- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck physical therapist.
- And together, we are the most famous physical therapist
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course Bob.
- Brad to get into it today we're gonna talk about
a exercise you can do at home after you've
had a stroke and you can use a foam pad.
- Right, right. A lot of things with therapists
we're trying to get people have good balance
reduce fall risk, not only inside
but once you get outside walking on the lawn.
- Right.
- Big difference.
- Uneven surfaces.
- Right, and that's exactly what this exercise works.
So what you can do, is you can take any piece of foam
you have like from an old couch cushion
or something from your car, and what I have here
is we just got an old piece of foam
that used to be for a cushion and the covers off it
because the cover was soiled and needs to be thrown away.
Very functional and useful for this exercise.
- Sure.
- Okay, so.
- Brad, let's always mention again
that this is an exercise because it is high level,
you're gonna need to make sure that you're gonna be safe.
So either put a gate belt around the person
or if you have a belt that they're using themselves.
- [Brad] Oh wow, Bob.
(clicking of belt)
- [Brad] Oh, very nice.
- [Bob] You're gonna have somebody holding
onto him while he's doing the exer or
her while their doing exercise.
- [Brad] Okay.
- Brad, why don't you take it away from here?
- Okay.
- I'll, do the filming.
- So like Bob said, get a gate belt on or a safety belt.
If you're at home, you don't have an official gate belt.
You can certainly use a, a good sturdy belt, a leather belt
something you can get your hand onto to the hold.
So someone's gonna be standing right next to me.
Let's say, I'm the person who had the stroke.
I'm the patient.
You get your piece of foam.
It should be about two, no more than four inches thick.
Okay. And put that foam right down in front of you.
And this is to the point.
If you're using a walker, this exercise is not for you.
This has to be the point where you're walking
with a cane and feel relatively safe on a flat surface.
But now you want to get to walking outside on that grass.
Okay, so the first thing you do is you simply step
on the foam with both feet and a cane and get a feel for it.
Rock forward and backwards, heel to toe.
And you're gonna feel a big difference on this.
Okay, the weak leg from your stroke, you gonna make
make sure you put weight through that.
Okay, and then we're off, back and forth right to left.
And once you get a feel for it
and you feel like you don't need someone holding onto you
then you can let go of the cane.
But then that person needs to hold onto you again.
So the cane is out of the picture someone's holding
on and you get some confidence
with this uneven, squishy weird surface.
Okay, once you feel comfortable with that
the next phase is we're going to walk onto it
with one leg on with the other and then come back, okay?
Start with the right leg, back
with the right leg and then reverse it
up with the left leg, back with the left leg.
That makes a difference because the involved side
the weak side is gonna feel different than the strong side.
Okay, once this becomes easy
and you feel pretty confident with it
the person holding onto the belt feels like you're steady.
Then you go to phase three, okay?
You step forward one foot on, then we go to the left
back to the right, in this direction.
So we go all four directions.
This ones a tricky one because you have
to walk backwards onto the foam.
Make sure you foot clears.
This is where you really gotta have a hold of
that belt the first few times to do it.
Okay, and once you get feeling comfortable with this
the person holding on feels like you're pretty steady
then do it without the cane.
But once again, get that, hold
get that second person to help you out, to keep you safe.
In the exact same pattern.
Doesn't really matter which side you go to first
You'll find out, which is the harder side.
Go to the easy directions first. And the bonus.
The bonus, if you're really feeling really healthy
and very like you're not gonna fall, go to the next phase.
Have that person hold onto your belt again.
Both feet on and see if you can balance on one leg,
and you're gonna find that that one leg that's strong
the good side is gonna be a lot easier
than on the side that the stroke is involved.
Okay. But make sure someone's holding
onto you and Bob, I'm telling you, once you go
through this pattern and you can get up to the top phase
oh, you can get up to the top phase.
It's gonna make a big difference on your confidence
and your risk or decreased risks for falls.
So Bob, if you could, Bob, I'm talking to you.
- (Bob laughs)
- Bob, I really mean I'm talking to these people out here
40 and over if you're 40 and over, you know
sometimes having a stroke, your parent, your mother
your grandmother, your aunt, your sister, your brother
this is gonna be an exercise that can be helpful to you.
So subscribe to us cause we have a lot
of fun doing this and it's very helpful.
- [Bob] I concur Brad, I concur.
- [Brad] Concur, excellent conclusion.
(upbeat music)