Electric Nerve Stimulation for Restless Legs
Video transcription
Hello I'm Alex Mauskop. I'm a neurologist here in New York City and I'm the director of the New York Headache Center. Restless Leg Syndrome is a condition where you cannot sit still and you know people lying there who constantly have to shake their foot and they cannot sit still or in a movie or in a theater. These people suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome and actually the worst part of it is that it doesn't stop when you are asleep. These people constantly move and turn and they never get restful sleep. They wake up tired in the morning and they constantly move. There is one condition that triggers Restless Leg Syndrome that is very easy to fix and that is iron deficiency so the first thing we check is iron deficiency so if your iron is low and you give some iron to that person restless legs go away. But in some people we have no idea why they have it. It's a neurological disorder that originates in the brain. It is not a sign of nervousness. If somebody jiggles their leg all the time it is not because they are nervous, they have a neurological condition usually that is called Restless Leg Syndrome and there are many different ways to treat it. We have medication specifically for that and people have tried many different things like acupuncture, an electrical nerve stimulation but probably the most effective thing is medicine and there are several choices actually of medicines that are very effective. I find that other treatments, nondrug treatments such as acupuncture and electrical nerve stimulation and other things are less effective than medicine and they are less practical because they may work while you are doing it but as soon as you stop the symptoms return. So you should see a physician if it bothers you enough that you are always tired and you cannot sleep well.