When I realised that my difficulty in standing up sometimes was a circulation issue rather than a leg-strength issue I decided to give the Revitive Medic a go.

It’s not cheap so I had a good look at the website and various reviews and decided that it was probably just what I needed and it was!

It works by sending electrical pulses through your bare feet and your legs in different patterns and by the end of a session you feel as if you had had a good leg massage. I used to get regular sports massages and while a personalised treatment is probably better this is more convenient as you can use it at any time. I use it at regular times during the day for half an hour but also at other times if standing up feels rather difficult. Just ten minutes can make a huge difference.

You can feel the electrical pulses most strongly in your calves but also in your thighs as well although this probably depends on which intensity level you are using.

The intensity can be set between 1 and 99. I started on something like 20 and kept raising it as I got used to it and it seemed less effective. I have now settled on 70 which seems to work really well for me. Just two or three times in all the times I have used it, it has felt uncomfortable, probably because my feet weren’t quite in the right position and I had to stop it so it is probably a good idea to have the remote control to hand.

It does need to be charged up every few days but of course this will depend on how much you are using it. As it loses its charge though, the intensity does not diminish which is good, it will just stop when it runs out of charge and you can use it plugged in.

When it arrived it came with a tube of very pleasant smelling foot and leg cream and also a blanket with sleeves! They recommend that you keep hydrated and your feet moisturised so that it works better.

You can also use the Revitive to target specific muscles by attaching electrode pads to your legs. These pads are just like the ones you use with the FES foot-drop gadget I used to use. I have only tried this once with the Revitive because I am already spending quite a lot of time using it during the day and it seems to work so well anyway. You can also use it as a TENS machine if you suffer from actual muscle pain which I fortunately don’t.

There are some people who cannot use the Revitive such as people with a pacemaker but this is all explained on the website.

They do other gadgets such as the Aerosure for people with breathing difficulties or a hand-held ultrasound device to help with muscle strains or sprains.

While the Revitive may not work for everyone, if poor circulation is preventing your legs from working properly like me then it is definitely worth thinking about. It has made a huge difference to my life and I can’t think how I would cope without it!