- Bob, this is a big question today.
The historically, well renowned touch-the-toes stretch,
has been very popular over the years.
It's been very popular in the yoga world,
known as the fold.
But we really have some information
that you need to know
about this particular stretch. - We have some concerns,
may I say.
- Exactly, right.
We're gonna get into it in detail.
- Check it out.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Okay Bob, I'm even gonna go one step forward
'cause this motion, touching your toes,
is the same as this motion
where, maybe a lot of people remember this in gym class,
or, and it's even been done
for a lot of studies in the therapy world,
is the long sit, and then reach forward,
what you're trying to reach towards your toes.
And that would be measured and be used as data
to figure out how flexible people were in relationship
to other people. - Looking at their hamstring
and their back.
- Exactly.
Now that particular movement
fits in the touching the toes as well.
So we're gonna talk about,
so those two are inter-relatable.
Let's talk about some really good things that-
- The benefits.
And then we're gonna talk about the not-
- The negative of it. - The negative benefits.
- Not benefits. - The not benefits.
I haven't been working good today.
- All right.
- Number one.
- It's gonna stretch the hamstring muscles.
- There's no doubt about that.
It kind of does make a difference on if you hip hinge,
which you'll talk about,
but hamstring flexibility, it will help.
Number two,
stretches the back muscles. - Back muscles,
and especially the fascia.
- Right.
Which is all part of pain as well.
If we have have more flexible fascia,
things are better in general, right?
Number three, Bob.
- We wanna improve the hip flexion flexibility.
- In other words, bringing the knees to the chest,
or doing this, flexing the hip is good.
And number four, as far as I did a little research-
- You ran up on this.
- A little bit on yoga to find out their perspective of it.
One thing I found is,
not only it's gonna help the range of motion,
and I know they talk about proper body mechanics hip hinge,
and not-
- Doing it right. - Not rounding the back,
but hip hinging.
If you do it properly,
it soothes the nervous system as they claim,
as well as stimulates internal organs
and the pelvic floor, which-
- Are probably all good things.
- Exactly right.
It's all gonna make you feel better.
- Well, let's go to the problem now, man.
- Yeah, and this is a big problem.
- It is a big problem.
- When you-
- I think it takes away the benefits, unfortunately.
- Right.
And if you can hip hinge properly,
or arch the back and flex forward,
now, when I do that,
I'm not real flexible when I do it this way,
and I've got a back issue that limits me.
This is about as far as I'm gonna go.
I can't go chest to knees.
And if I cheat and I round my back,
and which a lot of people will do
if they're not very familiar with their body posture,
that puts a lot of stress
on the discs. - On the discs.
- And the problem with that,
if you do it in a prolonged fashion,
you can actually herniate your disc.
- For example, let's say you've had low back pain
and then you start doing the touching the toes
'cause you wanna stretch your back muscles out
which might make sense.
But if you do have a herniated disc in the mix,
it's early phases,
and you hold this for that-
- That may push you over that.
- Yep, that may help that herniation.
- It may make the disc bulge,
it may make it herniate.
- And it's gonna be worse.
And that's our biggest concern now.
- Dr. Stuart McGill, who's out of Canada,
he's probably one of the world
renowned physicians on back pain.
- Yep, he's done, he's wrote-
- A PhD, I should say. - Books on it,
and he's done a lot of work. - He's done it for 30 years
and he does recommend this stretch.
- Exactly, right.
Like I said, even if the body mechanics
are, if you do it right,
and I think this is the argument
that yoga people- - I think there's people
that are hyper mobile that can do it right,
but the vast majority of people Brad,
I would say, cannot do it right.
I mean, they're gonna round out.
- I've seen people in pictures do the fold, the yoga fold,
and their back is pretty straight.
- Impressive, impressive. - It is.
I'm very impressed because their back looks straight,
and they're folded over and very flexible.
- How many people do you know like that?
I mean, I know very few.
- I know we're getting,
the yoga people are already getting mad at us.
- Oh, all right, all right. - But that's all right.
So again, here's some alternatives
that I know Stuart McGill would recommend, as well as,
that will eliminate that. - And I also don't,
I don't want you to even try this
if you've a history of back pain.
- Yeah, particularly, if you got back pain
with pain down your leg.
- All right, a good one
just to get a little mobility in the back
is just the cat camel.
So you can arch up like a cat,
and then hump down like a camel.
(both laughing)
- [Brad] We don't know if it's a cat, the camel,
or the cow, the horse, whatever-
- The dog, whatever it is. - But do this motion.
And this is when that Stuart McGill highly recommends.
- Right.
I think everybody does Brad.
I mean, it's, really good running for the fascia,
it's good for the muscles.
It's a good way to get mobility generally, overall.
- Now, if you wanna get more flexibility
in your hips and your hamstrings,
I'm gonna show it from a lying down position.
And you could do this in your bed,
it's probably better on a firm surface, a carpeted floor.
And it's simply, for the hips,
if you just do one knee of the chest,
you can hold that for 15, 20 seconds,
or go right and left.
If you wanna get both,
and you get a little stretch into that low back,
and do the double knees to chest,
as long as it doesn't bother your back,
it feels good.
- Doesn't irritate it.
- Yep, so, if you have a history of low back pain
or a disc problem with sciatica,
I would probably avoid that particular one
and just do the single knee.
And finally, hamstring stretch,
this is a great way to do a hamstring stretch.
Just put your hands like so in this position,
and there we go-
- That's kinda an active stretch.
- Yep. - Yeah.
- Now, Brad can also show a passive hamstring stretch.
- Well, I'm gonna show-
- [Bob] With the strap.
- Yeah, you can use a belt,
just a regular belt with a loop on it,
and you put it on your foot,
and it just makes it easier.
The big advantage of the strap
is you actually have these extra loops
so you don't have to grab it,
it makes it a lot easier.
And now I can feel a stretch,
and I can relax this leg a little easier, better stretch.
And I'll actually get the hip
and I'll go over this way to...
Bob, was there any other hamstring stretches
we should go over?
There's a lot of different ways to stretch your hamstrings,
but this is a good one.
- Well, you could do it standing.
I mean, you put your foot up on an object.
- Yep, now this particular way really isolates the back
so- - Again, you gotta look at
keeping the back straight while doing it?
- Yeah.
So this, not this, but this.
And this is for the more mobile people
who've maybe not had so much,
if they have not had of history of back pain,
I would do that.
Okay Bob
- You remember back to the days
when you could kick this high, Brad?
- Yeah.
Yeah, back when I used to be a-
- A martial art expert.
- I was in the karate, yeah, absolutely.
So, very good.
So we're recommending touching your toes,
probably not such a good idea.
There are other ways to work-
- Unless you're hypermobile and know what you're doing.
(Brad laughing)
- Exactly.
- We love you yoga people.
- They hate us, Bob.
(both laughing)
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