- Have you ever been diagnosed with a herniated disc
and your exercises from your therapists are not helping?
- This isn't getting any better.
- It gets so frustrating.
We're gonna show you some options.
And so a new path to go to get past this
and get back to healthy living again.
(lively theme music)
There are two possible reasons why these exercises
may not be getting that disc where it should go.
- First reason is your MRI may say you have a herniated disc
and you think that's where the problem is coming,
but it may be coming from somewhere else.
Just because you have one on an MRI machine
does not mean it's causing the pain.
This has been shown in many studies.
- That's right, Mike.
Now, if you happen to be 50 or 60 years and older,
the chances of you having a herniated disc are much less
and there's a good reason for it.
I'm gonna show you a little analogy on why.
Okay? Look at this.
We have a vertebra here and we have a disc,
being this represents the disc and a vertebra on top.
Now, if you're 20, 30 years old,
your disc is very pliable and mobile
so that you can move in all different directions.
However, if the annular, so the outside of the disc,
breaks through, then you can get a herniation.
And actually most people get herniated discs
when they're younger.
The disc is more like this.
It becomes more rigid all the way through the whole disc.
There becomes no nucleus pulposus that is fluid.
It's stiff, and the chance of this disc herniating
when you're in your fifties,
and particularly over 60 years old, is much less.
There is another problem going on.
All right, we've got good news for you.
There's a simple stretch
and this is something we've learned from Rick Olderman,
a therapist who's come up with this.
And if your right side is the involved side,
you're getting pain down the right leg,
there's a good chance you need to stretch out
the right side.
The easiest way to do it...
Put your arm down, Mike.
I need the attention here right now.
Bring your right arm up and look what happening.
I'm stretching this side and the higher I reach,
like I'm reaching for an apple, this side stretches out.
Now if you do this and you feel relief, you're right on.
You're in the right ballpark with exercises.
So you're gonna do this throughout the day.
And actually Rick recommends walk around like this.
Now obviously you're not gonna walk around
like that all day, but for a certain period of time
walk around with your arm up.
The next thing, now it's your turn, Mike.
- Oh, you could go onto a door frame.
So this is gonna mimic the top part of the door
and you're gonna reach up with the side that's painful.
Same concept as holding your arm up.
What you're gonna do is sink down into it.
You can go through the doorway.
Obviously I do not have a hole in this wall,
but this'll get a nice stretch in the back
and decompress the spine.
Make sure to not hike this side of the pelvis up
'cause it's not gonna stretch.
Make sure it's down or neutral.
- Now if you're too short,
you can't reach up to the door trim,
if you take a broom handle, in this case a mop handle,
this is a nice way to stretch the side out.
In this case it works well.
I can put that on the floor.
I'm gonna go to the top of the handle
and I'm gonna reach you in and stretch.
Now actually, this is a little short for me.
I would actually need a little bit taller broom or mop.
If you don't have this end, there's a nice little trick
and you start, this slips around on the floor or the carpet,
simply take your shoe, put that down,
and it becomes a very nice stability base for it.
Now, for me, I need a little bit longer, five foot.
That's what this stick is, the Booyah Stik.
You reach up and now I'm going to,
you can feel right in here.
I can feel the muscles as I lean over, they stretch.
I'm gonna hold it there, get that relief,
and you're gonna hold it for 15, 20 seconds.
You can go longer if it feels good and then come back.
We're gonna do that two or three times
and do that throughout the day every couple hours or so
to get that tight side relaxed.
All right.
Okay, there are other options.
If this option doesn't seem to help,
simply go to bobandbrad.com.
That's our website.
There's a program section on sciatica.
Click on that and there's literally 40 videos
that the title and the thumbnail will direct you
if it's the right video to watch to help your problem.
Look through that,
see if you can find some options to give you relief.
And there's also another option
- Which is you can check out
Rick Olderman's back pain program if you would like.
We'll put a link down below.
That one is not free.
It costs money, but from our experience
it's worth it if you're dealing with pain.
- Right, those chronic problems, those tough back pains are,
they're out there, but they can be fixed.
All right, once again, what's that thing
we're supposed to say?
- [Bob] Yeah.
- We can fix just about anything-
- Except for-
- A broken heart.
Where is it?
- And be helpful. Be helpful too.
- Yeah. - That's broken.
- Something 'bout neighbors.
(Brad laughs)
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