♪ Bob and Brad the two most famous ♪
♪ physical therapists on the internet ♪
(Hands banging on desk)
- Hi folks I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together we're the most physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course Bob.
- Today Brad, we're gonna talk about how to improve sciatica
with proper sitting and we're gonna show you some devices
on how to put yourself in a proper seated posture.
- Exactly, because if you got sciatica, pain down the leg,
it's oftentimes from a disc or a low back problem,
which very commonly is worsened or made worse
from long term sitting or sitting with poor posture.
- Yeah. In fact, sit, you know
back pain used to be a lifting problem.
We used to think of it,
- But right... - Right.
_ More often now it's a sitting problem.
- Yep, exactly. - So.
- And we're gonna go through a very,
a number of ways that sitting
that constantly irritate the back.
For example, you ever go to a basketball game
sit on the bleachers without a backrest,
you got back pain or leg pain.
Usually you're going... - Yeah.
- Out much worse than when you came into the game.
- Yeah, people are well aware of that.
- Right - I think that's
a good example. - Right.
Sitting at, at work, you know on a computer workstation.
You don't have a very good chair.
You like to sit at the edge of the chair
because you're comfortable that way,
but your back needs some support.
We're gonna show you a couple nice options for that.
- Before we do that, Brad, I noticed a couple people
have wandered in. - Yep.
- So welcome into our fold today.
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- Yeah. - We're Bob and Brad,
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- Yeah, we are likable aren't we?
- I would hope so. - Okay, say no more Bob.
_ Let's talk about Brad...
How you, how do you, why is sitting a problem with?
- Because Bob, here we got our spine.
We talked about sciatica oftentimes coming
from the lower spine.
And the reason that is,
is because we find ourselves slouched
and sitting like this, or like this.
- Rounded out.
- Or we're leaning forward and the back.
When the back does that it actually rounds this direction,
which puts pressure on the disc
and a disc can actually start to bulge
and push into that nerve that makes the whole leg hurt.
Cause the nerve from the low back
goes right down through the buttock into the sciatic nerve,
all the way down into the foot.
So you can get pain throughout the whole leg, into the foot.
And we've got a nice model here of...
Here we got two vertebras
and a model of a disc
and a disc actually has fluid inside of it.
It's like a balloon with, water balloon inside of it
and when you sit poor and slouched,
Bob's gonna show a good example on the disc.
- On a normal healthy disc that's not a problem.
- Right.
- But over time it starts to wear out on the back.
- Right. - As you keep sitting
and sitting and sitting and slouching and slouching.
So here again, here's a good healthy disc,
but eventually if the back wears out.
- [Brad] Whoa! - [Bob] Yep.
- [Brad] Look at that.
- And that's gonna push back up against the sciatic nerve
and send pain down your leg. - [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] And you're not gonna be a happy camper.
- But if you can sit with good posture
and actually have a support,
we call it a lumbar support, in the spine
that can really help remedy this problem.
- [Bob] Right. - And here we got the spine.
We've got, this is, one is a Napa lumbar support.
This is one I particularly like
and we're gonna put it in this chair.
This happens to be a chair you can use in a bleacher
if you're at a stadium or a basketball game.
And you'll sit on there and you can see the arch here.
- [Bob] Creates your arch in the back
- Right, supports that.
Not letting that bulge get worse,
just like Bob demonstrated.
There's other, you know you could even start with
a towel roll if you don't happen to have something, but.
And you'll put that back there and that's gonna help.
- What's what's nice about starting with a towel roll Brad,
is you can figure out what size you wanna start with.
- Exactly.
- Cause a lot of times people who are having sciatica
like to have more of a towel roll.
That's a little crazy Brad.
- That's, but that's the idea,
you know you would probably never go this big unless you're
- Yeah. - a very large person.
- But it's gonna vary greatly between people
of how much they want.
- Right. - In there.
And that's why it's a really kind of a,
you know you have to kind of test things out
- Exactly. - To see what's gonna work.
- Exactly.
You know, there, this is one that I have used actually,
that's worked. - This is the one I use too.
- Right, so it's a real thin one
and this particular chair probably...
I don't know if anybody'd use it
because it's so soft. - Yeah.
It's so soft it wouldn't work. - Right.
- I think we should...
We'd be remiss if we didn't also mention Brad,
that really when you are having sciatica or problems
with sciatica as much as possible you should avoid sitting.
- Yeah, right.
- And I know that's not always possible.
You might be in a job or you have to drive your car.
You can't stand up while you drive your car, can you?
- I don't think so Bob. (both laughing)
- So you really, you know, but I...
When I had a bout of sciatica when I was, I was a student.
I did all my notes standing up.
- Sure. - I walked around.
It's just, it's just a lot better for,
for the disc and it's healthier, so.
- Right, right.
You know people that have it chronically you're just...
You find yourself.
You have to sit or you're in that situation.
- Right. - For example work.
You know if you don't have a standup workstation
and you have to sit at a computer workstation like this.
That's when, you know...
We found something like this, a little bit bigger,
to go back in here to allow you to relax.
- Yeah, cause one of the problems when you're working
at a desk quite often is you're forward.
- Right, exactly. - Right.
I mean you're maybe at the keyboard or you're writing.
