♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪The two most famous physical therapists on the internet ♪
- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
Together, we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- Why now, opinion, of course.
- Both uh, sporting our pink ties here today, Brad.
- You bet.
- They might be a little bit outdated
but they're
- Yeah.
- They're appropriate.
- Yeah, they're pink.
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month is in October.
and uh we're gonna go ahead
and show you these exercises to perform
after you've had breast cancer and, and a mastectomy.
This is not for reconstruction.
This is just for after a mastectomy.
- Sure.
And uh, but before we do that
we do wanna mention the foundation that we're fond of.
- Sure.
The Pink Lotus Foundation.
Again, I'll put their logo up here
and their website down here.
- Sure. Yep.
- This foundation provides free services,
I guess they provide funds so that women
who are uninsured or underinsured
or just can't come up with the money,
- Right.
- they're able to get free screenings
and treatment and diagnosis and support
- Right.
- for for breast cancer.
- Sure. That's a good idea. Very helpful.
- Yeah. If you, you know, find it in your heart
go ahead and, and click, click on the link.
I was trying to say both
at the same time, clink on the link.
- Yeah that's a speech thing, Bob.
- Yeah, and you know, maybe contribute a few bucks, so.
- Sure.
- All right, let's start with the exercises.
- Okay.
- First one is diaphragmatic breathing
and that's important for two reasons, Brad.
One, you're gonna help with any possible swelling
that you're gonna get in the arm afterwards.
Cause the lymph nodes are, are gone
and it's gonna also help you just relax.
- Right, and get some oxygen in your system and relax.
- A lot of people have trouble understanding
You want me to do it?
- Sure. Yeah.
- A lot of people have trouble understanding
why this helps with lymphedema.
When you get swelling in your arm,
the swelling doesn't go out your fingertips to go away.
It has to go back into your body,
into the core to get absorbed into your body,
and the diaphragmatic breathing helps that.
- Right.
- Go ahead.
After the swelling here
is not like swelling if you sprain your ankle,
this is fluid buildup.
- Right, edema.
- And it, it is a little bit of a system.
- Yeah, lymphedema.
- Okay, so you're gonna lay flat on your back.
- So most people, when they take a deep breath
they think they're sucking their stomach in
but actually what we want you to do here
is actually to push your belly button up,
towards the ceiling, when you breathe in.
So they breathe in
(Bob inhales and exhales deeply)
- Which is completely different
from what society wants us to do.
We usually breathe to look, you know
like we got a flash stomach.
- Right.
Can you see my stomach moving?
- Right here. Come on, Bob, push it out a little bit.
This doesn't see it.
And the pursed lip breathing
you can see where you bring your lips together
and tighten 'em up a little bit.
So when the air comes out, there's some resistance.
- Exactly.
And when I'm breathing,
I'm breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth.
- Right.
- And the pursed lip like Brad said.
- Right. And then you're just relaxing everything,
right Bob?
- Yep.
And what's nice about this, you could do this seated too.
- Sure.
- I mean, we'd like to see
that you're doing this throughout the day.
I mean three to five times a day,
I'd like to see you doing it.
- How long would you lay there and do this?
- I'd like to say at least 10 repetitions.
- Okay.
- Okay, alright, let's go to the next, shoulder rolls.
- Sure.
- Brad, do you wanna show that?
- So in shoulder rolls, we're gonna go up and back
and squeeze 'em back behind you.
So we're thinking about going out with a good posture.
- Yep.
- Think of it that way.
Look at it from the side you can see
how I bring shoulders back
and shoulder blades together, okay?
- And it's getting some movement for the surgical site
but it's also helping with lymphedema.
- Sure. Yep.
- Again, 10 times, we're gonna do all these 10 times.
- Okay, good.
- All 10 times, every one of 'em you can do
three to five times a day.
- Yep. Okay.
- Number three, shoulder abduction.
You just wanna stand and show that one, Brad?
- Sure.
- You're just gonna start trying to get some movement
with the shoulder.
- Yeah. And you're gonna go up,
if there's some tightness from the area that's been worked
you can stretch it,
but you're not gonna go into your sharp.
- Right, yeah, exactly Brad, good point.
No, if you feel pulling or stretching
I really want you to stop.
- Right.
- I mean, you can work into it, you know
you bump up against it, but then you stop after.
- Yeah. So you don't wanna rip things apart.
It's gently stretching it over days.
- Okay. How about shoulder squeezes
Brad, do you wanna flip around and
- Sure.
- show that on you?
Okay. So he is gonna squeeze his shoulder blades together.
There's different ways people do this.
Sometimes people put their arms up like this.
- Yep. So we're not going up like this it's down.
- Good point.
Don't don't be bringing the shoulders up.
You're squeezing the shoulder blades together.
- Sure.
- 10 times.
The next one is what we call the chicken dance.
I guess this is what you're at the weddings in the Midwest.
You're you're doing
- Maybe they do it all over the world.
We don't know.
But, but
- So yeah,
♪ duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh ♪
- So you're just working that, that motion.
- Yeah.
- And again, this helps with the lymphedema and
- Right.
- and that's the main purpose of that one.
- Do it at a comfortable speed.
You don't have to, you know, try to get,
you know take off into the air with it.
It's just a comfortable motion.
- Next one, Brad, we can do together.
Hands behind the neck
and you're gonna go ahead and
you're starting to stretch the muscles
of the chest here with this.
- Yeah.
- Again, same thing.
We're not gonna go so aggressive that you're feeling
you know, real stretching or real pulling.
You're starting to feel a little bit of it.
10 times.
Good posture while you're doing that.
Alright. And the, the last four
we're gonna go ahead and show up against the wall.
- Sure.
Number seven, are we on? Or number six?
- Seven.
- You can, with the affected arm or both arms,
You're gonna go ahead and, and work on climbing up
using your fingers to climb up like this.
Can you see it here?
Would that be better, huh?
- Yeah. So you just use the fingers
and on the way down I just like to kind of slide down
and use the wall for some friction.
So it just doesn't come down fast.
- Sure, you could do both at the same time if you want.
Good posture.
Same thing with you gonna work on abduction
which is going out to the side
- Sure.
- and now you're gonna work on going up,
getting up to that point
where you get a little bit of a stretch.
Okay, now this next one's an aggressive one.
This is probably later on down the line, Brad,
and this is gonna be a chest stretch.
And you can do this in a doorway
where you're putting your hands
on both sides and kinda lean in.
Or you can go to a corner like this.
I got my hands on both sides here
and I'm gonna lean in and start stretching.
- Alright, yeah.
This is one you're gonna wanna take your time with
and get a feel for it.
- Yeah. I don't want you pulling any stitches or
- You can vary it by the way
- Oh yeah, right.
You can go different heights, right?
Good point, Brad.
- So the lower your hands are, it's less aggressive.
And as you raise your hands up, it becomes more aggressive.
And so start out low and go up.
- And the final one is you're gonna wanna go ahead
and work on again, 10 repetitions.
You're gonna go ahead and start working on
internal rotation, working your arm up the back.
So the one that's least affected
you're gonna go ahead and use that to go ahead and pull up.
- And this one, you know,
you may feel some nice stretch right up in here,
but don't let it get sharp you know,
- Right.
- If you only can go up,
even if you can only get up to the belt line, that's fine.
You take your time with it, give it
- And you can work, work both sides.
- Yeah.
- But Brad just made an excellent point.
I don't want any sharpness either. I mean,
- Sharp pain?
- Sharp pain, right.
- Right.
- So, so go ahead and, and give those a try
and we always appreciate your feedback
and please subscribe if you haven't already.
- You bet. Thank you.