♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists on the internet ♪
- Hi folks, Im Bob Schrupp physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together, we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- Little bit different thing we're doing today, Brad.
We're actually doing a video.
It's called four easy neck stretches for traveling.
- Well, that's a nice one.
- And you know what?
We're not doing it.
Tim Fraticelli, he's another physical therapist.
You have to check out his channel.
It's called PTProgress.
PT progress.
- [Brad] Progress with PT.
Absolutely.
- That's right.
And he's also gonna do video
called "Bob and Brad Go To Hawaii."
So check that out.
Isn't that interesting?
- When are we going?
- You'll find out.
I hope my wife can come.
- Yeah, there we go.
You don't wanna go with me?
- No, I don't care about you.
- All right, well, check out the video by Tim.
Thank you Tim for doing this.
I appreciate the support you've given for our channel.
We'll try to bump your channel up a little bit.
- I hope you pronounce his name right.
His last name.
- I don't know if it's right.
Fraticelli?
- What if he plays the cello?
- There we go.
- Not that.
The cello goes like this.
- Oh, like this.
- I used to play it. Yeah.
Right, take care and good luck.
- Thanks, Bob and Brad.
Hey, everyone.
I'm Tim Fraticelli.
I'm a physical therapist
with the YouTube channel PTProgress.
And today we're going over four neck stretches you can do
while you're traveling, whether you're in a plane or a car,
preferably as a passenger.
But some of these things you can do as a driver as well.
Now, the first move that I recommend for my patients,
it doesn't involve moving the neck much at all.
It actually involves moving the shoulders,
because what happens is that we find ourselves
in that forward shoulder position,
and it pushes our neck forward causing extra strain
to the back of our neck.
That leads to tension, headaches, and neck pain
that you really don't need when you're traveling.
So to perform this exercise, it's called scapular retraction
or simply shoulder squeezes.
And the idea here is not to squeeze your shoulder blades
back 100% of the way, or as far as they can go,
you want enough squeeze of the shoulder blades
to bring your shoulder blades together slightly,
which lifts your posture,
and it takes some extra tension off of your neck
because that brings your cervical spine
in a much better alignment
compared to that forward head position.
So try to do 20 of these at a time.
Every 30 minutes to an hour.
And if you have a resistance band like this
that you're traveling with, these are from Bob and Brad,
you can do that as well by mixing in a little resistance.
That helps, and it doesn't take very much space at all.
Okay, the next movement is called a lateral neck stretch,
which was super helpful for me a few weeks ago,
as we were flying to Hawaii with Bob and Brad.
That ended up being a really fun trip,
and a great story that you can see in a video
that'll play right after this one,
or on the PTProgress channel,
which we'll link to in the description below.
But the reason I really like this exercise
is because it does two things really well.
One, it provides a very focused stretch
on the upper trapezius muscle.
That muscle gets really tight
when your head is forward and your shoulders are rounded.
So by bringing your ear towards your shoulder,
and holding it there for 15 to 20 seconds,
this lateral neck stretch really helps us
stretch out that upper trapezius muscle,
which can get really tight when you're traveling.
Hold that for about 20 seconds,
and you can alter that
by bringing your nose towards the ground,
holding that for 15 to 20 seconds.
Or bringing your nose up towards the ceiling,
and hold that again for 15 to 20 seconds.
I also like this stretch because it can provide
a little bit of gapping at the joint
that provides a decompression stretch to the neck.
If you've ever had that numbness or tingling
that goes down your arm into your hands,
it's usually caused by a pinched
or irritated nerve in your neck.
So by performing a gentle stretch like this one,
you can help to decompress your neck
and to relieve those types of symptoms.
Okay, onto the third exercise,
which is a little bit more of an advanced movement,
but it's very effective.
Especially if you have a headache
or you're experiencing pain along the base of your skull,
as it meets up with the bottom of your neck here.
And that exercise is called cervical decompression.
There are a few ways to do this,
and you can find more on the channel here,
but I'm gonna show you one way
that you can do while you're sitting.
It's not a safe move to do while you're driving,
but if you're a passenger in a car,
or you're sitting on a plane, it's very easy to do,
and it's a great way to decrease that pain
through decompression of your neck.
All right, to perform the movement,
take both hands and place it around your head.
Don't interlock your fingers like this.
Just place your fingertips right at the base of your skull.
And then your hands along the jaw line.
This outside part of your palm, rest right on the jaw,
and your fingertips are just touching like this
on the back of your head.
With that position here, provide a very light pressure.
It's a gentle upward stretch along the neck.
You should feel your skin move upwards,
but you shouldn't feel like you're detaching
your head from your shoulders.
Just a little pull and a pressure
where your hands are pushing up towards your ears.
Gently putting pressure against the spine.
You can hold that for a couple of seconds.
And then to relax back to that starting position here,
and repeat this 10 to 15 times
as long as it's not causing any discomfort.
The movement should look like your hands
are just going up and down slightly,
almost just stretching against the skin,
but it does provide a little decompression
along the cervical vertebrae.
It's a great technique for helping to relax the muscles
at the base of the head, and it also provides
a slight decompression stretch
to help relieve some of that pressure
between those vertebrae.
Especially if you're feeling any sort
of numbness or tingling or your arm's falling asleep,
or you have muscle knots from sitting
in that one position for too long.
All right, this fourth exercise
is a combination stretch and strengthening exercise,
because it targets some of the smallest muscles
in the neck that help to stabilize the neck.
But it also stretches some of the muscles
in the back of the neck.
And I know for sure
it's one of Bob and Brad's favorite exercises,
and it's called the chin tuck.
And it's one of my go-to exercises in the clinic.
It's very helpful if you're traveling.
You don't need much room to do this type of movement.
You just sit up nice and tall,
and bring your chin down towards your chest
to perform the chin tuck.
You're doing it correctly,
you'll know if you're doing it correctly,
if you make yourself have a little bit of a double chin
as you're doing this, and you feel a stretch
along the back of the head.
And with this movement, aim to perform 10 to 15 repetitions.
Holding it for one to two seconds at a time.
It'll look like this.
Now, some people find that it's easier to maintain
the correct position by placing two fingers on your chin,
and assisting into that movement.
So you can try that variation as well if you'd like.
Hey, none of these exercises should be painful.
Remember, you're in control
of how much pressure you're applying.
So don't overdo it with these
because you can actually make your neck pain worse
if you're not careful.
The biggest thing is to stay moving, stretch frequently,
and then just to avoid prolonged positions
that strain your neck,
especially if you're sitting on a plane for hours at a time.
Speaking of a plane, take a look at the next video
to see what it was like to fly to Hawaii with Bob and Brad.
Thanks for watching.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel
if you haven't already done so,
and I'll see you in the next video.
(upbeat fun music)