♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet. ♪
- Hi folks.
I'm 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.
- So today, Brad, we're gonna show
the family and friends out there,
how to massage knots away from your shoulders,
upper back and traps.
Basically up in this area here.
Where they're very common.
- Right, a very common place to have tension, knots,
things that make you uncomfortable.
- So knots are also known as trigger points
and they are very common, like we said, in this area.
So I saw where trigger point was defined
as a grumpy little spot.
- Technical, huh?
- Yup in taut band of muscles.
So a tight band of muscles
and the tissue that hurts when you press upon it.
And maybe even reproduces the symptoms of pain
that you're having.
It might even spread out and cause it.
So there's a lot of speculation about what causes knots
and what knots are and they really don't know
but we certainly think poor posture plays a large role.
- Sure. Mm-hm.
- So therefore our recommendations are gonna be both massage
and also to correct and mobilize your posture.
- Sure. Right.
- So you can use the following devices.
You can use a tennis ball, a lacrosse ball.
You can use a massage cane
and you could also use a massage gun, Brad.
Do you want to show a few of those?
- Yup. I've got a few here.
- And a hand held massager.
- Yeah. This one actually works.
We'll talk about this one
in this application. - Yeah. How that works.
So the goal of trigger point massage
is to apply a continuous pressure right to the knot.
- Mm-hm.
- And it should be a pleasant pain.
If it's too much, on a scale of one to 10,
if it's more than a five that's probably too much
and you're not going to do it right now.
- If you say, oh, that it hurts
but it kinda feels like it hurts so good.
That's typically a good sign.
You can continue to work with it to let it release.
- Yeah. So you're gonna get right on it.
You're gonna do short strokes on it.
One direction. You choose the direction.
What seems to feel best for you,
but stick to that direction.
- 'Cause there's typically one
right where my finger is there.
And for me to get back there I have to push here
- Right push your elbow, yeah.
- and then I can do that directional massage,
like Bob was talking about.
I can go forward and backwards.
Right to left.
- Like about 12 strokes.
During that time
you want to see the pain levels drop down.
If they don't, you might not be in the right spot
or it may not be helping.
This is something you can do throughout the day.
You can do it three, four or five times a day.
But 12 strokes is enough.
Then you can go to another area.
If you find that it's helpful.
That's why it's nice to have a tool, Brad.
- Yeah and you're actually gonna push pretty hard
on those 12 strokes.
- Yes.
- You're gonna get right into the muscle
and get deep and work that.
- Now we do have on another video of the rules of massage
and you may wanna watch that
because we don't want you to massaging over a pulse.
I wouldn't want to put a tool right up
on where the skull meets the neck.
There's the vertebral artery there
and who knows what you could do.
- Yeah. You just want to stay away from the pulses
where the blood flow is.
- So, one thing, Brad, just to mobilize posture a little bit
and very common to have that head forward
rounded out and upper back posture.
- Yup.
- So we recommend is you take a lacrosse ball
or tennis ball and you're going to hit six spots.
So Brad, if you were to lie down,
you would lie down on a ball.
Putting one right here and letting it work a little bit.
Right here.
We're going right down the spine.
Right between the shoulder blades:
one, two, three four, five, six.
You can do it against a wall or you can do it on the floor.
You can't really do it on the bed.
But you're gonna work that area.
And did you want to try one, Brad?
- Yeah.
So again, just to make sure it's clear,
you don't go directly on the spine.
It's to the right or to the left in that muscle spot.
- [Bob] And you're not worried about trigger point here.
What you're trying to do is stretch the spine out
so you can correct your posture again.
And the wall works nice
'cause I'm working that muscle
and I'm gonna squeeze back and get my head back.
Sometimes just feeling it allows you some feedback.
So, you know, if your head is forward and it's stuck
you may not be able to touch your head
and with that up like this.
It's chin tucked in and work it that way.
- Now we know this video is about massage
but we felt it was important that you might get stuck.
If you don't address that issue
you don't correct that posture.
- Right, because you loosen it up with the ball.
And if you have poor posture,
- It comes right back. - it's gonna come back
and a lot of other potential problems as well.
- So I'm gonna show now Brad, the massage cane.
There's a whole host of these out there too
but what's nice about these.
You can really get some leverage on this.
So if I'm gonna hit a commonly found knot
like in the upper trapezius,
I can grab the handle like this
and I can really push in there
and I can do that massage across there.
- Right.
- Just like, I don't know if you can see that,
I'm getting some movement there.
It's just a short stroke.
- Yup.
- And that actually feels good.
- Oh yeah.
- Like you said, it hurts so good.
- This takes away.
Reaching and pushing, like I had mentioned before,
you don't have all of that discomfort
of trying to get around the corner with,
you wish you had maybe three elbows to get there.
But so this takes care of that.
- The massage guns are nice
in that they're even easier on your hands
but you might need a partner if you trying to get that area.
- Yeah. So that's where this particular style
is a big game changer,
because you can,
- You can hit the spot.
- And I can actually do it with both hands
and work over that.
Yeah. And you know, these just feel good.
I mean, that's why these things are just have really taken
off in the last few years
because they work (laughing) and it's not near so hard.
- The massage guns are more powerful than this one.
- Right.
- So if you have a massage gun or you get a massage gun
again, you might need a little assistance with,
if you wanna hit the upper traps.
- Yup. Family member, someone around the house
or maybe someone walking down the street,
see if they'll help you out a little bit.
(Bob laughing)
- But it'll certainly, you can use this, you know
almost anywhere else on your body.
- Absolutely.
- That's why they come in really handy from that.
So really that's it.
You're gonna work those trigger points
several times a day.
Get them down to the point where the pain is no longer there
and then you gotta maintain posture
and hopefully they won't come back then again.
- I don't know if we mentioned it here, Bob.
But you know if you are using one of these on this trap,
and you start to go up on the neck.
Stay away from the neck don't go on the spine of the neck.
It's just too aggressive.
And it's gonna, it's not comfortable for one thing.
- It's gonna rattle ya. It's gonna rattle your bones.
- It makes the whole
'cause your eyes start to shake
'cause it makes it look like there's a big earthquake
and it's not comfortable.
Just stay away from the neck.
- Yup.
- So all right.
- This video by the way
is a part of a series of videos on massage.
So if you want to see the whole series,
go to bobandbrad.com.
go to the giveaway or not the giveaway,
the programs section
And you'll find a program on massage.
You'll also find one on sciatica
and you'll find one on plantar fasciitis and TENS.
- Yup.
- So check it out.
Watch the videos that pertain to you.
Do you don't need to watch them all,
'cause there's quite a few.
And Brad, what do you want to add?
- Yep. Look at 'em.
You're gonna see a place that says
what does that say again?
- Oh, it's a PDF.
- PDF. Yeah.
You click on that and it'll print out a review
and what the whole video is about.
So you can go back and look at the printout
to remember things from the video.
The whole thing is absolutely free.
We don't even ask for an email.
So it's just a great deal for you.
Yeah. If you have senior moments like Brad and I
you can have that visual reminder
of what to do.
- That's exactly right.
- All right.
Thanks for watching.
(upbeat music)