Activities that Help People with Peripheral Neuropathy Balance
Maintaining and restoring the peripheral nerve system’s functionality, as well as maximising mobility and balance to guarantee a suitable degree of function, should be the aim of controlling peripheral neuropathy.
Some of the best exercises and methods for enhancing balance and foot awareness in people with peripheral neuropathy will be covered in this article. Every one of these suggestions might be carried out every day.
Sensory Stimulation Exercise #1
Overall movement function depends on stimulating the senses and fortifying the nerves at the bottom of the feet.
Vibration platforms and rollers, barefoot stimulation, and textured insoles or socks may be incorporated into 30-minute dosages or utilised throughout the day.
Always inspect your feet before and after using sensory-based items or being barefoot to make sure the skin is clean and intact.
Exercise #2: Lean Forward
This easy exercise helps us link our feet and postural muscles. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and begin by standing barefoot on a spotless surface. Start by slowly shifting or leaning your bodyweight forward while maintaining a tall, straight posture until you feel your feet engaged and your toes pressing down into the floor.
Return to your starting posture and relax your feet once you feel your toes engage. Ten times, repeat the forward lean.
You may stand close to a wall and lightly rest one hand on it if you have trouble with balance.
Exercise #3: Turn, Sit, and Stand
The visual, vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile sensory input systems—all essential for balance—are trained by this activity.
To begin, place your feet flat on the floor while seated in a chair. Get out of the chair, make a complete circle in one direction, and then return to your seat. Repeat by getting up, doing a complete round in the other way, and then sitting down again.
Five times in each direction, repeat. Turn as slowly as you feel comfortable, and to maximise foot stimulation, try doing this exercise barefoot.
Workout #4: Eye Movement Activities
The video is available For added difficulty, you may do this set of eye movement exercises standing or seated on a chair. In the first eye movement exercise, you will hold a pen in one hand with the arm straight out in front of you. Use your eyes alone to monitor the pen as you slowly move it from side to side or in figure 8. To make just the eyes move, try to maintain the head still.
Holding the pen in one hand, perform for ten seconds, then switch to the other hand and repeat.
A saccade is the name of the second eye movement exercise. The goal of this exercise is to maintain your head still while you move your gaze just to the right and then to the left. For ten seconds, repeat from right to left.
After ten seconds of rest, repeat for ten more seconds.
The goal of the last eye movement exercise is to improve peripheral vision. Focus your attention on a single, distant object while sitting or standing, looking straight across the room. As you continue to focus your attention on this object, begin to take note of other items in the room that are within your field of view.
When you see anything in your peripheral vision, do not look away or turn your head. Do this for 30 seconds.
All of these exercises have been shown to enhance postural perception and body awareness when done regularly while standing and walking. Our feet, posture, vestibular system, and visual system all work together to help us stay balanced. Training all of these input systems is crucial to ensure the lifespan of mobility for those with peripheral neuropathy and diminished foot feeling.
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