And so, if you know, you lean back
almost any one of these will work,
but this is a thicker one. - Right.
- So it'll give you some support even
though you are leaning forward.
- Exactly. - So.
- If we go...
Why don't you have a seat on there?
- Sure. - That's like a bleacher.
- Now you can see on a bleacher,
one of the main problems right away,
especially for a tall person like me.
My knees come up higher
than my hips... - Mm hmm.
- And that rounds out my back. - Exactly.
- And so eventually what happens over time is I even,
you know because of gravity, I start slouching
even more. - Yeah.
- And also of course the hard surface
doesn't help either. - Right.
- Cause you're putting pressure right on that sciatic nerve
as it comes through the notch.
- And if it's a really boring game, you know you just kinda,
it's not like you're standing up
to cheer them on every now and then.
- So one of the alternatives is to, you know
you know, sit up on the top row.
- Right. - I mean,
my wife and I used to do that
so you could lean against the wall.
- Right. - And also it's a lot easier
for you to stand every so often.
- Sure. - Cause you're not blocking
people's view. - Right.
So I'm blocking people's views anyway cause
I'm six foot six, so... - Yep.
This is actually a chair made for a bleacher.
You know it folds up.
You can carry it up in there.
Put it down and there's straps that go underneath
and hopefully it... (Brad laughing)
They fit around the mechanics or the size of the bleacher,
but you know this would be nice.
Here's another bleacher chair, but this one is much cheaper.
Has no framework on it and it'd work.
I'll just demonstrate this one.
You get a little support on it, but nothing in the lumbar.
- Yeah. - You know it's one
of those things you get what you pay for.
I would probably just not buy
that if you have any lumbar problems.
- Sure. - Or sciatica.
Just put that one off to the side
and pretend you never bought it.
Okay, but the other thing that, there's another product
out that works really well, it's called a NADA Chair.
- N A D A. - Right.
Meaning, we're not a chair. - Yeah, it' a...
- It's a play on words.
- But this really does do a really nice,
much better than anything we talked about here,
in my opinion, as far as supporting
the lumbar spine in a really good way
and this is how it comes, you know.
They have a number, about four or five different varieties.
This is kind of the standard one.
It shows you the the basic mechanics.
But you simply fold it out like this,
if this is the bleacher.
- This has been around a long time by the way.
Brad and I were just discussing this.
We remember, cause it came about actually right when
I graduated from... - Oh, really.
- Therapy school... - Mm hmm.
In 1985, so I remember it coming out
and I remember Saunders was selling it at the time.
And so it, it does do the job.
It's a little cumbersome.
Wouldn't you say Brad?
- Well, you can say, you know, you gotta get it on.
Once you get it on. - Oh, yeah,
once you got it. - Yeah
- Cause look at you, you just did,
you just did it right now.
- Once you do it three or four times you'll be good at it.
And you can see...
And it's adjustable,
the straps right here easily adjust.
And right now I can lean back
and it feels really, really comfortable.
Now this is the type of thing,
you know in a bleacher, you could, you could sit there.
The only thing about this is if you're gonna,
you know, the big play comes and you're gonna stand up.
You can certainly stand up, but then it you know,
you gotta hold onto it or it'll drop down, yep.
- Then you gotta go back to it again.
- They do have one that they show somebody canoeing in
and it's built right into the, right into the vest.
- Oh, that's nice. - Yeah, that's really nice.
So you, it's not gonna fall out, that wouldn't...
- This gives support over what we call the sacrum
and the low back.
- Yep. - Which I think is really good
with seating.
A lot of the studies have shown that
that's more effective if you're supporting both the sacrum
and the lower back. - Right, yeah.
And I can tell you it feels really stable.
- How does it feel like if you lean forward
a little bit Brad, like you're like that?
Does it still feel like you're getting stressed?
- Not as much, but then you may adjust here.
- Sure. - But it just feels so good
to lean back, you just want to,
because it, it really supports.
Now if you're working at an office chair
I think this would be a good option
for someone who, you know who's working.
- If they don't get up and down a lot.
- Right, well that's true.
They do make one now that's elastic and you don't have
these straps. - Ah!
- And it's a little more user friendly that way.
So you can see if you're working there.
And the thing is, is you're probably not gonna sit
with this eight hours a day.
You might use it half, 50% of the time,
where you want to get that rest on there.
And you know, that's kind of the way
I use my lumbar support anyways.
I don't have it in my car all the time,
most of the time, but not a 100% of the time.
- And we should've brought the sit to stand table
over here too, I mean desk.
The flex a spot, - Oh, right, yep.
- You know, it's a desk you can stand up quite often
and even that's a lot better for your back pain.
It's that prolonged sitting that's a real problem.
You know these are some other options here too.
If you, there's a football team you're really not happy with
and you really don't like them.
- Well. - You just...
- Bob's got an issue.
It's a, this is part of his problem.
- You can go ahead, you can put this in there
you can squish it, you feel really good
because it gives you support and also you're squishing it
and you're getting, you know, rid of it.
Now this is, you know, would also work,
but you wanna treat this with respect.
So you don't wanna put this behind your back.
- Yeah. - So.
- There's nothing good about that team.
- Oh I just dropped it.
- Except for they got a new stadium. (both laughing)
- Thanks everybody for watching.