♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet ♪
- Hello, folks.
I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Again, we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- Hey, Brad, we're gonna talk about fibromyalgia.
We have a three-step approach,
uh, exercise and treatment, to managing it.
You don't heal it.
You don't cure it.
You don't get rid of it.
- Yet.
- Not yet, not yet.
Hopefully there in the future.
Um, by the way, this video is being done
in cooperation with Thermotex, which is one
of the steps we're gonna take today-
- Right.
- to try to help manage the pain.
Um, fibromyalgia; it's a little bit
of a strange disorder, isn't it, Brad?
- Yeah, it's one of those kind of mysteries in a way.
- It is, and they don't actually have a diagnostic test
for it; what they have instead is
they rule out other things,
and when it's all said and done,
then they, you know, figure out that it's fibromyalgia.
You may be wondering why I'm wearing this strange shirt.
- Yeah.
- So that's one of the signs of fibromyalgia
is there's 18 trigger points, so-
- Bob,
- What?
- We, we have to stop.
Your microphone is all plugged up. There.
[Chuckles]
- All right, do you think they heard me?
- Well, I hope so.
- All right.
- We get those, you know, concerns sometimes.
- All right.
Okay, so these are the trigger points, Brad.
Let's just kind of talk about where they're at.
So we got two up here, up by the neck,
two right below the collar bone.
- Sure.
- We've got one here and here.
I don't have those marked, right by the elbow.
- Maybe I should get a marker and mark 'em, right?
- Yeah, maybe you should've.
And then we got two by the knee, um,
and you could also, we- turn around,
and this is where you could see a whole bunch of them.
- Right.
- Two in the suboccipital area,
two on each trapezius, two on each trapezius.
And then one, yeah, if you pull this down,
on the buttock, buttock, and then
sub-gluteal, sub-gluteal, right in there.
- Right.
- So anyway, the reason I wanted to point those out
is when we use the Thermotex,
we're gonna catch a good, uh, six of them in one shot.
- Yeah, sure.
- So it works out pretty well for that.
So our three-step approach, but well, Brad,
maybe I should take care of the host.
- I did notice we've got a couple hundred people
out there wondering and asking questions about us.
- Hi, folks.
Today, uh, we'd like to have you come in
and subscribe to us.
We provide videos; how to stay healthy,
fit, pain-free, and we upload every day.
Also, please wander over to Facebook and like us.
Brad and I had imaginary friends as children,
and now we'd like to try to have
some real ones, right, Brad?
Well, yeah, we're working on it.
- Yeah, okay.
So again, the first step to fibromyalgia,
one of the things that's gonna help is,
throughout the day, is to control your breathing, Brad.
- Okay.
- And diaphragmatic breathing,
and also I like the 4-7-8 method.
- Sure.
- So what's nice to do is we're gonna
have you take the Thermotex,
and we're gonna talk about this in a minute,
but I want you just to lay down on the Thermotex.
- Okay.
- And, then start with your breathing exercises.
- Maybe we should talk; what is a Thermotex?
- Why- well- I said I was gonna get to that.
- Oh, I'm curious, Bob.
- I was gonna show the breathing first
and then we'll talk about the Thermotex.
- Ohhh. Say no more, say no more.
- Now Brad, you used to teach breathing in karate, right?
- Well, all the time, between that and the key
to breathing is you learn how important it is, not just
from there, but in life, you learn how to breathe properly:
You learn how to relax.
You learn how your body functions much better.
- It's funny that you mentioned that
'cause I just saw a study that showed
that they found people that were anxious
tended to be shallow breathers.
You know, they weren't learning to take the deep breaths.
- Yep. Right.
- And so this is, uh, yeah, breathing is very important.
I mean, anybody who's had, um, you know, had a spouse
or if they went through it themselves and had a baby,
they realize how important the breathing is.
- Oh, always. Well, yeah, they use it all the time.
- Yeah.
So, um I like to get in a comfortable position
and this Thermotex works out really good here.
I have a rolled towel underneath the neck like this.
- Right here.
- So it kind of puts me in a nice position.
And, um, I don't know, do you normally have
the feet up or down, Brad, when the knee's up?
For diaphragmatic?
- [Brad] Oh, I think the knees up,
but whatever you're more comfortable.
