Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today
i'm gonna show you some stretches and
exercises for peripheral neuropathy.
Let's get started.
So basically peripheral neuropathy is
when your hands and your feet start
feeling numb, tingly,
it almost feels like they're falling
asleep. And the reason for that is
because those nerves, the peripheral
nerves, kind of start dying a little bit. And
then you don't get that sensation down
to your feet, sometimes to your hands. It's
more common in your feet. Things like
diabetes cause this, and just other
things in general, bad circulation. So a
good way to get that circulation in
there and get that feeling back is to
exercise and stretch the areas. We're going
to focus on the feet today just because
that's the most common one. So getting
them stretched out its really good. Let's
start off with a calf stretch.
There's a bunch of different ways you
can stretch your calves, but i'm just
going to show you with a strap. So you
can use a stretch strap if you have one,
if you don't, you can use a dog leash or
you can just use a big beach towel or
even a belt, but you want it to be something
solid not one of those resistance bands.
So just wrap it kind of around the ball of
your foot. You want to relax your foot so
you're not actively moving it, you're
using the strap or the belt to actually
pull your foot. So just relax it and then
give it a nice pull until you feel a
stretch in your calf area. You want your
knee to be straight, so some people might
bend a little bit, but that's not getting
that stretch in your calves, so keep the
leg nice and straight.
Feel that stretch there and hold that
stretch for about 30 seconds. Take a
little break in between and then do
three of those. So just really getting
that stretch getting that flexibility in
the feet is really important. Cause a lot
of times when you have that neuropathy
in your feet, you tend to not feel where
your feet are and sometimes you stumble,
trip, and fall, and so having good
flexibility and strength helps that out
as well. The next set of exercises
you want to have your heel free-moving.
So if you've
got a foam roll, or if you want to sit on
the edge of something and let your foot
hanging off, you want to be able to move
that heel. So if you're flat on the floor or
something, you don't have quite as much
movement. But this time what you're going
to do is just an ankle pump. So pulling
your foot up and then pushing it down, so
really just getting some good movement
in the ankle. So you don't have to go fast,
make sure you get a good push at the end. A good
pull at the top, and just start off with
about 10 of those. You don't have to do a
whole lot. Then the next thing is going
to be ankle circles, so now you're just
making a circle at your ankle.
It's not your whole leg, sometimes people
want to kind of move the whole leg,
try and keep the leg staying still and
get most of that movement at the ankle.
So do about ten one way and then reverse
it and do it the other way. So just do
10 of each of those. So the next set of
exercises are going to be lying down.
You're just going to do a straight leg
raise.
so you want to keep the leg nice and
straight, locked out to keep it straight.
If you pull up your toes, that helps keep
it locked out, and keep that knee
straight as well. With a straight leg
raise, you just want to lift it to about
the height of the other side. So you
don't have to get super high, you have to
get about that much motion in there, and
then slowly come back down. You're really
trying to control this movement, so
you're not, you know, using momentum just
to kick it up and down, you really want
to control that. Work those muscles, get
everything nice and strong in there. So
just start off with about 10, then you
can do a couple sets of ten, and then
work your way up from there. So you do
both sides, and then you're going to do
what we call hip abduction or kicking
your leg out to the side. The leg on the
bottom can be kind of bent, but you want
your whole body to be in a straight line.
A lot of times people if they kick up,
they'll kick kind of forward, but that's not
really working those hip abductor
muscles. So pull your toes tight again
and almost lead with your heel slightly
back behind you, so you're kicking back that way.
So a lot of people want to do that, but
again that's not getting those abductor
muscles, so make sure you're leading with
that heel and going back just a little
bit. So again just start off with about
10 and then you can work your sets up to
two or three and then just kind of work
your way up with your reps from there.
Alright the next exercise we're going to
be standing up. The next exercise is
going to be a heel toe raise, and again
this is just to kind of strengthen
those ankle muscles, and get that
increased circulation. So hold on to
something sturdy and sturdy chair or counter
top, if you have it, for some extra
balance because, again, a lot of times
when you don't have that feeling down there,
your balance is off just a little bit. So
go up nice and slow and come down with a
controlled motion. So it's not just going
up and down, but really controlling that
movement, making those muscles work, and
then pull your toes up when you come
back down. So you're just going to go all
the way up with the heels, slowly come
down, and then pull the toes up. So just
start off again with about 10 of these,
and then you can work your way up to 15
to 20. If those become easy, then you can
go just to one foot, and still coming up nice
and slow, down, and then pull your toes up.
So just going back and forth. And then
the last exercise is for balance because
again that's one of those things that
you lose when you don't have that
feeling down there, or you always have that
tingling pins and needles feeling, or
some numbness in there. So just a simple
stand on one foot. Again have something
nice and sturdy, you might have to start
off with two hands, that's ok. Try and get
to at least 10 seconds,
work your way up to 30 seconds or even a
minute. If that becomes easy, then you can
go to one hand, and then you can even go
to no hands. If all that becomes
easy and you're switching back and forth
a couple times,
there's no problems with that, then if
you really want to challenge yourself,
you can try closing your eyes. And again
you can see down at my ankle with my
eyes closed,
it's moving a lot and that's pretty
normal, that's just those muscles trying
to find the balance, especially when you
don't have that feeling to help you find
that balance. So there you have it. If
you have any questions, leave in the comments
section. If you'd like to check out some other
videos go to askdoctorjo.com Remember
be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.