♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
(Bob claps)
- Hi, folks. I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Yeah, we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- Today, we're talking about the top seven ways
to treat leg cramps, muscle cramps,
charley horses, muscle spasms.
What else could it be called?
- Well, you covered a good part of them, Bob.
- No, actually some of these things might help
with restless leg syndrome, at least the symptoms of it.
But I won't guarantee, you know,
but these are things you could try.
- Sure. Okay.
- So if, by the way, you are new to our channel,
please take a second to subscribe to us.
We provide videos on how to stay healthy, fit, pain free
and we upload every day.
Also, we got something really exciting going on right now.
If you go over to Facebook
and you like BobandBrad here,
look for our top post.
It's pinned to the top of the page.
We're giving away a mattress.
Ooh!
- And we're talking about deluxe mattresses.
- Yeah, this-
- This is this over a thousand dollars
if you're gonna buy it at the, you know.
- Yeah, this is our favorite mattress by SleepOvation.
And you just, all you have to do
is like that post and comment on that post
and you're in the contest.
- There you go. - As simple as that.
So, all right. These are...
I didn't realize it, Brad,
but these nighttime cramps are very, very common.
- Sure.
- You see it in a lot of people and they're very disturbing
because they can, you know, break up your sleep
and people have trouble getting back to sleep.
- You've had them, haven't you?
- I've had them not not on a regular basis by any means,
but enough that they can, you know...
- When I was- - It's all about.
- Right.
When I was running a lot one time,
I used to get calf cramps in the middle of the night
and it hurt so much,
just thinking about it can get you, you know, some anxiety.
- I mean, it really, it gets to the point
where I worry that's gonna tear the muscle
'cause it's cramping up so hard.
- Well, yeah, I don't know if it could,
but it feels like it is.
- So let's go over the steps here, Brad.
Number one is you wanna make sure
you get assessed by a doctor because there's a lot of things
that could be causing this that could be easily remedied.
- Sure.
- So it might be, I mean it might be your medications,
the statins or the diuretics,
the high blood pressure medications...
- Sure. - Could certainly cause it.
If you have a potassium, magnesium,
calcium or sodium deficiency...
- Sure.
Some electrolytes.
- Some electrolytes.
That could be a cause.
If you're dehydrated.
- Sure.
- It could be hypothyroidism, diabetes.
And you know, unfortunately,
this is one you can't do anything about.
But if you're pregnant
and especially when you're in third trimester,
that seems to be the...
Or second trimester and beyond,
these things tend to start cropping up.
- Right.
- So I guess there's nothing you can do about that
once it happens.
- Right. I mean, we can't speak about that
except for our spouse, but anyways.
- All right, next one.
I would say, you know,
I haven't seen anybody mention this,
but I've been taking these tablets
and they're electrolyte tablets.
They're called Nuun.
I don't know if that's how they're pronounced or Nuun.
N-U-U-N.
And these guys provide the exact thing
that you would have a deficiency for cramps.
It gives you potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium.
It actually throws a little vitamin C in there.
And it's got riboflavin, whatever that is.
- And they're across the counter and you know, they're..
You know, it's not...
- They're over the counter, yep.
I use these 'cause I tend to sweat a lot.
I work out, especially during the summer.
I'll go run in the morning
then I'll go golf for like six hours.
And I mean, I just get depleted.
I'm like wiped out. I even got dizzy one time.
And I take these and it just boost me right up.
So you take a tablet.
You actually are gonna have to try it right now, Brad.
- Yeah, well we both have a cup of Nuun.
- Yeah, so we put it in there.
It fizzles and it actually...
I like it, but you don't like it as much, do you?
- Well, if it'd help me with my cramps,
I'd be more than happy to drink it.
It doesn't make me wanna spew or anything.
But you know, it's not my favorite drink.
- Now, the thing about this
is it comes in six different flavors.
This is the lemon lime, I believe.
Yeah, lemon lime.
I like it, but apparently some of the new formulations,
that's what got the negative reviews.
I mean, everybody seems to think it works,
but some people are like, "Oh, my God,
that new taste is awful."
So... - Okay.
- You're gonna wanna find one that you can stomach and...
- Yeah, so you enjoy it or at least tolerate it.
- Yeah. All right.
So next one is what we mentioned before is the dehydration.
You're gonna make sure you're drinking plenty of water.
- Sure.
- You know, as you start getting older,
that sense that you're thirsty starts going away.
I mean, it's just one of those things about getting older.
You don't feel like you're thirsty, but yet you are.
I mean, your body needs the water.
- Right.
My brother works in the ER. He has for at least 20 years.
And he says, not most,
he says all older people that come in are dehydrated.
- Yeah.
- That's always a symptom- - We see.
We work in skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes.
And I mean, how often do we see that?
Someone gets dehydrated in a lot of times.
The other thing we see is the low electrolytes a lot.
- Sure. Right. - A lot.
They get hospitalized for it.
Next thing is you want to try
is maybe do a little bit stretching of the calf
before you go to bed. - Sure.
You better believe it. - And Brad is gonna show
how to do that.
You wanna show it on here, Brad?
- You want me to show? Oh, yeah.
So this is a nice way to do it in a seated position.
You can take a,
you know, you can take a towel or a belt.