But I think that would be preferable.
- Really more comfortable, yeah.
So you're gonna breathe in for four.
That's the 4-7-8.
- [Brad] Sure.
- Breathe in for four, then hold your breath for seven,
and then blow out for eight.
So, that's gonna be- that's the four, seven, eight.
- [Brad] Okay. Let's see how it goes.
- So when I breathe in,
I- you wanna actually fill up the belly.
- Sure.
- And fill up the diaphragm; expand the diaphragm.
So I'm gonna breathe in.
- [Brad] So you can see his stomach
is coming up.
- Coming up, yep.
- [Brad] His chest does too,
but the stomach actually comes up more.
- And then you wanna breathe in
through the nose if possible,
and then you're gonna hold your breath for seven, you know:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
and then you're gonna blow out
like you're blowing out a candle.
- [Brad] Okay, so you're blowing out through-
In the nose, out the mouth.
- Right.
- [Brad] And that's very typical for-
- Yeah, if you wanna be, you know, completely correct,
you're supposed to put your tongue
on the top of your... what is that part called?
- [Brad] The roof of your mouth?
- The roof of your mouth, yeah.
- [Brad] Just behind your, uh, your front teeth.
- Wow, this is already warming up all the way.
- [Brad] Oh yeah.
- This is actually,
it is actually getting the base of my neck and-
- [Brad] Sure.
- in the upper trapezius just in the area that we'd like to.
So you're gonna do the breathing exercises
while you're on the Thermotex.
So let's talk about the Thermotex breath.
- [Brad] How, how long are you gonna be breathing like that?
10 minutes?
- I, I would say, you know, I, I don't even know, know.
I think you don't even need to do it that long, Brad.
- [Brad] Sure.
- I think you go through like five/six cycles
and, and it'll start calming things down.
- [Brad] Sure. Yep.
- You know, I, I don't know that you even need to do that.
- [Brad] Okay. So what about the Thermotex?
- All right. Thermotex: this is a company
out of Cal- Ca- Calgary.
- [Brad] Yes.
- I was gonna say Canada and Calgary
at the same time, which is impossible.
- [Brad] Sure.
- And it's a family owned business.
They make- this is called far infrared heat.
And uh, I- I think this works a lot better
than regular heat for a number of reasons,
but one of the main reasons is regular heat
only penetrates two to three millimeters,
which is like this.
- [Brad] Right.
- Far infrared heat can penetrate
up to 60 millimeters. Six centimeters, which is:
- [Brad] Just over two inches-
- 2.36 inches.
- Not quite two and a half,
but a little over two and a quarter inches deep.
- So-
- Much deeper than...
- That penetrates really well, um, so,
when you're going for those trigger points.
'Cause when people describe the pain
with fibromyalgia, Brad,
- Mmhm.
- They're always saying it's a deep pain.
- Right.
- It's a deep, muscular pain.
- Sure.
- So I think the Thermotex,
and I, and I've been reading where a lot of people,
uh, you know, I was reading some of the reviews on it
and a lot of people who had fibromyalgia
said it did help them.
- Sure.
- So, and, I like the fact, Brad,
that it's, it um, it's got really just one setting,
doesn't it?
- Right.
- You turn it on, and it, and it goes to it,
it penetrates real deep.
It's got- this one is the platinum model,
which is the model I would probably recommend for-
- Sure.
- If you have fibromyalgia.
- It's got three panels and you can, you can tell, you know,
this is the side that would go towards your skin.
You can't do it the other side,
you have to do the side that has the firm panels.
- Yeah. The hard panels go towards the body.
- Right. The- the colorful-
- Writing
- logo there.
- Yeah.
And it's got a nice eight foot cord
which you appreciate because you know
usually it's tough to find an outlet somewhere, right?
So you gotta pull the furniture into there.
- Right. So it, it works out real well with that.
This has uh, been approved by the FDA
in the United States and also, also Health Canada.
- Right. So it's been around; it's-
- It's been around. Yeah the counterpart-
- It's, it's notable.
- Yeah. This, this company's been around for like 20 years.
- Sure.
- So they have other,
I just wanna mention they have other products.
I don't know, how is my mic doing now?
Oh geez I'm losing it.
