- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- Well, in our opinion of course, Bob.
- Brad, today we're gonna show just a simple technique
to help get rid of some of those knots that you might feel
in the upper shoulder, upper trapezius.
- Yep.
- And this is a technique that you can do yourself
and all you need is a tennis ball.
- Right.
- Well, first of all- - And maybe a nylon.
- Sure. That's right. A nylon and a tennis ball.
Now what's cool about this is it's very easy to do,
but the thing is what we're doing here
is really kind of unknown, Brad.
A lot of people have knots in their shoulders,
and why don't you flip around here.
- Sure.
- We actually made a symbol here.
What these symbolize are the knots in the shoulders
or in the neck or maybe even the lower shoulder,
lower trapezius, that you may feel
and I think these are about the size of a knot.
I'm gonna show this.
You see that Lonnie?
- [Lonnie] That's too close.
- [Bob And Brad] Too close.
- How about that?
- [Lonnie] Yeah.
- So we don't really know what these are.
Do you know what I mean?
Everybody can speculate what they're thinking.
They call 'em trigger points.
But what we do know is if you put pressure
on the trigger point and you hold it there for 20 seconds,
maybe up to two minutes, eventually it dissipates.
In other words,
it's like taking your finger and putting it on an ice cube.
Eventually it melts and goes away.
So put that constant direct pressure on it
will actually make it go away.
So that's what we're doing with the tennis ball.
The tennis ball is gonna go right on it and push it.
And eventually it'll be gone. - Sure.
- We don't know why, but it works.
So now we'll go over to the wall
and we'll show you the demonstration.
- Right. 'Cause in the clinic I do this one a lot.
Why don't you turn around, Bob? Just quickly.
There's one that I always find right
in this area here and I'll work with my fingers
and then I'll give the patient-
if you wanna do this at home, take a tennis ball
and we'll go to this technique.
Okay, so for the independent massage,
or trigger point massage,
on that point, you're gonna come back and you will find it.
It's not gonna be over bone.
It's gonna be over the muscle belly where it's soft
and you're gonna find a spot that is a little harder.
And it's quite tender.
When you push on, it's gonna make your eyes open.
It's gonna go, "oh, there it is,"
and there'll be no mistake about it.
And I found mine right there.
So you take the tennis ball, put it here,
and then you just trap it between the wall and your body.
And then you simply put pressure on it.
And I know how to move- okay, right there, I'm on it.
And it's nice if you have a clock hanging on the wall
or you time it, you wanna go 30 seconds up to two minutes.
And typically what I find with patients
is after about 20 to 30 seconds,
the pain level starts to drop.
And then it just starts to fade, fade, fade, fade.
And it's one of those pains that feels so good.
It hurts so good.
You can kind of get that feeling if you have that.
And it's decreasing as you hold the pressure on there
you're right on the money.
Okay, you're gonna get rid of that trigger point
and that knot.
So if you have shoulder problems,
you can't get back there or it's down farther in your back,
it's really hard to get there. (ball bouncing)
So let that ball drop and stick it in a nylon.
Got a good use for those nylons
after they're used and abused.
I strain paint (indistinct)
with these too sometimes, Bob.
You can even just swing it like that.
- [Bob] Yeah. (Bob and Brad laughing)
then you can have some fun- (laughing)
Bounces right back, Bob.
Okay. So I'm gonna get back there.
And if you have a lower one, right between the scapula
and the spine is where I find them a lot of times on people
and oh, I'm on it right now.
I can, oh... Oh!
(laughing) - Bob, I tell you.
Wow. Okay, right there.
I had to move up a little bit.
I'm on it right now.
- [Bob] Do you want us to leave you alone, Brad?
- That's okay, Bob,
(Bob laughing) it's getting better.
It's getting better even after about 10 or 15 seconds here.
I'm just gonna go up and down.
And these tennis balls really
really work well. - Yeah, nice pressure.
- Because you know, people that do this all the time
I don't do it a lot in the clinic,
but I do it enough where
my thumbs get tired. - Yeah.
I'll start using my knuckles or my elbow.
It's a lot of work for those massage therapists
or therapists that use this a lot.
- Yeah, exactly. - It's getting better now.
- [Bob] The only thing is you're gonna have to steal
- Wow. (sighs) - the ball from your dog.
- Yeah. Yeah, and then if your dog
is chewing on your ankle while you're doing this,
you gotta get (Bob laughing)
old Rover out of there. But there you go. That's the-
- Remember, if you haven't already,
(hands clap)
slap that subscribe button. - Right there.
(ball bounces) - [Bob] Right.