Restless Leg Syndrome: the problem could be your foot

Here is something I wrote for the national press about RLS

Take a long hot bath. Have a hot cup of milk or herbal tea. Listen to mood music. Pop an Ambien. Try yoga or massage. Turn off your television and phone early. Don’t think about work. Millions of Americans report that they are unable to sleep at night due to some sleep disturbances, and cures for insomnia are a dime a dozen from the pharmaceutical industries to holistic health treatments. According to the Mayo Clinic, how much sleep is enough varies from person to person. Most adults need seven to eight hours a night. More than one-third of adults have insomnia at some time, while 10 to 15 percent report long-term (chronic) insomnia (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomnia/DS00187).

Many sleepless nights are caused by night cramps and restless leg syndrome (RLS). RLS is said to effect 9 million people in the United States, and there is a drug available, called Requip, that is used for Parkinson’s Disease and is also available to treat RLS (http://restless-legs-syndrome.emedtv.com/restless-legs-syndrome/requip-and-restless-legs-syndrome.html). RLS includes sensations such as burning, creeping, tugging, or a feeling of insects crawling inside the legs ranging in severity from uncomfortable, to irritating to painful. Night cramps can be equally problematic, and they are attributed to many causes such as: dehydration, muscle overexertion, or reactions to drugs. Unfortunately, there are side effects that accompany the drugs such as nausea and vomiting, perhaps leading you to consider treating RLS another way besides medication.

What if someone told you that your RLS could be a symptom of your toe length?

In The Human Foot, Dr. Dudley J. Morton first described how hypermobility of the first metatarsal bone (due to an elongated second metatarsal bone) is a major cause of strain on the foot and should be considered as a possible factor in any medical diagnosis involving pain–especially in the feet and legs (http://whyyoureallyhurt.com/#djm).

This is a very different approach to RLS then medicine, because treating the longer second toe problem (with a toe pad under the first toe, according to Moron’s Toe expert Dr. Burton Schuler, a graduate of New York College of Podiatric Medicine) gets to the root of the problem (http://whyyoureallyhurt.com/home/#tp).