I've got the-
- Stretch out strap. - Stretch out strap
'cause it's handy.
It goes around there.
And if you happen to have poor, you know, grip strength
or you have arthritis in your hands,
you put your hands through like that
and you really don't even need your fingers.
It just pulls.
And you can see I'm getting a nice stretch there like that.
And it feels good, you know.
And you may wanna do this before you...
I've had people do this before they go to bed
if they have- - Absolutely.
- Nights with cramps.
- That's what I'm recommending
and see if this helps.
You know, you're gonna do an experiment.
You're gonna figure out which things work
and which things don't work.
- Yep.
- And that's what you want to give it a try.
- Yeah, you know, you can do stretch on, stretch off
five or 10 times, or you can hold it for 20 to 30 seconds
and do that on each leg, at least two or three times.
- The other one kind of falls
along in the same line here
is you can actually do a stationary bike
before you go to bed.
We're gonna mention our knee glide.
You can actually...
The reason I like this is 'cause you can actually,
while you're sitting and watching TV,
you can just get the knee glide
and you can get some movement right before you go to bed.
- Yep. - And it'll...
And hopefully this'll help.
I don't know if you'd have to do one leg than the other leg
but what does this weigh, Brad?
- [Brad] Well, less than three pounds.
- [Bob] Yeah, so I mean you can put it wherever you're at.
It's just an easy way to get some motion.
- It's great for the ankle and the knee joint, you know,
especially the knee.
You get some range of motion in there
if you happen to have some arthritis.
- Do it one night. See if you have cramps that night.
Or do it a week and see if it actually decreases
the amount of cramping you're having that week.
And I think it's well worth it if it works.
- Right. Yes, it is.
- The other one is Thermotex which we recommended,
infrared heat.
You know, I don't know if I'd recommend
getting one of these just for this,
but I mean, especially if you're having
aches and pains everywhere...
- Right.
- This infrared is deep heat.
Regular heat, you may not know,
this only goes a couple millimeters.
This actually goes 60 millimeters, which is...
- 2.36 inches according to the studies
they've done on these.
- So it's gonna be a deep form of heat.
So if you can, you know, get your calves on there
again while you're watching your reruns
of "I Love Lucy" or something,
you can go ahead and put this underneath there.
- I like "Gun Smoke".
- [Bob] There you go. "Gun Smoke".
- Yeah, and this is very, you know,
especially if you got a recliner that comes up,
you know, you can put it in there
and you're just gonna be very comfortable with those.
- Brad and I use this on our back or upper
for knots and back pain. - Yeah.
- And we just put it and we lay on it
or we sit on it at night
and that's our little treat as we're...
- Well, I don't really sit on it.
- No, you put it, you lay on it.
Lean against it. - Put it behind my back.
They get it. - Yeah.
As you get older, these are the things
you look forward to in life.
That's how sad our lives have become.
- Yeah.
- All right. - Well...
- Next one is...
Actually, this is a formulation
that actually was made for muscle cramps.
- Okay.
- So I have no idea if it works.
I can tell you that. It's Theraworx Relief.
I've heard of it before.
Hadn't you heard of it before, Brad?
- [Brad] No, I'm afraid not, Bob.
(Bob laughs)
You know, there's a lots of things that I haven't heard of.
- Theraworx Relief.
I remember hearing it on commercials, but...
And you know, when I looked on Amazon,
it had 1,300 reviews, 4.3 stars.
So pretty good.
It must be working for some people.
You know, I wanna make sure
it's not a placebo effect, you know.
But what you do is you basically take it and you...
I'm gonna go ahead and demonstrate it, Brad.
- You've gotta show those legs off.
- You shake it first.
- Get it mixed up, yeah.
- And then you pump, pump.
And then you rub it in.
They say maybe you can go up
into the hamstring and everything if you need to.
And into the feet, if you need to.
Oh, I got some on my pants.
- Yeah, it doesn't stain either.
- Is that what it says?
- No, but I'm just thinking. (Bob laughs)
I hope that it doesn't.
For your sake. - I'm always in trouble.
Actually, that was probably enough, two pumps.
But sometimes, they say two more.
- Yeah. - Let it dry
before you get in under the sheets.
- Sure.
- And you wanna see if it works. I don't know.
I mean, I haven't tried it on any patients.
I don't know if it works.
Obviously, it worked for a lot of people.
And you can get that on Amazon too.
- Right. How many reviews?
- Uh, 1,300.
- Wow, it's quite a few.
- So it's a lot.
I mean, there's been a lot of people using this and-
- It's been around.
- And obviously, it doesn't work for everyone,
but it was working for some
that they thought they got good relief
in, like I said, even restless leg syndrome.
- Sure.
- So I put it on. I don't feel much.
I know it's got magnesium in it.
So, you know, if you're a little bit low on magnesium,
I'm sure it penetrates the skin
and it gives you a little bit of that
colloidal silver, citrus, grapefruit extract, aloe vera.
- That's the flavors that comes in?
- No, that's what's in it.
- Oh.
- It doesn't come in flavors. What are you talking about?
- Maybe it had different aroma or something.
- All right.
Well, hopefully, we got you some relief for those cramps.
They're not fun to have.
And you know, it's like living with a crabby person.
You got a crabby leg.
It's just not fun.
So thanks for watching.
- Very good. Good luck.