- You're dragging.
- I'm really having trouble with my mic today.
Um, they have other products.
They have, this one's just for feet.
It's the, the big slipper.
- Yep.
- Works out real well for some foot problems.
This one's, uh, for the wrist.
Another one for the wrist.
Oh no, this is for the knee, right?
- Knee or elbow. Yep.
- Yeah. Knee or elbow.
So, and they also have one real big one just for the back.
- Oh, so it gets our whole, the trunk area.
- Yep.
- It's like taking a hot tub bath.
- Right, right.
- So, um, we'll put a link down below.
You can take a look at it and see what you think.
- Sure.
- Uh, um, you know, you've been using it
for your back, haven't you?
- Oh yeah. Yep. As a matter of fact,
last night I was using this one.
Uh, before I go to bed, I take a little time to work
on my phone or do some reading,
and about 15 to 30 minutes,
I, I have fallen asleep with it.
They don't recommend it,
but you're not gonna get burned with it.
- Right.
- It's actually real comfortable.
I woke up and it's like, well
11 o'clock; I gotta get to bed,
but it was very comfortably warm.
I was, uh-
- Yeah, I, I told the story, Brad,
about how one of the ladies
from Thermotex was mentioning how she uses it
in the winter, in her chair.
She just puts it on there and uses it as almost
like a heating device to stay warm.
- Right. Yeah.
- So there's straps on here, which help.
You can strap it around you to keep it in place,
but today we're gonna use it in this manner.
We're gonna hit the trigger points up in here
so we can catch six trigger points.
And what I'd like to do is, you know,
first you start off with the breathing,
and then you're gonna have a rolled towel like this.
We put some tape around it just to keep the towel in place.
- Right.
- But we're gonna start, this is the third step,
of, of trying to control your fibromyalgia.
Our management is you're gonna do kind of range
of motion throughout the whole body.
- Okay.
- So, and maybe you can show some
of these things that I'm doing, Brad.
Um, I'll be down in the bed
but you can show upright what-
- Sure, yep.
- What I'm doing.
- Yep. So they get a better visual.
- I'm starting off with the towel right here
underneath my neck or my, the back of my head,
'cause I wanna do some chin tucks.
- There needs to be a gap underneath the neck,
so there, he can do range of motion.
- Yeah. So I'm doing some chin tucks like this
and Brad, do you wanna show what I'm doing?
- Yep.
- On your, on your-
- Sorry.
I just see right under here, there's a there's a space,
and that's important 'cause what he's doing,
it allows the neck to stretch a little bit,
you know it's a good posture or exercise
even if you don't have fibro, uh, but you know
we're working on those upper neck muscles.
- Yeah.
And it hits those trigger points that are right
in the suboccipital area.
- Right, right.
That's why I like doing those.
And then you can just do some gentle rotations
back and forth,
and that's the same reason again
why I wanted the towel there, Brad,
- Yep.
- so that you could do some rotations
and then you could do some side bending.
- [Brad] Right. So he's going this side.
- You wanna show how you can even do a little bit
of stretch with that, Brad.
- Yeah.
So you go here just fingertips.
Don't grab with your whole, whole hand and pull
but just gentle stretch with the fingertips.
And you're only gonna hold it
for, you know,
three to five seconds is long enough.
If it feels good, you can go longer than that.
There's no hard set rule
on time for that.
Go both directions.
- All right.
Then at this point, Brad, then I take this:
This is the little key here.
The panels are running this way.
So I put this underneath here and it actually kind of fits.
Now my neck will fit right
into this area here
and you can use a pillow too.
And I'll go just like this.
- This now is kind of the same concept
as some of those cervical pillows
where you have the, the support
on the neck.
- Right.
Now, the, the key
about the Thermotex is that it does not have
to completely conform to your neck to work.
- You don't need contact.
- Yeah. You don't need contact.
Again, it's gonna go 2.36 inches.
If you're close to it or not, you're gonna-
- Right.
- 'Cause I'm feeling this in my upper neck, well.
I mean it's, it's penetrating well right now-
- Yeah, yeah.
Like, like your normal hot pack;
it has to be physically touching-
- Right.
- To get some, that, to get that kind of feeling.
- But you don't with this.
