but some people might be able to afford it.
Go for it.
- If you got the money, go ahead.
It's probably the best option I would say.
- Yeah.
- But also self sufficiency is good too.
- Yeah.
All right. Very good with that circulation in your legs.
It's gonna get better. You're gonna feel better.
Next thing you know, be dancing like Fred Astaire.
- What if I couldn't dance before?
- Well, you will be able to dance after this.
- Oh, okay.
(lively music)