- Hey, Bob, whoa!
Gosh. - Brad, are you okay?
(Brad laughing)
So Brad, what happened?
- Bob, I stumbled.
- Yeah, I see that.
- You know, Bob, everybody stumbles,
and the older we get, I think, the more we stumble,
- Yeah.
- And there's one stretch that's gonna help you out the most
and we're gonna show you that
and go into it just a little more detail.
Have a little fun and be safe.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous Physical Therapists on the internet. ♪
- Okay, Bob, you know what happened with me,
if you look here
we've got this carpet that we've never fixed.
- Right.
- [Brad] But there's just a little bit here.
- [Bob] A whole lip.
- A little lip there.
This happens on a sidewalk.
And oftentimes even when we walk
and you swing your foot through and you don't dorsiflex
or you pull your toe up, sometimes your foot will just catch
on a flat surface.
- Right.
- And that makes you stumble, possibly lose your balance.
- Oh, for sure.
- And again, the older we get
the more likely that's gonna happen
because people's ankles tighten up over time.
- Naturally.
- All night long we sleep with our feet planter flexed.
- Right.
- They tighten up while we sleep.
We sit on a chair, particularly a recliner,
we put our feet up, they're planter flexed.
That allows them to tighten up.
So we need to stretch them out
so we don't get those stumbles.
Does that make sense?
- It sure does.
- Guys, up there, all right.
(air whooshes)
- All right, now if you're wondering
if your feet or your ankles are tight
there's a simple little test, just simply take a ruler,
you don't have to have a yard stick.
Something for three inches.
If you think, take a dollar bill and fold it in half,
that's three inches, Bob.
- Is it, really? - Yeah.
Because they're six inches, I learned that once.
- Ah.
- Otherwise, three inches from the wall.
Put your toe right there.
Now, if you've got an adequate stretched-out ankle
you should be able to keep your foot flat
on the wall and touch your knee.
If you go like this and your ankle has to come up, boy,
it's time to do some stretching.
It's gonna help you all out with your walking and your gait.
- So, Brad, you've been wearing high heels too much.
- (laughs) That is one of the reasons also
besides sleeping, high heels-
- Right?
- ... allow that to happen more.
So yeah, get rid of the high heels
and do some of these stretches.
We'll show you about four or five of 'em, easy to do.
(air whooshes)
So the whole idea is to stretch the calf muscle complex.
So we're getting the muscle, the ankle, the Achilles Tendon.
The easiest way to do it is if you have a wall
and your shoe on and you put,
this is the muscle being stretched.
Go back a certain distance from the wall
and we simply do the same stretch as that we did to test it.
Heel down, lean forward with the knee straight.
Hold it for 30 seconds.
I betcha you never you knew that.
- Oh.
- That's in the title. - Right.
- And then bend it.
So you can go 15 seconds with your knee straight,
15 seconds with your knee bent.
If you wanna go longer than that, that's okay.
Make sure you do both feet.
The next option.
The other option is to do in a seated position.
If you have a cane,
preferably a cane like this that's straight
but you can use a hook cane or a belt with a loop.
Just a belt out of the closet.
Bob, you put it right around the foot
and you can do this with your shoe on or off.
Bob's got a nice extension, he's pulling it again.
- Hey, yah.
- (laughs) That's right, right up for 30 seconds.
This has got a nice stretch there.
So can you straighten your knee out and feel a little bit?
There you go.
So you can do it straight knee and bent knee.
Now if you use a cane, it works.
You have to have a shoe on.
It's not gonna work like that.
And you can see I'm getting that stretch here.
Straight knee, bent knee.
Again, do both feet.
You may find out that one ankle is notably tighter.
Spend more time on this issue.
- On that one in case.
- Yep, it typically is.
This is a nice option
simply if you have stairs in your house and nice handrails,
makes it a little more comfortable and safe,
and you need your shoes on.
You could try it without
but I find for sure shoes work better.
Bring your heels off the edge of the steps like so,
simply stand up tall,
grab the armrest for stability and relax.
- [Bob] Knees straight.
- [Brad] Yep, knees straight.
- [Bob] And then knees bent.
- Yep, 15, and this is nice to get both at once.
Now if you want one more aggressively
you can simply do it with all the body weight on.
If you get too far out, that can happen
and that's not good, right?
- [Bob] Ah, yes, be safe
- Yep, be safe, use good judgment.
You'll feel it stick.
If you have carpeted steps over this edge
it doesn't work very good so-
- [Bob] Right.
- ... I would not use that.
Next.
(air whooshes)
Now with this, you either have to make one of these
or purchase 'em.
They're not too expensive.
You can make 'em, we have a video, right?
- Brad made this.
- Yep, I made this one.
