- This is Bob and his wife Linda.
And within this past year,
Linda has developed some bad back pain.
- Let me tell you, as a physical therapist,
it is embarrassing and it just hard on you
when you cannot help a family member.
And this is where Bob was.
- Bob's first intuition was to give his wife
the prone press-up exercise made popular by Robin McKinsey.
But after doing this exercise for a while,
she was seeing no success.
- So he went to plan B, he went to Dr. Stewart McGill,
who has done extensive research on back pain.
And then he gave her the exercise
that he often recommends, the cat camel.
- Again, she saw no success.
- And a third thing, Bob,
that he gave the typical exercise by Dr. Stewart McGill
is walking as long as it's tolerated.
So she did that as well.
- And after consistently doing these exercises
for two weeks, she actually got.
- Worse.
Now with Linda's situation,
things were getting worse and it really affects her person.
It was getting so bad that she was considering
giving up bowling and activities she really loves.
- So Bob was dumbfounded and didn't know what to do.
So he turned to a friend,
physical therapist named Rick Olderman.
(soft music)
- Now Rick Olderman is just not any therapist.
He's actually a specialist.
He's written a number of books and he has some key options
for situations just like Linda's.
- In Bob's world or his mind,
he believes that most back posture is caused
by too much flexion throughout the day
whether you're standing or sitting and slumping in a chair.
And in some cases, this is correct.
- So with Rick Olderman, he actually believes the opposite
can be the case where people are actually
arched too much the other direction causing the back pain.
- So what did Rick do?
He gave her three exercises to help decrease
this lordotic arch in the low back.
- Okay, the first component is stretching the hip flexors.
We're gonna sit on the edge of the bed
just like Mike is here.
Feet off of the edge.
Go ahead, take it over Mike.
- So to perform this stretch, simply lie on your back
and you're gonna bring both knees up to your chest.
You're then gonna bring one leg down
and stretch the hip flexor on my left side here.
Notice I'm keeping my right leg up
towards my chest and I'm trying to bend my left knee back.
If I'm like here and hitting the table,
I can just scoot more
towards the edge and perform the same stretch.
You're gonna wanna hold this for 30 seconds
and keeping in this position should make your back feel good
and not have any pain.
Then you're gonna reset
in a neutral position and stretch the opposite way.
Another important thing to look
at is make sure your leg that is down is in a straight line,
not going too far in or too far out.
- Nice work, Mike.
Good explanation.
So with this stretch,
Linda was doing it two to three times per day.
Things were going well and she continued with it.
All right.
The second exercise
that Rick had Linda do was the all fours rocking.
Show it, Mike.
- To perform this exercise, you're gonna get
in a quadruple position on my hands and knees like this.
I'm going to keep weight through my palms as I am getting
into a sit position, bringing my buttock to my heels.
Once I get down here, I'm gonna hold this
for three to five breaths and be in a relaxed state.
Then I'm gonna come out of it
and come back to the starting position.
You're gonna perform three to five repetitions
of this spread.
Do you wanna talk
about how it helps with your low back curve?
- Right. So you can see his back is actually flexed.
That's the opposite of that arched or lordotic position
we're technically talking about.
So also this can be done on a bed.
If it's too soft, it's gonna make it difficult.
Probably on a carpeted floor would be preferred
in that situation.
All right.
The next exercise that Rick had Linda to do
is something called glute pumps.
It's gonna help strengthen the proper muscle
to get the goal of no pain.
Go ahead.
- So to begin, you're gonna be on your elbows and knees.
You're then gonna lift one leg
and kick up towards the ceiling like this.
Notice that my heel is pointing towards the ceiling.
You're not gonna go through the full range
of motion all the way to the mat all the way up.
You're just gonna go part ways up
and do little oscillation movements
for 30 seconds or 30 repetitions.
Make sure to stop and then switch.
While you're doing this,
you should feel your butt muscles firing and engaging,
not your hamstrings.
- There you go.
- So in addition to the exercise,
Rick wanted Linda to fix a few habits she may be doing
that are causing her back pain.
- So in the seated position,
we don't wanna overarch the back
and actually allow it some comfort.
We're gonna use simple pillow from the bedroom, take that,
put it lengthwise in the chair, and then you lean into that.
Offers support.
It's comfortable and allows the back
to flex actually in a good, healthy position.
The last habit that Rick had Linda do was something known
as soft knee walking.
Go ahead Mike. Explain it.
- So when you typically walk and heel strike,
what you're doing is actually increasing the arch
on your low back.
If you are gonna land on your forefoot with a bent knee,
it's pretty hard to actually extend my back.
I would have to be walking like this, kind of awkward.
So in order to prevent the low back arching,
you just simply land on your four foot more like this
and then you can bring your heels down.
In order to do this,
you're gonna have to take shorter steps.
And you're also probably gonna have to look at your footwear
because if you have a large heel on your shoe,
which most shoes have, it's gonna be kind of hard to do.
So in your house, you can either try going barefoot
or using sandals.
- So the big question is, what are the results?
Did Linda get better?
- Within two days, Linda's back pain was better
and within a week, she was back to bowling, 100% pain free.
- But the question is, what were her bowling scores?
- Oh.
(Mike laughing)
- That's the real question here.
- Actually, she is feeling much better.
We don't worry about the scores.
Bob said it was a whole change in her life.
She was grateful.
- And he said a happy wife is a happy life.
- There you go.
Nice work Bob.
Good work, Rick.
- So if you wanna learn more about back pain
and try some stretches in bed down below,
we'll link five stretches you can do in bed
to help with your low back pain.
It'll be pinned to the top comment.
- That's right. Good luck with this, please.
(upbeat music)