Exercises for Neuropathy
Exercise
Neuropathy sufferers know that pain, muscle weakness, lack of balance, and overall health complications can make everyday activities harder to manage. Furthermore, a person with peripheral neuropathy is often at an increased risk of experiencing falls due to poor balance and muscle weakness. Exercises for neuroapthy is a vital component of your neuropathy recovery. Exercise can build muscle strength while increasing circulation and improving balance and coordination.
Benefits of Exercise
- Improves Strength
- Improves Balance and Coordination
- Improves Circulation and blood flow to limbs
- Increases oxygenation to the nerves
- Aids in controlling blood sugar levels and insulin resistance
- Increases Endorphins (happy hormones), which aid in decreasing pain
Five signs of excessive exercise
- Feeling weaker, rather than stronger, after thirty minutes of exercise;
- Excessive muscle soreness twenty-four to forty-eight hours after exercise;
- Severe muscle cramping;
- Heaviness in the extremities;
- Prolonged shortness of breath.
For many people, the prospect of exercising while suffering from neuropathy seems unrealistic. For this reason, we’ve created different categories of exercises for neuropathy. The category you choose will be based on your stability and severity of neuropathy.
I. Exercises for Neuropathy: Unstable (moderate-severe)
If you have very poor balance and are using a walker or cane, we recommend the following exercises for neuropathy.
- Recumbent bike
- Knee Extensions
- Knee flexion
- Resist knee press
- Hip stabilizer
- Ankle extension
- Ankle flexion
- AROM abdominal/lumbar training
- AROM lumbar rotn supine
For visual aids, click here!
II. Exercises for Neuroapathy: Stable (moderate)
Follow these exercises for neuropathy if your balance is adequate.
- Daily walking
- Hip extensions
- Hip stabilization
- Hip flexion
- Inner hip exercise
- Ankle raises
- Trunk stretch
- Torso rotation
- Standing march
For visual aids, click here!
III. Exercises for Neuropathy Early Onset (mild)
If you have mild symptoms and are athletic with very good balance, we recommend following these exercises for neuropathy.
- Trampoline cardio
- Lunge squat
- Ball squat
- Resisted sidestep with Theraband
- Wabble board exercise
- Resisted knee flexion
- Ankle raises
- Jumping jacks
- Torso twist
For visual aids, click here!