♪ Bob and Brad, ♪
♪ the two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet. ♪
- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp physical therapist,
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- Brad, my niece is pregnant
and she's having trouble with some sciatic pain
so I told her we'd make a video for her
and hopefully we can give her some relief.
She's not even in the same state as I am, so.
- Oh, really?
- So...
- Kudos for Uncle Bob.
- Yeah, well, I'm trying to help her out here.
- Let's see what we can do.
- All right, first thing is when you have...
and you're pregnant a lot of times the pain is not sciatica.
A lot of times it's just an SI problem.
You know, your pelvis is expanding.
- Sure, right.
- So you have pain from that.
- SI, sacroiliac joint.
- Right.
- So we're talking about that joint right there.
You got two of them, one there and one there.
- Right.
- They're kinda long joints.
- It's especially, if it's an SI problem,
it's gonna be worse with you, Maureen,
when you're standing, you know, weight bearing.
- Sure. Mm hm.
- And if that's what you're finding, you know,
at the end of this video,
I'll have a link to another video we did
on a brace that you can use for SI problems.
- Right. yep.
- And so that's just neither here not there,
but with anybody who's having pain,
it's not necessarily sciatica.
Sciatica tends to go down one leg and one side.
Might go down into the calf, even into the foot.
- Right. yep.
- And numbness and tingling and pain.
- Yep.
- So, all right.
But we're gonna assume you have sciatica.
So the first thing you're gonna try,
is you can't do extensions like we normally do on a bed.
- Right.
- So what I wanna have you do is take a rolled sheet,
and Brad, why don't you take a belt?
- Sure.
- And show the different ways we could do it.
You're gonna take a rolled sheet like this
and you're gonna put it in your low back,
kind of right where the,
right below the belt line, right?
- Yeah.
You'll kind of...
usually it'll feel good if you're in the right spot
and you can adjust it up and down slightly as needed.
- So then with your legs kinda wide apart,
and I don't want you to fall,
you know, when you're doing this
but you're gonna just gently extend back like this.
And you can even try different levels.
- Yep.
- If that doesn't help.
And what you're looking for is that the pain,
it might get a little worse in your back,
but it gets better in the leg.
- Mm hm.
- That's what you're definitely looking for.
If it gets worse in the leg, try it a couple times.
- yep.
- Don't just try it after one time,
oh, it's getting worse.
Try it a few times and see if it starts to go outta the leg.
That's a good sign.
That means it's the right thing to do.
- And what about that trick, Bob,
where you go and you actually push up towards the ceiling.
- Oh, yeah.
Yep. Exactly.
You can take your elbows at a 90 degree angle here.
Right angle.
- Yep.
- And you just go, and bring your arms up to your chest.
- Right.
- Like this.
- As you're pulling-
- Up, you're pulling and then you bend back.
- And if you're gonna use a belt,
do not use a shiny one
because you don't want it slipping up.
- Right.
- It's kind of nice so it grips into the cloth or your back
so it doesn't slide around.
- So 90 degree, I'm going up like this
and I'm going back like this.
- Yeah.
- And you can repeat this like 10 times.
You can do this every hour if you want.
That's how often you can do it.
- As long as it's giving positive results.
- As long as it's helping.
- Right.
- A lot of times what happens on this,
instead of using the belt is sometimes a countertop.
- Yep.
- Now, Maureen's a little bit short,
but if she can find a countertop
that hits her right around here on that pelvis.
- Sure. So right there.
- Again, right on the sacral.
- You might find,
if you just put pressure on one spot,
you could get some release.
- Sure.
- Sometimes that helps people.
Otherwise it's gonna be back.
This is gonna be in my way,
but you're talking about some extension,
is that right, Bob?.
- Right. Exactly.
- And usually it's good to get your hands back here
and give it some support.
If you wanna use the belt at the same time with this,
you can do that.
And you're looking for things that are
gonna reduce the symptoms,
and while you're doing it, you should feel it right there.
Is that right, Bob?
- Right, you got it.
Okay. Another one you can try,
again, we're just giving you ones, you know...
that's the one I would try first.
- Sure.
- But if that one doesn't help,
I'd go ahead and give this one a shot.
Go ahead and lay on your side that's not hurting.
So the painful leg is on top.
- Okay.
I'm laying on this side
and now you're gonna experiment
with how far you bring the knees up, okay?
- Mm hm.
- You're gonna try it first down here.
And while you're in this position,
I know you're pregnant,
but I want you to just kind of
roll your shoulder over to the...
you know, flat.
- There's one little trick
I'm gonna show Bob.
- Okay.
- Is that...I think you do this with patients too,
is if you think about sliding that shoulder forward.
- Right.
- And that helps drop the other shoulder.
- The shoulder.
And when it's in this position, does it relieve the pain?
Does it take it away?
- Yep.
- We're opening up the spine here.
- Mm hm.
- The area where the nerves come out.
And sometimes that takes the pressure off that nerve.
- Right.
- And you can lay here for a while,
or you can even do just gentle oscillations like this.
- Yep.
- Just gently oscillate back and forth.
You can also bring the leg up higher
and try it there.
- Sure.
- Sometimes people just bring one leg up like this.
- Yep.
- And again, do not make things worse.
If things get worse, stop it right away.
- It's not the right stretch.
- Right.
- yep, this should clearly give relief.
- Right.
- And if it would be the other way, you know,
if it was the other leg,
this one, you'd do it this way.
