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Geriatric-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation as an aid to lower leg circulationCopyright 2009 Michael Gillan 1 ultra marathon recovery specialisthttp://aching-legs.org/charity/geriatric_restricted_movement.html
Light Manual Muscle Relaxation making life more comfortable for theelderly-the walk you are having when you are not having a walk 
 
Ageing affects everyone differently-some people manage to stay active while others decline into failinghealth and inactivity-us men seem to be going along fine one day then just bang-we are gone leavingmany of our women folk to get along into old age without usFor those whose activity declines there is a common problem of cold feet brought on by poorcirculation-these have a greater effect than just making for a miserable days, they can also contribute tofalls because they affect the feedback from the bottoms of the feet about the underfoot environment
Cold feet
Cold feet are a major issue for the elderly-if they are medically related there is not much to be done-butif it is related to the simple fact that the lack of circulation is caused by not moving enough then it maybe helped by moving-this can be a major problem for some people, and going outside for a walk to helpget the circulation moving may be out of the question
Lack of touch
Lack of touch is an issue for many of the elderly-make or female-they have skin starvation, but when someonegoes to touch them, they may have problems accepting this; it may be a cultural or personal choice especially formen-while women are generally very touchy feely with each other, many men have problems touching or beingtouched by other menWe have spent our entire lives avoiding touch by other men and it is not going to change just because we havebecome older-so we prefer to sit in a corner with our cold feet and be grumpy with the world than be cuddledand held by another man-we find it threatening
Non-threatening touch
For people who don’t want touching in a personal way, to accept any touching at all because it can bethreatening; an acceptable way is if it is dressed up as massage, but unfortunately many of these therapies needthe person to disrobe because they use oil to prevent friction between the hands of whoever is massaging and theskin of the one receiving itThe undressing to some people is a threat and it can also be cold which makes the objective of trying to increasethe circulation to warm the feet irrelevant because the rest of the body is then coldTo the elderly person with cold feet who is feeling grumpy and impatient with the world-anything that takesmore than a few minutes to do can be considered as ‘fussing’ and rearranging clothing once they are dressed,warm and sitting or propped in their position for the day is an intrusionFor them the best thing anyone can do is to go in, do what you have to do to cheer them up and leave-but thenthe isolation and cold feet can make them worse and they move less-which makes things more difficult if theyare capable of mobility worse as they lose confidence in walking, and because the legs have not moved for sometime, they are not able to coordinate their movements and are more prone to fallsTo mainatain their walking confidence and mobility (as well as warm the feet) the legs should be movedfrequently through actually walking or being given an activity that simulates a walk if non-weight bearingactivities are not possible-
Light Manual Muscle Relaxation provides a simulated walk while either sittingor lying down that is light and simple to do without being threatening to the person or their leg muscles
 
 
Geriatric-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation as an aid to lower leg circulationCopyright 2009 Michael Gillan 2 ultra marathon recovery specialisthttp://aching-legs.org/charity/geriatric_restricted_movement.html
Muscle health (andwarmfeet) is based on having a constant supply of oxygen andnutrients to them
To maintain the supply of warm blood to the feet a balance between what goes into the muscles andwhat comes out of them is important-warm blood can't enter the muscle tissues if cold blood is notcoming outAs lower leg circulation decreases the lack of blood supply to the muscle tissues can make the feet gocold-cold which increases the discomfort of the person with ms-many people then have to wear lambswool boots to keep the feet warmHere is an image of a leg of a swollen lower leg and ankle-it shows how lack of movement and exercisecan affect lower leg circulation and make it more difficult for the exchange of warm blood for cold
 
Part of the circulatory system (the arteries) takes fresh blood from the heart under pressure to themuscles-another part of the system (the veins) does not have a pump of its own so it relies onmovement to take the used blood from the lower legs back to the body where it is re-nourished withoxygen and nutrients and recirculated again.The system for doing this is called the
Calf Muscle Pump
 
The Calf Muscle Pump
The muscle pump is made up of all the leg muscles and together they form a pump which forces usedblood against gravity up the legs back to the body for recycling by alternately putting pressure on thevenous system and releasing itThe veins which take blood back to the body have one-way valves in them-as the muscles squeeze,they open the valves, letting blood pass through them; when the tension is released, they close stoppingthe blood flowing back down towards the feetLack of movement reduces the veins ability to open and close by keeping constant tension on them, thisis called calf muscle pump inefficiencyProblems caused by calf muscle pump inefficiency include
•
 
Poor circulation
•
 
Lymph system inactivity
•
 
Venous return reduced
 
Geriatric-Light Manual Muscle Relaxation as an aid to lower leg circulationCopyright 2009 Michael Gillan 3 ultra marathon recovery specialisthttp://aching-legs.org/charity/geriatric_restricted_movement.html
All these together add up to cold feet (and other problems)There are various ways to deal with cold feet
•
Hot water bottles
•
Warm towels
•
Warm footbaths
•
Foot massages
But none of these actually address the main problem of lack of circulation-and the best way toapproach this is to actually get the calf muscle pump working againMassage as is conventionally done requires a long course of study-this is necessary to make sure thatneither the person being massaged nor the one doing it is hurt-hand/brain coordination is essential andthis can only be achieved by practise until the hands move without the masseur having to think about itTo learn how to do this massage adequately takes a lot of money, time and study because you have tolearn anatomy, physiology, pathology and how to do all the strokes-then you need oils as a lubricant toprevent friction burn of whoever is being worked
on
 An alternative substitute is something that can be used in place of this model-if you are caring forsomeone at home much of what is required for just improving circulation is superfluous and notneeded-all you need to know is how to work 
with
the legs and muscles within the limits of theaffliction, pain, comfort level, restrictions and medical permissions of the person being cared forIn other words you do not want to make things worse or inflict any injury on them or the muscle tissuesyou are going to work with-the best way to approach this is as carefully and conservatively as possibleand with the view that if you are doing no good-you are doing no harm either
But you are giving them caring constructive touch
Light Manual Muscle Relaxation-the walk you are having when you are not having awalk using caring constructive touch
The untrained caregiver can simulate a walk even when they are not having one- and work within theirrange of movement without putting them at risk of doing any damage or interfering with any othermedical or physical therapy being given by the health professionalsI work with ultra marathon runners and walkers (people who walk or run any distance over marathon)on recovery during and after their event-I work at events that range from 6 hours to around the world
(www.worldrun.org)
My knowledge off ers a simple self help-system developed on and for ultra marathon runners andwalkers that works
with
the muscles-this makes it easy to do and it does not need equipment or anycomplicated hands on training to doUnless you know what you are doing most modern massage techniques are not only too technical-theycan be too rough on tissues, arteries, and veins in the legs from
uncontrolled finger force
and untrainedhands working
on
and
into
the muscles causing damage
of 00

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