Physio to reduce swelling hands

One of the most common problems that affects people with motor neuron diseases is called dependent edema. This is swelling of the hands and feet which gradually extends upwards into the arms and legs.  This is caused because veins depend on muscle movement to return blood and fluid to the heart. Without the muscle movement, fluid pools in the veins which become overloaded.   The fluid then starts to seep out of the veins into the surrounding tissue.

Below is a clip of Ian receiving physiotherapy. His right arm, which is the arm that lost its strength first is a little swollen. Ian cannot move this arm but has a little movement in his thumb. His left arm is stronger but fatigues quickly. Imagine holding a heavy dumbbell in your left hand, you can lift it for a certain amount of reps, but afterwards your arm just cant do any more. This is called lifting to failure. The same happens with Ian’s left arm, he can at this stage do almost 10 reps (his own armweight only) but afterwards is exhausted.