SA man’s restless legs remedy
Tormented by his unpleasant condition, Len came up with a smart idea: boots that were made for sucking!
HE WAS at his wits’ end. It was the fourth night in a row he’d barely managed to get any sleep, tossing and turning as his legs twitched and itched and prickled. The discomfort wasn’t new to Len Haasbroek – he’d been suffering from restless legs syndrome since December 2016 and had been coping mostly by rubbing his legs and feet together.
But things were becoming increasingly unbearable at night. “It felt as if termites were under my skin, biting me,” he says.
So he eased himself out of bed at 4am, leaving his wife, Joey, sleeping soundly, and went to sit in his favourite armchair in the lounge.
And that, he says, was when he stumNO bled across his “miracle cure”.
“The vacuum cleaner was in front of me and in desperation I switched it on and started using the pipe fitting on my legs. I vacuumed all around my ankles, went round my feet and under the soles of my feet.”
Len, a pensioner from the town of De Wildt in North West, spent about 10 minutes vacuuming each leg. And for the first time that week, the restless legs sensation stopped.
Feeling calm and relaxed, he went back to bed and over the next few hours slept more soundly than he had in years.
His unusual discovery – in January last year – has led to Len (79) developing and patenting an invention he calls the Vacuum Wonder.
And his boots not work wonders only on restless legs, Len claims – it can also help people with a range of other health issues, including high blood pressure.
At least, that’s what people who’ve tried out his invention have been telling him.
ONCE Len realised the vacuum cleaner brought him relief, he devoted some time each night before bed to run the appliance over his legs. Then a friend, Hermie Vosloo (72), complained he too couldn’t sleep because of restless legs. “It had become so bad he couldn’t share a bed with his wife anymore,” Len says.
“I suggested he use a vacuum cleaner. Three days later he phoned to tell me his legs were cured and he and his wife were back in the same bedroom.”
Inspired, Len started thinking: what if he designed a pair of boots that attached to a vacuum cleaner? Then you
could just sit there while the machine did its job.
This wasn’t difficult for the handy pensioner – after quitting school in Grade 11 he’d joined an architect’s firm and later become a qualified builder, so he knows a lot about design and how to put things together.
Len shows us around his workshop and explains the manufacturing process.
His assistant, Thulani Khumalo, is at a table holding an ordinary gumboot.
He cuts a hole in the front of the boot big enough for a small tube to be inserted. This is where the vacuum cleaner’s pipe fitting is connected. A clip at the top of the boot tightens its grip on the leg to help stop air from entering.
Len says when you put the boots on and connect them to a vacuum cleaner your blood circulation improves as air is sucked from the boots.
Not long after he made his first pair, another friend, Chris Els (87), came to him complaining about painful legs.
“He had restless legs as well as varicose veins and chapped feet. We lent him the boots and a few days later his legs were fixed,” Joey (75) tells us.
Len has no scientific proof of his boots’ efficacy – just the testimony of people he’s helped – but he’s convinced of the power of his invention. Just about every ailment he’s had is a thing of the past. And that’s good enough for him.
“His hands used to shake terribly,” Joey says. “He could no longer eat with a knife and fork. Since using the boots he doesn’t shake that much anymore.”
Len beams. “I can now carry two cups of tea in one hand without spilling. I was becoming deaf but now I can hear a clock ticking. The sight in my right eye has also improved.”
During our visit another local restless legs sufferer, Willem Davel (80), arrives to try out the boots.
Willem puts them on and as the minutes tick by his smile grows. “I can feel the difference already,” he says.
He takes the shoes off and takes out his wallet.
All over the workshop are boxes with orders waiting to be dispatched.
“I don’t know what’s hit me,” Len says before turning to his cellphone to respond to yet another inquiry. He often gets as many as six calls a day from people wanting to know more about the wonder boots, he says.
Len’s invention, which he advertises on Gumtree, costs R1 600 for the complete kit: the modified boots cost R900 a pair and the vacuum device a further R700. At the moment he makes about 30 boots a week.
He’s sunk a portion of his pension money into creating his boots but Len says he’s not out to make money.
“To me it’s about providing relief for the patients,” he says. “My biggest reward is all the positive results I’ve received. I’m retired now and this is bringing me fulfilment – I believe you can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
The only problem Len still needs to solve is the noise from the vacuum cleaner as the boots do their thing – especially, Joey says, in the evenings when they’re trying to watch TV and he’s getting his nightly boot fix.
“He’s designing a soundproof box for the vacuum cleaner,” she says. “In the meantime we just turn up the volume on the TV.” S
‘My biggest reward is all the positive results I’ve received’