You've read articles praising the health benefits of weight training. Weights boost muscle tone and help halt the mid-life muscle loss your doctors warn is just around the corner. Gyms have never been your milieu, though. With your doctor's approval -- which you should always get before starting a new routine -- you strap on some ankle weights and hit the road. Before long, your thighs are numb. What went wrong?
Ankle Weights
Pop in an exercise video from the 1980s and you will likely see teased-haired beauties sporting bulky fluorescent bracelet-type devices around their ankles. These little wonders were ankle weights. Ankle weights -- designed and intended to strengthen the leg muscles during floor exercises -- work in the same way dumbbells and hand weights work. When sticking to a low weight -- 1 to 5 pounds, tops, they still come in handy when floor exercises and yoga poses get easy. Just be careful. Ankle weights -- even 1 to 3 pounds -- can cause injury by changing how the way you walk. Remember, ankle weights are not for walking and jogging.
Femoral Nerve
Walking -- or worse, jogging -- with ankle weights can cause neuropathy and nerve entrapment. You're probably wondering how a little weight strapped around your ankle causes numbness, pain or tingling in the thighs and leg weakness. The femoral nerve runs through your leg, and anything tight at the ankle can compress -- or cut off -- it off. Test your own nerve health. Run your hand across your quads or your calf, and the femoral nerve triggers the sensations you feel. Cut that nerve off with a tight bandage or weight, and before long those areas will feel tingly.
Nerve Injuries
When this happens, it disrupts the channels your nerves use to send messages to the brain. Your thigh then goes numb, hurts, stings or burns, signaling a pinched nerve or something more insidious, like neuropathy. A pinched nerve is nothing more than a kink in the hose; but neuropathy is a troubling, sometimes permanent sign that your nerves are damaged. Seeing a doctor at this point is a wise decision. Often, just resting a pinched nerve, or using heat and ice will help. If it doesn't, you may need surgery.
Be Safe
Choosing ankle weights for floor exercise is one thing, but Mayo Clinic physical and rehabilitation specialist Dr. Edward Laskowski agrees that they don't belong in your walking or jogging routine. Pain or numbness that doesn't ease once you've stopped an exercise warrants a trip to the doctor's office. Your doctor may run tests -- including an MRI and nerve conduction studies -- looking for nerve damage. While uncomfortable, they are necessary. If you're diabetic and already have neuropathy, using ankle weights may cause more discomfort.
