- Okay.
Today, Brad and I are gonna talk
about peripheral neuropathy.
And we're gonna share what helps,
and what does not help.
Stick around.
♪ Bob and Brad, ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists, ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- All right, this first one, Brad,
is supported by research.
- Yes.
- So, it not only makes you stronger,
but it will also take your pain away.
Help.
So, you can do it in bed,
you can do it in a chair.
Real simple.
Start out, Brad.
We're gonna start by doing circles out.
- With our ankles?
- Right.
- Yep, out.
So just, I always tell my patients,
imagine you got some chalk on the end of your toes,
and you're trying to make big circles on the chalkboard.
- And I would say, start with 20.
- Mm hmm.
- But you could eventually work up to 50 if you want.
- Right, you'll definitely feel those ankle muscles.
- All right.
How about we go circles in, Brad?
- Yep.
- They're very similar.
- Yeah, it does work a little bit different muscles.
The whole idea with this, I think,
is just to improve circulation into the feet.
- Right, exactly.
- Peripheral neuropathy--
- More circulation to the nerves,
more health.
- That's right.
- All right.
And then we're gonna flip, like we're flipping in the water.
- [Brad] Yeah, I just call 'em ankle pumps.
- [Bob] Ah, ankle pumps.
- [Brad] Up and down, up and down.
- I thought flipping was fun.
- Yeah, flippers.
You know, 'cause we're obviously referring
to peripheral neuropathy below the knees,
which is the vast majority. - Right.
And you do when you wake up in bed,
you can do it throughout the day.
- I'm getting tired, Bob.
- All right. - Can I stop?
- We'll go on to number two.
All right, the second one is also proven by research, Brad.
- Sure.
- And we found out that massage will not only help
with the pain levels,
but it will help you sleep.
- I'm all for that. - All right.
- Plus it feels good.
- Right.
So, you know, obviously,
I would like to get somebody like a partner to do this.
- Right.
- But if you can't, you could do it yourself manually.
- [Brad] Yeah, maybe you could get a professional masseuse
to come over,
but most of us couldn't-- - Good luck with that.
- Afford that.
But yeah, I like to work all the way up under the forefoot,
down into the arch.
And again, the only problem is,
my thumbs are starting to get tired.
- Right, so a second option,
is actually to use a foot massager.
We just happen to have to have a Bob and Brad machine.
It's a very good machine.
It'll knead,
it'll massage.
- It compresses.
- Compresses that's what I was looking for.
- And it heats up.
- Right.
So you can put your feet in.
It runs for 15 minutes.
If you want another session,
you can go ahead and put your feet in it again,
and keep going.
- How long do you normally do yours?
- Well, I could go most of the night.
(both laughing)
- Sleep with it, maybe?
- But our office manager--
- Yep.
- Has P.N.--
- Yep.
- And she tried this and she thought it helped.
- Yep, so--
- For the pain.
- And if your feet are bigger than like size 14?
- Right, forget it.
- Then it probably won't work.
- I'm size 12 and I just fit.
- Okay, that's nice to know.
- All right.
- All right, next one.
- All right, the next one, Brad,
it's called gabapentin.
I've seen many of my patients on this.
- Yep.
- I would say it's mixed whether it helps.
- Right.
- But what I want is all of you out there who have tried it,
to let us know.
- Right, what their experience is.
- Right, did it work for you?
Did it not work?
Were there side effects?
- Right.
- Were they bad?
- So people watching can look and compare, you know,
what the effect is with other people,
so you have an idea. - Right.
Help each other out.
- Yep.
- I've seen it a lot with chronic pain.
- Mm hmm.
- All right
The next one is amitriptyline. - Mm hmm.
- This is actually a anti-anxiety anti-depressant.
But I've seen it a lot with people who have P.N.
- Right, peripheral neuropathy.
And so again, we--
- Again, we need, yeah.
- Yeah, get your feedback--
- In the comments below.
- Yeah, if you've used it,
let us know if you had good results,
poor results and--
- Side effects.
- Yep.
- All right, so the next one is capsaicin cream.
This is not gonna cure it,
but it'll help calm down the pain.
- So it's a topical cream you just rub on your skin,
to give you some temporary relief while it's on,
or even thereafter.
- So again, be our advisors.
- Yep, let us know if you've tried it,
and what your results were,
if good, bad or indifferent.
- All right, Brad,
we got two more to talk about.
This one is lidocaine patches.
My patients, I thought they liked it.
I mean--
- Yeah, it's a medicated patch that sticks on to the skin,
and you just leave it there,
and it's easy to deal with.
I've had pretty good results with a lot of my patients,
not only with this diagnosis,
but with other pain.
- Right, exactly.
- But again, give us your opinion.
- Right.
- All right, the last one that we're gonna talk about,
is TENS unit.
- Oh. - T-E-N-S.
- That's a mouthful.
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
- Right.
- So it comes in a little unit,
a little box that has a lead that goes down two pads.
- Right.
- And you get a little bit of electric current.
- Right, so it's like pins and needles.
You can adjust the intensity very easily.
They've been around for 30, 40 years.
- Yeah.
- And have been very effective for pain management.
Particularly if you wanna avoid medications,
this can be a go-to option.
- I would say maybe 50% of my patients it helped.
- Yeah, I would say so too.
Yeah, somewhere in there.
So, some people just love it,
and they just are really happy to have that option.
And other ones, just not so.
- Right, it's called iReliev.
- Right, that's the manufacturer of what we like.
They have a good unit.
It's easy to work with. - Right.
- And you know, you'll be happy with it.
- There are seven interventions.
Let us know what, again,
what works for you.
- Right, everyone's gonna help each other out.
See what's going on in other people's life,
with peripheral neuropathy.
Take care.
- Good luck.