To address the neuropathy (numbness and tingling) in the last two toes on my right foot (which recently started feeling like my sock is wet, but it's not), my oncologist had suggested stretching.
My OB/GYN and GYN surgeon both seemed to think it's possible that the neuropathy could be related to having had poor body positioning while recovering from BSO surgery. To me, this potential connection to lying down made me think that any "pinched nerve" must be in the area of my hips or back.
So, I'd been doing full-body stretches, the kind I used to do in dance class growing up. Mostly, these stretches were variations of sitting on the ground with my legs either extended together straight in front of me, or spread out to either side, and elongating my back while bending at my waist and reaching for my toes. Generally speaking, I think stretching can only help, but they didn't seem to help this particular issue.
The other day, out of the blue, it suddenly occured to me to stretch my legs specifically. I started doing the types of stretches I used to do when I was on the track & field and field hockey teams in high school, ones that isolated the calves, quadriceps, and hamstring muscles. To my surprise, these helped! The wet sock feeling is gone, and the neuropathy feels very much reduced in my pinky toe.
At first I felt a little sheepish that it took so long to make this discovery. But when I thought about it, why should I have known? I'm not a physical therapist! None of my doctors gave me any specific recommendations or directions, so it's not like they knew either.
Anyway, this is an encouraging development. I'll keep up the stretches and hope for continued improvement, or at least for things to not get worse.
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