This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in February of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/IAaApXF7K88
Brad: Healthy leg circulation is absolutely critical to controlling skin integrity, balance, and pain control, particularly as we age.
Mike: And we're going to show you the five best options that keep your legs feeling and looking healthy.
Brad: That's right. Now this is a subject that I have a personal interest in because my mother has swelling in her legs and we need to work on it. So I continually work on things to get her to exercise, to help remedy the problem, and to keep it under control. As physical therapists, we understand that muscle contraction is a key component of leg circulation. The blood and the fluid need to come up against gravity. And when muscles contract, that's a pump that pumps that fluid and blood up.
Mike: Plus these exercises provide extended benefits to your heart and lungs and general health.
Brad: Yes, overall exercise in the legs is going to help you out in all realms. So Bob, myself, and Mike have worked with people in this age group for many years and we know what works and what doesn't work in regards to exercises and exercise equipment.
Mike: So we're going to show you some exercises you can do at home that don't require any equipment, and we'll also show you some inexpensive things that you could possibly purchase or maybe you have them as a good alternative to say, purchasing an elliptical or a treadmill.
Brad: Now, elliptical and treadmill are good devices. However, they're large and they're very expensive and most people may not have the funds or a space in their house to actually use them.
Mike: Now, walking outside is certainly a very acceptable and great idea as well. However, we realize not everyone is physically able to go outside due to limited mobility, circulation issues, or possibly weather conditions.
Brad: Right, so we have five options and they're going to be very viable for you and we're going to go through them now. So this first exercise is very general and very effective. It works almost all the muscle groups in the legs, plus you can do it lying down in bed, or in a chair. So it's great to do before you even get out of bed in the morning, or in the chair before you eat breakfast, or throughout the day. I'll demonstrate seated. Mike will demonstrate lying on his back or supine. So you simply, with good posture while you're seated, you're going to kick one leg up, hold it as high as you can, and then make sure you do at least three ankle pumps, moving you feet back and forth. I call those ankle pumps. And then do the other leg back and forth. You're going to get some stretching of the muscles involved as well, which is a great benefit besides muscle contraction. You're going to do at least 10 of those on each leg. Mike, do you want to talk about it, doing it supine?
Mike: When you're doing this in supine, have your knees bent, I have a flat back, and I'm just going to kick up. You will feel a hamstring stretch if you have tight leg muscles here. Again, you're going to pump the ankles. Now when you're doing it lying down, you actually have gravity assisting to bring the blood flow up to your trunk where you want it, not in your distal feet. So this is a good option again if you just get up in the morning, or if you don't want to do it seated.
Brad: That's right. Excellent. Everyone can do this. All right, the second exercise you're going to do standing. This gets the muscles working and the added benefit to this is you have a weight-bearing exercise, so it's going to help your bones as well. It's just a bonus. So we're going to start out holding onto something solid in front of you like a chair, a cupboard, something of that nature. You can use a cane or a Booyah Stik like Mike is doing. We're simply going to do a squat. It's really important you don't go too low. You have to kind of know yourself first. If you get so low that you can't get back up, that's a problem, obviously. So squat as far as you can comfortably, then back up. Now, watch what happens with my feet so that we get complete muscle pumping of the blood. We're going to go up on our toes, holding on as far as you can. And then when you go back, you actually lift your toes up in the air to get the muscle group in front of the leg working to get that extra movement of blood. And it's going to help your balance. So the whole complete set, standing holding onto something, squat down what you feel comfortable, up, up on your toes, down, back on the heels. That's one repetition. You're going to do 10 repetitions. Mike has a couple of other ideas to make it safe.
Mike: So if you do not feel safe doing this without something behind you, you can certainly do this on the edge of your bed if you feel safe there, or in a chair, simply sit down to the surface and then come back up. Do the calf and toe raises as Brad mentioned. Make sure, even if there's something behind you, don't just flop down. Still trying to control it, because that's going to get those muscles contracting, helping with the circulation in your legs.
Brad: That's right. So, the chair is a safety device if you lose your balance or a place to rest. An excellent device to get the legs moving while you're sitting so you're safe is a seated bike. We have a couple of different options here.
Brad: Now, we have used these in the clinic for years because they work quite well. There's one problem with them, if you're going to use this, say for example, under a desk, and you want to do exercise while you're reading a book for example, or working on your computer, the knees come up and sometimes hit the bottom of the desk. See the example below..
Brad: The other problem that we found with these is that they're rather heavy and awkward to pick up and move around. One has a handle, but some of them don't. And then you have to hold them and this is about 20 pounds or so and you have to take it out of the way so that you can function throughout the day, unless you have a home for it. So that's one of the issues. It works quite well. Now, we found a solution to this with another device we'll show you.
Mike: Now, if you do have one of these devices at home or you want to use one, we suggest doing 5 to 15 minutes of it. That good duration of time will help get circulation moving in the legs. If you tend to have stiff achy joints in the morning too, this can definitely help with that, because over time it'll lubricate it and get things moving.
Brad: That's right, that arthritis, those joints, love movement. It is going to help take that arthritis pain away. All right, so the fourth option is a seated device called the FitGlide, as you can see, you put your feet on it and work it back and forth. I'll demonstrate in a minute. The really big advantage of this is it's very light. You can move it around. It sets on the floor easily. And I'll demonstrate. Here we have it moving back and forth. You can do it with your shoes on, with your shoes off. It also has a nice advantage of an angle so one direction emphasizes the quadricep contraction, as well as just simply moving it around, and the other direction will emphasize hamstring motion.
Mike: Now, another benefit of this device is you can actually use it in bed while lying down too. When using this in a lying down position, just make sure you get it low enough so you can get the full range of motion with your legs. And you can do this in bed. Again, it'll help pump circulation throughout your legs and help with any swelling you may be having.
Brad: That's right. Let's take a look at this once, Mike. It is a wonderful device. There is one thing you do not want to do, and that is stand on it. It's not made to work with standing on it or pushing body weight through it. It's simply what we said, seated or lying in bed.
Brad: There we go. Let's go to one more option that works good for a number of people. All right, the last option is kind of on that borderline for a big piece of equipment, or if it's too expensive, and that is a stationary bike. Now this is a little bit bigger, but as you see, Mike rolls it in, he got on it relatively easily. And the price of these is actually right around $200, plus or minus, depending on where you get it. Mike, you want to talk about using it.
Mike: So there are numerous brands. We're not endorsing any specific one. Obviously, if you have a stationary bike that stays in one place, that's perfectly acceptable as well. But just biking is a good motion exercise, very similar to the seated elliptical machines, but obviously you're sitting up higher. Some people just prefer this.
Brad: Right, right. And one big thing about this is if your mobility is limited, getting on and off one of these is definitely a fall hazard. I've had it happen with patients. So make sure that you feel very stable or there's someone to help you get on and off. But again, if you spend 10 to 15 minutes on one of these, it's going to be great for the legs.
Mike: I would make sure when you're purchasing a bike if you want to go that route, find one you're comfortable sitting on. Some are a more recumbent style with backrests, some are more upright. Make sure you're comfortable while you're doing this.
Brad: Good point, Mike. So this can be a very effective way to increase leg circulation, but there is one thing you must do, and it's called consistency. You must do the exercises every day, or at least start with three days a week and build up to five to seven days per week, and do them for the repetitions or the time we recommended. Do it. It'll work. You'll feel better as a result. Mike, what else?
Mike: If you want to check out more information on how to improve your circulation or blood flow in the legs, check out our video "#1 Way To Improve Blood Flow & Circulation For Legs."
Brad: Click that baby. Enjoy.
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