♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ the two most famous ♪
♪ physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet. ♪
- Hi, folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
We are the most famous physical therapists on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- This could be a short video.
We're just gonna show you how to make the bed
when you have back pain or sciatica.
The first thing you should keep in mind,
you have to determine whether or not
this is a vital task in your day.
Because honestly,
when you're trying to calm things down,
you're trying to avoid the pain makers in your life,
you wanna avoid things
that you don't necessarily have to do.
Now, the bed,
I don't know what kind of person you are,
but for a lot of people
you don't have to make it.
You know what I mean.
It's still gonna be there the next day.
- I have a sister-in-law
that has to make it.
I'm sure.
- I never asked her, but I'm sure.
Myself?
My wife can do it.
(Bob laughs) But actually, you know,
it's not that big a deal.
If it's a matter of getting your
back or sciatica flared up or not
That's what you gotta keep in mind.
- You wanna avoid it.
It's just
it's not worthwhile doing because
actually, making the bed is actually hard on your back.
Especially, if you do it incorrectly.
So, the first thing you wanna do is you wanna make sure
no matter what you're doing with the bed
is that you're avoiding that rounded-out slouch position
because a lot of people do this.
They're rounded out.
Their back,
it's causing the back to bulge,
the disc to actually bulge or
herniate more.
So, Brad, do you wanna give me a (mumbles) stick?
- Oh, absolutely, Bob.
- So, as I (dropped stick thuds)
Well, there we go. (Brad laughs)
- Sorry. - I've got good hands today.
So,
as Brad and I have mentioned many times on
a lot of the other videos
is that you wanna be in a position
where your back
is aligned like this, locked in position.
So, you're gonna wanna have
three points of contact if you think about it,
not that you're gonna use a stick like this, but
- Here. - This is what you're
- Here. - visualize.
- And here. - Yeah.
Three points of contact
and all the movement
is coming from the hips and the knees.
The movement's not coming from the back.
The back's locked in like it's in a cast.
- 'Cause here's the injured area with the sciatic
even though you feel it down your leg,
this is what we wanna keep
in that locked-in position so you don't,
you know,
injure it or reinjure it or make it worse.
- Right. So,
it's whether you're bending forward or you're bending down,
either way, you wanna keep it in that locked-in position.
So, now I visualize that, you know,
the stick's in place.
and I'm leaning over the bed when I'm making it.
The other thing is,
as much as possible,
when you're working with the bed
is you can either put your leg up like this.
Because this takes some stress off the back,
makes it easier to keep it straight.
Or
just putting your hand on the bed
can actually un-weight the spine.
It makes a big difference.
- One hand, you'll be working with.
The other hand will resting your
or taking weight off of your back.
- Now, you can also put the hand on your knee.
This works just as well.
Also, we've seen it where people, you know, like
when they're working in the garden,
stuff like that, they put their elbow on the knee.
But look how they're really keeping the back straight.
So, but the hand on the knee even here works here as you
work on the bed and lean forward here.
Again, it doesn't take very long
for your back to get
sore when you're bending forward like this.
I think, everybody sees that.
So, anything else we wanna add to this, Brad?
I think that was about it, right?
The only thing, you could maybe tighten up your stomach up
a little bit too when you're doing this.
- And we do cover that clearly
on another video in the series,
but it's good to mention.
- It's always a good reminder that
when you lean forward, go ahead and tighten up
the abdomen 'cause that kinda splints the spine too. So,
- Get your posture, arch the back, lock it in,
tighten it up and then,
work your job as needed.
- So, again,
number one takeaway is
avoid making the bed if possible.
- Right. There you go.
- All right. Thanks.
(quirky electronic music)