If you have someone handy with a wood shop
it's very easy to make.
There's a video under "Bob & Brad."
But these are, it's my go-to if I'm stretching,
this is what I use.
- It's very comfortable.
- It is.
It's really important that you have a grippy surface here
so your foot doesn't wanna slide down.
Makes a big difference.
Simply go like this.
And again, it's body weight.
It's very comfortable on the bottom of your foot
- [Bob] And you can do it with the knee bent.
- Yep, knee bent and straight.
This is much more comfortable on your foot versus the steps.
- Versus the steps, right.
- That's a little uncomfortable
because the edge of the step, this is very comfortable,
allows you to relax better.
Again, the 30 second rule for both feet.
So again, my favorite
but you have to either make one or buy one.
Okay, those are the options for stretching
that we think are the most easily done at home,
and with little purchase.
If you want to go the next step further
what you can do is we get the muscle pliable and loosened up
and then do the same stretches for 30 seconds.
So this is like a bonus thing
if you want to really get after that muscle.
A massage gun,
you can do a massage by hand.
Simply get in and work those muscles.
You're gonna spend a few minutes.
You're gonna do this until your hands get tired.
- This is fast.
- Yeah, you know, for me, after about 60 seconds
if you time it, my thumbs are getting fatigued.
But it's okay.
Do that and then do the stretch if you want,
if you have a massage gun, these are very popular now.
- That's what they're made for.
- Yep, adjust it to the right intensity.
There's different heads.
- I like this one.
It's cool.
- Yeah, yeah, Bob, this one of Bob's favorites ones.
There's a number of 'em.
We know these are good massage guns, otherwise
we would not promote 'em and put our name on 'em.
There's a airhead, so it's not so aggressive.
It's softer.
If you need to get into a really tight part of the muscle
this one, I never use this,
Bob uses this on his calf muscle.
- All the time, right.
The nice thing about the round head is
if you're going in like this and it's too aggressive,
you can simply turn the massage gun sideways
and you can vary the intensity
simply by doing this versus this.
And that's a really nice option I like,
so you're gonna spend, you know, a minute or two.
This should feel good.
Don't get after it too aggressively.
You'll get a feel for it and then do your stretch.
- So believe it or not, my cat loves this thing.
- Will you massage your cat?
- No, my wife does.
- She what?
- Oz, he just lays down.
(Brad laughs)
- Well, I'm glad-
- I know you're not cameras.
- I'm happier for your cat.
(Bob laughs)
(indistinct)
- She massages the cat with it?
- Yeah, yep.
- With the round one.
- Yeah, the round one.
- Where?
- The belly and the-
- Really?
- ... face and everything.
- If it's not screaming, aah.
- No, it's happy as can be.
- Wow, maybe we should have a video of that.
- Oh, we'll think about it.
(Bob and Brad laughing)
- Another nice way to stretch those muscles,
another option is to heat the muscle up.
You can do it by taking a shower, a warm bath,
use a hot pack for 15 minutes.
If you really wanna go all the way with the hot pack
you're definitely gonna want to use
the Far Infrared Hot Pack.
- All right.
- Because the difference is
how deep it heats into the muscle.
And it's a big muscle, the calf muscle is.
- Right.
- If you use a regular hot pack, it'll go the-
- A few millimeters.
- Yep, a few millimeters.
The distance of this blue area here on the yardstick
versus 2.36 inches,
and that's gonna get into that calf muscle very deeply.
Works well.
- That's the challenge.
- We have a Thermotex here.
It's a Far Infrared, works well and the nice-
- The Platinum model.
- Throw your leg up here, Bob.
- Okay.
- Let's just demonstrate this.
There are three panels.
You have to use it with a certain side in,
if you use a backside that will not perform.
Here, let's get, let's show a little leg, Bob.
So we're gonna actually wrap this around.
So you got 2.36 inches on this side,
on the bottom, and on the other side.
And that's gonna get maximum-
- All the way through.
- ... depth.
There are elastic straps so you can wrap around that
and hold it there.
And just for 45 minutes, relax, read a book, watch TV,
and then do the stretching as we did earlier in the video.
Bob, what say you?
- Well, Brad Walker recommended that, remember?
- Oh, Brad, the stretch guru.
- Remember, the expert, right.
- Yeah, yeah, we've interviewed him.
He's written a few books
and that's his lifelong passion.
- Right.
- He works with high level athletes, not with us, of course.
(Bob and Brad laughing)
He's got some really good information.
So very good, stretch the calves out, avoid the falls,
and things will be much better
in the future in regards to this.
Bob, do you have anything else
that maybe these people could-
- Thanks for watching.
- Yeah, that's the last thing.
(Bob laughs)
(upbeat music)