I don't wanna get on my microphone, but...
and you would go this way.
Bring this shoulder over to the other side.
- Yeah.
As far as where to do this,
best to do it on a carpeted floor,
because you probably don't have a plinth.
On the bed is usually too soft.
- Well, I hope she can get on the floor, Brad.
She might not wanna.
- Right. Well,
she's probably got someone around that can help her out.
- All right.
- But yeah, the bed, you can do the bed,
but a firm bed would be better.
- That's exactly right.
A good firm bed.
I don't think a tabletop would work, but all right.
The other thing you can try,
I'm less thinking that this is gonna help,
but it's worth a try.
- Mm hm.
- And this is called nerve flossing.
So let's say this is the leg that's giving you trouble.
- Okay.
- And this is a little complicated so you gotta watch.
Brad, are you gonna do it from the side?
- Yep, we'll give a profile.
- It's nice to have.
And I know Maureen's a little bit short
so she can usually...
it's nice to have a chair where you can actually...
I need to go here, Brad, actually.
- Yep.
- Where you can actually go underneath a little bit
like this with the leg.
- yep. Mm hm.
- So this is the painful leg.
So you're gonna bring the leg up and the toe up
while you're bringing the head up.
So toe and head go up at the same time.
And then you go down, toe goes down, head goes down.
And do 10 of these.
- Do you round your back with that?
- yep. Round your back, round forward.
- Okay.
- So head up, toe up,
toe down, head down.
- And you could see for me this chair's a little too short.
I would need a taller chair.
- Oh yeah.
You don't even go all the way back either, do you?
- Right, yep.
- But this flosses the nerve.
And a lot of times, if it's caught somewhere
it helps loosen it up.
- Right.
- And if there's a little inflammation
sometimes it helps calm it down.
- Right. This is one that might be painful the first time.
But if you do it on the second, third,
and you clearly feel it getting better
then I would continue.
- Yeah. I don't want you pushing this, again.
This is not to make things worse.
- Right.
- If it makes things worse, you don't do it or you stop.
And the other one is, you don't do this a lot.
This one you do maybe 10 times.
- Yeah.
- Twice a day at the most.
- Sure.
- Some people only do it once a day.
- Yep.
- The other ones, the back bending
you could do every hour, 10 times.
- Sure.
- And you can do the side bending one,
you know, the one from the side.
- Right, the rotation.
- You can do that, you can lay down a couple times a day
and do that.
- Right. As long as they give positive results.
- So Brad and I are gonna show you now a position
that really is a comfortable position to be in
when you're having back pain,
if you just wanna give yourself some relief.
- Mm hm.
- So, you wanna do that, Brad?
- Sure.
- So again, this is gonna be one,
you either need to do it on the floor
and you can put your foot up on a couch,
or you can do it in a bed if you have some type of,
I don't know, I suppose you could put a foot stool
on the bed, right?
- Sure. Yeah.
If you got an ottoman.
You know sometimes people got some nice cushy ottomans.
They make leg wedges for this.
But most people do not have those around the house.
- Yeah.
- Cold pack, as always, could be helpful.
- Right.
We have a recipe for a cold pack.
I'll link that up, Brad.
- Sure, yeah. Do that.
- So she can make her own cold pack if need be.
- She'll like that video.
- This is kind of a 90-90 position,
and a right angle here, a right angle here.
And it's a really comfortable position.
I mean, generally this is gonna give you relief.
So if you're hurting a lot, Maureen,
you know, give this a try
and this could give you some-
- Is this her first child?
- No. It's her second.
- Oh, okay. So she's got some experience.
- Yep.
- And I'm sure there's a lot of women out there
that are thinking,
what do these men know about this?
(Bob and Brad laugh)
- They're talking-
- We know about back pain.
So, and we know
that this could be a very comfortable position.
- Sure, sure.
- No matter what.
You wanna show the right way to get out of bed?
Just rolling onto your side, Brad?
- Yeah, sure.
- Just rolling onto your side
not onto your stomach, obviously.
- And this is one where-
- Because people when they're pregnant, a lot of times
if they try to just get up like this-
- Yeah, it gets scrunched.
- It makes the sciatica worse.
And it's also-
- I cannot speak from experience on this.
- I can give you a baby right there.
- Oh, there we go.
All right.
So we're gonna go out like this.
- Roll onto your side like a log.
- Yeah, I'm gonna have to get rid of this.
- Yeah, get rid of that.
- Okay.
Then bring your legs forward and off first.
This hand can go here.
You're gonna push with this elbow and this hand
and everything
is gonna kind of go up together.
Whew.
- Yeah, and the big thing too, Maureen,
throughout the day
you should try to really keep good posture.
Try not to put your back in that rounded out position.
- Yeah.
- You wanna grab that spine over there real quick, Brad?
- Oh yeah.
- This tends to make sciatica worse.
If you put your back...
So this is where Brad's head would be.
This is his pelvis.
If you put yourself in this rounded out position,
it's gonna make your sciatica worse.
So-
- That might be hard to do if she's pretty pregnant.
- I know, but some people still, the more...
you can put it back, you know,
like a little towel, or a roll towel,
or a pillow in your back when you sit on a couch
and stuff like that, too.
- Yeah.
So all right, Maureen, I hope that helps.
And have a healthy baby,
and let us know when you have it.
So-
- And I gotta tell you,
this is one guy to work with
that it's quite a challenge sometimes
but other that he-
- Oh, come on.
He loves me.
All right.
- Take care.