What exercises do you do for neuropathy?

Posted by royce @royce, Oct 10 2:52pm

My wife has finished her 6 rounds of chemotherapy and is transitionaing after some dental work into mainentance chemotherapy. Her first six consisted of Tax, Carb and Bev (five times).
She also had to start blood pressure medicines but was able to normalize her blood pressure. Her main side effect now is neuropothy in the feet and hands. We started doing physical therapy she found on the web for feet and ankles. I do it too, because I have some numbness in my toes that could be from my meds. (Ibrutinib/ Imbrevica). The exercise include ankle rolls, hamstring stretch, calf stretch, andle pumps, hanging on (alternating from tippy toes to standing on heels), kick back, marching in place, foot rolling on a textured ball or tennis ball, sensory stimulation (dry beans or rice in a tub), and towel scrunches (picking up a towel with your toes). In good weather we also walk outside in the evenings when the sun is not too strong.

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John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Oct 10 5:44pm

Hello @royce, Sorry to hear your wife has neuropathy from her chemotherapy treatments. There are a couple of other discussions you also might find helpful.
-- Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: What helps get rid of it?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/chemotherapy-induced-neuropathy/
-- Neuropathy & Exercise: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/neuropathy-exercise/

The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy also has a list of Exercise + Physical Therapy For Neuropathy here - https://www.foundationforpn.org/living-well/lifestyle/exercise-and-physical-therapy/

Here's a short video on some exercises that might be helpful.

lungranger77 | @lungranger77 | Oct 11 10:20am

Hi Royce.
Glad to hear you both get to go on walks now and then. My wife had 4 rounds of chemo 2017. The neuropathy has very slowly improved. Doc initially said it could go away within months or even take several years. We do walk often and get exercise doing the yard work. What does provide relief is when her feet are up. It's nice to see that her pain levels and discomfort are down around 4. That's after 7 years. We're hoping it continues to improve.
Best wishes for your wife's improvement as well.
Ernie

nrocpop | @nrocpop | Oct 12 8:23am

Hi
My husband had some really really harsh chemo. They told him, at one point, that he would probably never see any further improvement. He squeezes a racquetball every day. He has seen dramatic improvement in his hands that we never expected. He went from barely even being able to hold a pencil to writing like a normal person. I am so glad that happened for him. I hope if your wife squeezes a ball every day, she may see improvements too. I am not sure exactly how many reps he does but he just squeezes it over and over and over while watching TV