6 exercises to help manage Peripheral Neuropathy pain symptoms.mp4

Peripheral neuropathy causes numbness, tingling, burning, stabbing or shooting pains in the feet and hands and in this video I'll provide six simple exercises you can do at home every day to help you manage these symptoms. Hi everyone and welcome to Exercise for Health. I'm Richard and today I'm going to provide six exercises you can do every day if you're suffering with peripheral neuropathy and if you stick around to the end of the video I've got a bonus tip for some instant relief from your symptoms. If you're new to this channel we offer tips, advice and exercises to help you manage your health condition with physical activity so go ahead and tap the subscribe button below and the bell icon if you want to be notified of when we upload a new video. Peripheral neuropathy affects approximately 1 in 10 people over the age of 55 and as well as the pain symptoms it can lead to balance problems, weakness and in some cases severe complications of the feet. It's normally linked to people that have diabetes as this seems to be the most common cause for the condition due to high blood sugar levels associated with nerve damage but there are other conditions that can also cause it which I'll put up on screen now if you want to pause the video to read it. If diagnosed then one would be advised to treat the cause if this is possible but some may be given neuropathic pain medications to help with symptoms such as amitriptyline, duloxetine, pregabalin, gabapentin or tramadol. The main types of peripheral neuropathy include sensory neuropathy which is damage to the nerves that carry messages of touch, temperature, pain and other sensations to the brain. Motor neuropathy which is damage to the nerves that control movement. Autonomic neuropathy which is damage to the nerves that control involuntary bodily processes such as digestion, bladder function and control of blood pressure and mono neuropathy which is damage to a single nerve outside of the central nervous system. In most cases someone with peripheral neuropathy may have more than one of these types at the same time and in some cases where it's not possible to determine the cause is considered to be idiopathic neuropathy. However peripheral neuropathy can lead to other symptoms such as muscle weakness hence the importance of performing regular strength exercises such as sit to stands to maintain functional leg strength. It's also extremely important to maintain good foot health in case of ulcers which can potentially lead to gangrene. When trying to alleviate the symptoms the key is to remain relaxed to lower stress levels as increased stress levels can increase the symptoms of pain. So doing any breathing or meditation exercises will be a good place to start. If you want some breathing exercise ideas I've done a video on this and I'll leave a link in the description below for it. Multiple studies have confirmed that regular exercise can prevent and in some cases delay the onset of neuropathic symptoms. Exercising regularly will also help regulate blood sugar levels if that's important to you as well as provide some stress relief. So conducting gentle aerobic exercise such as walking, swimming, cycling or taking part in a gentle exercise class. Improving your balance through strength exercises and also maintaining your mobility with some gentle stretching will all go a long way to helping you control your symptoms. Here are six exercises though that you can do every day for five to ten minutes to help you manage the symptoms at home. I would advise to do these exercises barefoot so you can improve the mind body connection with the feet. The first one is seated toe raises. With your feet flat on the floor try to gently lift up your toes whilst the balls of the feet maintain contact with the floor throughout the movement. Hold for a couple of seconds and then slowly lower them back down to the floor. Do this movement five times whilst staying relaxed in the rest of the body. The second one is to do some heel raises. Starting in the same position as the first exercise, lift both heels up away from the floor as high as you can. Hold for a couple of seconds and then lower back down so you can begin to increase the movement in the toes and ankles. Again do this movement five times and then go on to the next one. The third one is ankle and fist pumps. Staying seated, extend one leg and arm straight out in front of you and move your ankle from dorsiflexion or pulling the forefoot back to plantar flexion or pointing the forefoot forwards, whilst at the same time making a clenched fist as you extend your foot forwards and spread the fingers wide when your foot is pulled back. Do this five times with the left foot and left hand and then switch to repeat it on the other side. Doing both the hand and foot exercise at the same time will increase the sensory input for the peripheral nerves. The fourth one is stand, spin and sit. This will challenge your balance and stimulate more of your sensory input systems. From your chair and without using your arms, stand up. Once you're upright, walk around on the spot in one direction and then sit back down again without using your arms. The next time you stand, spin the opposite way around before sitting back down. Repeat this until you've done it three times each way or six times in total. The fifth one is standing body leans, which will help with your balance and aid the connection between your brain and your gravity over your feet. Starting in a standing position with your feet a shoulder width wide and if you're concerned you might lose your balance, you can do this near a wall or support. Keeping your body erect and straight, slowly lean your body forwards, feeling the weight being moved towards the toes. Hold for a couple of seconds and then return back to an upright position so your weight is between the balls of your feet and your heels again. You won't move that much with this exercise unless you're doing it against a 60 mile per hour wind, so it would just be a few degrees from the vertical but it should be enough to challenge your balance. Perform this movement in a controlled manner five times before sitting back down for the last exercise. The final one is a stretch for the muscles down the back of the leg. Start seated and place one leg out straight in front of you and think about pulling the forefoot and toes back towards you. Sit up straight and if you don't feel a stretch yet, slowly lean forwards while maintaining a good spinal posture until you can feel the pull all the way down the back of that straight leg through the hamstrings and calves. Hold it for about 30 seconds, moving further forwards if you need to in that time to maintain the stretch feeling and then switch to do the stretch on the opposite side and this will complete your mini routine for the day. As I mentioned at the start, I have a bonus tip for you that can help bring some relief from your symptoms. All you need is a tennis ball on the floor to place your foot on and gently move your foot over it for about one to two minutes before swapping over to the other foot. Don't press too hard on the ball but the self-massage action should help obtain a bit of relief, so you can do this at any time of the day whenever you feel you need it. I hope you can take something away from this video today, if so please give it a like by clicking the thumbs up button below to help this channel grow so more people can benefit from it. Thank you so much for watching and remember to stay active, keep moving and I'll see you next week. Thank you for watching, if you enjoyed this video today please give it a thumbs up. You can also click here to subscribe to this channel or click here to watch a recent video. See you soon!