YouTube Therapy: Making MS Manageable with the World Wide Web

This Guest Post from Katie Brind’Amour provides a broad look at the variety of on-line videos to help our myriad MS symptoms.  Thanks, Katie, for such a good overview.

Katie Brind’Amour, MS, is a Certified Health Education Specialist. She is a freelance health and wellness writer for sites such as Healthline.com and WomensHealthcareTopics.com. In her spare time, she’s chipping away at a PhD in Health Services Management and exploring the food and cultural scene of Columbus, Ohio.

Although progress in the treatment of MS has been slow, individuals with this condition can at least be grateful for one of the best free resources now available: the Internet. This venue for at-home treatment clearly should not replace treatment advice from your own physicians, but things as simple as YouTube videos can offer a new world of simple symptom improvement advice that can improve your daily life. 

According to Healthline.com, the typeof MS  you have or the degree to which your MS has progressed will impact the type and severity of symptoms you experience. Always remember that your own at-home treatments should be tailored to the severity of your condition—start small, and work your way up!

YouTube Videos to Address Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

Use YouTube advice to get a handle on bladder control problems. These Pelvic Control Tips
offer viewers five strategies for keeping it in. By doing exercises daily, you can both prevent some bladder problems and improve symptoms you may already have.

Get your balance with simple home-based exercises. For those in early stages of MS or with periods of total remission, more advanced balance exercises may be appropriate. For those with more difficulty balancing or a more advanced stage of the condition, balance techniques designed for seniors  may be more comfortable. Regardless of your ability level, start all exercises close to a bed, countertop, or wall that you can use for support and stability in case of a totter or fall. Check out the video instructions for guidance!

If you want to avoid losing your hand-eye coordination as long as possible, YouTube has an answer for that, too! Try early preventative exercises (that require agility) to hone your hand-eye skills.  Start with a basketball (sitting, if needed), and work your way up to the tennis ball as shown. For those with more difficulty, try one of the numerous videos for children  to rebuild your hand-eye coordination. Stringing beads or foam onto a pipe cleaner can be tough at more advanced MS stages!

Another problem that commonly accompanies MS is depression. Use YouTube videos for a little meditation-like pep-talk, or learn tried-and-true strategies for fighting depressive symptoms

naturally. If fatigue is a problem for you, consider searching out freebie videos like this little clip of using yoga to fight fatigue.   

Finally, we all know that MS can negatively impact both concentration and memory. Although options abound, try this video to learn a single exercise  that may improve your ability to concentrate during a task. Memory techniques may be good to mix up from time to time, but advice on starting to improve your memory  can be key to getting your at-home training off the ground.

No matter what you choose to focus on—just one symptom or a bit of everything—it seems like a bit of a blessing to be living in such an electronic age. Take advantage of everything YouTube has to offer for making your at-home preventive efforts as effective as possible!

Written by Katie Brind'Amour