Friday, July 28, 2006

 

"Restless Leg Syndrome"...a Fake Disease, Easily Fixed

I've been watching those ads on TV for what drugmakers are now calling "restless leg syndrome," and I laugh and then I cry. I laugh because it's another "fake disease" invented by drug companies who want to create the impression in people's minds that very common structural problems in the body are really diseases. You might not know it, but drug companies frequently set up non-profit "foundations" that are in effect arms of the drug companies themselves. But as nonpprofits, they can provide "education" and "free samples" to patients.

I cry because "restless leg syndrome" is easily fixed by using a few of the stretching techniques in the Rossiter System, especially the Upper Calf Crunch and Lower Calf Crunch. "Restless legs" means a few things.

1. You're probably lazy and not using your legs a lot, so QUIT THAT. Get out and take a walk every day, for cripe's sake. And don't saunter. Walk as if you're headed to Disney World and the gates close in 10 minutes.

2. Keep your calf muscles stretched out. And here's a free technique that you can do easily with a stretching partner.

Upper Calf Crunch
1.Find a chair with a thick padding on the seat, or use a wooden chair but add several of blankets or foam pads to it so it's soft.
2. Stand in front of the chair and bend the knee of your "restless leg" and place it as far back on the seat of the chair as you can, making sure that your foot hangs over the edge with enough space around it that you can wiggle and move your foot around.
3. Stand up straight and hold onto the back of the chair for balance, but don't lean.
4. Ask your stretching partner to stand on the other side of the chair, facing your side, and to place the arch of his/her foot at the top of your calf muscle. Make your your partner keeps his/her toes up while adding weight. The partner should stand up straight and add weight straight down onto your upper calf with her/her arch.
5. Once you've taken as much weight as you can, start stretching by pushing out with your heel and pulling your toes under the chair, and then point your toes all the way across the room behind you. Now tuck your toes under again and push out with your heel, and make a big SLOW (and I mean SLOW!) circle, all the way around in one direction two times, and then two times in the other direction. Then go walk around and compare that leg with the un-stretched leg.

Repeat the technique.

And quit taking drugs that are probably nothing more than muscle relaxants anyway.

Besides, when you stretch, you can still operate heavy equipment that very day!

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