Chi machine

[rfish1966]

Just wondering if anyone has tried one of these, I tried one just for fun and my legs felt great for hours afterward.

[jan3213]

What is a chi machine? Thanks.

Jan

[rfish1966]

Almost like a massage machine, it elevates your legs and swings them back and forth.

[Rubyslipper]

Seems like someone posted about one of these a long time ago. Can yu give us more information about it? I wonder if it takes the place of walking to stop the symptoms.

[SquirmingSusan]

This is an old thread, but I didn't want to start a new one.

I just got a chi machine, mostly because I have tight hips and a lot of back problems. Last night I woke up with RLS, and while waiting for the meds to kick in, I lay down on a comfy chair with my legs on the chi machine. I could still feel the RLS, but not enough to bother me, and fell asleep on the machine. Woke up about an hour later, moved my legs off it, then slept for another few hours. Hey, I'll take what I can get!

Here's a video showing how they work. I got the cheapest model I could find on Amazon and it looks different, but works the same. Wish I could set the timer for 4 hours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc3EFmE ... nnel=Daiwa

[badnights]

Oh I wonder why I never saw this thread before? I bought a Chi machine years ago. (Some day I should list all the devices I've bought to try to get relief from WED/RLS). I never tried it sitting in a chair, since they recommend lying down on the floor so as to let your whole back weave back and forth snake-like. Sometimes I fell asleep like that, but it didn't do much (anything?) for my symptoms.

EDIT: It doesn't replace walking, because it's completely passive.

[SquirmingSusan]

I have so many devices! Alpha Stim, electronic muscle massager thing with electrode pads, massage gun, foot massager, and now the chi machine.

I was surprised it worked well enough for me to get to sleep in the big, comfy, overstuffed chair. I had the machine on the ottoman. I could still feel the RLS, but the movement made it less noticeable. I'm thinking that must be how a Relaxis pad works.

For a while I was having the RLS sensations in the back of my thighs, and I remembered I have a foot massager that could work. It's a shiatsu massager with little rotating balls, and it fits perfectly under my thighs. I used that massager a few times, and now the RLS is back to being in my shins.

I'll be starting a series of iron infusions on Monday, so I'm looking forward to having much less severe RLS. This has been crazy, especially since my neuro cut me off of methadone.

[badnights]

I wish on your neuro a severe dose of WED/RLS for about 6 months and the knowledge that that is what s/he caused you to suffer.

How cool that it migrated back to your shins! Mine changed a year or two ago from bilateral to left-side-worse, and sometimes only left side. Maybe I need vein surgery (referring to a recent Topic here).

I do like the way the Chi machine feels, but it hurts my feet, so I haven't used it in ages. The feet get whipped back and forth a lot. I don't know why it hurts.

[SquirmingSusan]

My neuro says that he is no longer allowed to prescribe methadone. My primary doctor says it's ridiculous that I can't get it prescribed since I took it for many years responsibly, but he doesn't want to prescribe it because the FDA harasses doctors who prescribe it. He said he will help me get into a pain clinic I used to go to before I started seeing Dr. B. But I understand that even the pain clinics have difficulty prescribing methadone because of the "opioid crisis." Starting to think I should go to one of the many local methadone clinics. I'll likely book an appointment to see Dr. B, and hope he keeps working until he's 90.

My RLS moves all the time. It's usually in my calves or shins, unless I wear tight compression socks. Then it moves to my thighs. When I stop wearing the compression socks, it moves back into my shins or calves. I'm happy that I can fall asleep on the chi machine and stay asleep for a while, though when I wake up my knees aren't happy that my legs have been hanging up like that. My machine has slow enough settings that my feet don't get whipped around too much.

When my ferritin is high, my RLS gets much easier to manage on just kratom, so hopefully with the infusions starting tomorrow relief will come soon. Though even when I was on methadone, when my iron got too low, methadone wasn't enough to manage the RLS. That was how I knew to demand that the docs test my ferritin.

The vein surgery thing is interesting. I'd always heard that was a scam, but maybe that left-sided thing can really be helped with surgery. That would be awesome.

[Polar Bear]

I wish you well from your iron infusions. Good luck.

[SquirmingSusan]

Thanks, Betty. One infusions in; 4 more to go!

[Polar Bear]

Yaaay.....

[SquirmingSusan]

I'm still liking the chi machine. I can fall asleep on it if having mild RLS, but notif severe. It gives me something like an endorphine high and is very relaxing.

[Polar Bear]

Excellent, it is clearly doing something if you can still like it after 3 weeks.