- Right.
- So now we're gonna go to the arms, Brad.
All right.
So we're gonna start getting some movement in the arms.
You're gonna bring your hands together
and maybe just go ahead and go
over the head like this.
Good stretch.
Kind of stretching the chest too a little bit with this.
- Sure.
- Getting some nice movement.
Okay.
And then you can go out this way.
I'm gonna hit the cat covered over on this side.
- Yeah, yeah.
- We were gonna move out, weren't we?
- Best plans here.
There you go.
Look at Brad.
Oh man, all the time.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
They can go out like this.
You can do some, getd things moving a little bit.
- So generally we're just looking at some range of motion.
- Yeah.
- While you relax, you've done the breathing already.
You've got the heat on those trigger points.
- And now, boy I'm really feeling this, Brad.
- Oh yeah.
This actually is really comfortable.
Now you can take your wrist and go ahead
and put it like this and turn it out like this.
- You doing the flexion with it too.
- Yep. Flexion and turn it out in here.
That's a great stretch.
- It gets these muscles right up here
in the forearm or up by the elbow.
- And you actually may involve that trigger point
that is right by the elbow there, Brad.
- Yeah. Sure.
- And then you can go like this
and stretch it into extension Brad.
And Brad, you often mention not to grab on the fingers
but to grab on the hand itself to stretch.
- Right. If you get on the fingertips,
it's, it's a little more aggressive than you need to be.
Get the, get the palm in there.
- Now generally-
- Just like that.
- Generally the time that it takes to,
you know,
to go through this all,
we like to see the heat.
It takes about 10 minutes for it to really heat up.
And so then you can stay on it
for another 20 minutes after that or so.
- Sure.
- And you can do this throughout the day if you want
but you certainly can do it twice a day.
- Sure. You bet.
- Just to start.
- Then we're gonna go to the lower extremity
and we're gonna start doing just some gentle rotations
like this, Brad.
- Yep.
- Now this is getting the hips and the back
when you're moving this way.
- Right.
So we're, you can see the,
the hip has to come up right here
and that gets the lower back.
Plus you got some stretching
with the hip
and you know anything with fibromyalgia,
you're not gonna do too aggressively.
Everything is, you know-
- Right.
Gentle, within, within tolerance.
- A hamstring stretch;
you can just grab your, your, um, the back
of your knee like this and then bring the foot towards you.
- Right.
- Just a gentle stretch.
Same with the other one, bringing it forward.
Gentle stretch.
I can put this leg down if I wanna stretch more.
- Yep.
You'll feel those hammies right in there stretch.
- The, the hammies are, are barking.
- Ooh.
- All right.
Then you can go ahead.
Just a single knee to chest Brad.
- Yep.
- And another single knee to chest.
Okay. Are, are you nice and relaxed Brad?
- I am, Bob.
I'm, I'm, ready to take a nap.
- And then I'm gonna go ahead
and just bring my foot toward me.
- So yeah, he's dorsiflexion, getting the heel cords.
There you go.
- Down-
- Ankle pumps-
- And then yep, and then a few circles Brad.
- Oh yeah, circle those ankles.
- And I want-
- Am I in, Lonnie? Or am I out of the picture?
- [Lonnie] You're out Brad.
Probably better if you'd be out of the picture.
- All right.
So we've just worked the whole body, Brad.
We're relaxed because we did our breathing.
We're, the, the heat is helping calm those-
- Sure.
- Trigger points down.
They really are,
you know, the Thermotex is really good
for providing-
- DP?
- Short term relief
- Yep.
- Of, of the pain.
And now you can go ahead and function
and go ahead,
this would be a good time to maybe get up
and go for a walk.
- Sure. Yep.
- That's a really great exercise for you.
- Sure.
And you know, 15, 20 minutes, or longer.
Depends on what you're used to.
- Yep.
- So,
- All right.
- Once again, Bob,
I think we've got another step
towards that pain-free body and-
- A broken heart?
Is that what you're talkin' about?
[Laughs]
I don't know.
What else are you talking about?
We can fix just about anything
except for a broken heart.
- Except for a broken heart.
But I'm thinking-
- We're workin' on it.
- This might be a good step in the right direction.
- All right.
Thanks a lot guys.