- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, Physical Therapist.
- Brad Heineck, Physical Therapist.
- And together we are the most
famous physical therapist on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- That's always our opinion, Brad.
Today you have come up with another good idea
for training people after
they've had a stroke.
- Right, I've been using this technique
at the clinic for a long time.
Now, as a matter of fact, last week,
I used it on someone.
He had a stroke about two months ago,
he's rehabbing, he's doing quite well.
And he is just about ready to go home alone.
He's living with his family right now
and they wanna get him home,
but they wanna avoid any falls.
And this technique is just wonderful because
with strokes a lot of time
or all the times is one side that's involved.
So usually,
- Once people had a stroke.
- Right.
- One side's always involved.
- Right, and oftentimes they neglect that one side.
So they don't pay attention to that side.
And as they recover it, it starts to come back.
- Sure.
- So we wanna work right,
we wanna work left,
we want to work forwards and backwards,
and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.
- Let's get to it.
I'm gonna film, Brad.
- You better believe it.
- You're on your own buddy.
- All right, let's go down to the floor, Bob.
- All right.
- What you're gonna wanna do is on the floor.
Take some masking tape.
Now I went four feet square.
This is four feet each direction.
I would normally make this six or eight feet.
Six feet is a good thing,
but we don't have enough room
in our luxurious studio here, Bob.
So six feet would be or four is working
and that's a visual, okay?
That's where the person is gonna walk.
Now the person will probably be
at a point where they have a cane.
You're not gonna do this with a walker.
It's when they're using a cane
but they're still a little unstable.
You're gonna have a gate belt on.
You got me Bob, or..
- Yeah, I gotcha.
- Get a big gate belt on if you're
at home and if you don't happen
to have a gate belt, make sure they have a good
hefty leather belt that you can hold onto, okay?
- So someone else is gonna be with you, Brad?
- Exactly. Yep.
So you start the person here with their toes
on the corner, okay?
You'll be standing opposite where the cane is,
so in this case, it would be the left.
All right, hold the belt there.
And the instructions are walk forward just normally
and stop when you get to the corner, okay?
And then the next instruction is side step
with the toes pointed forward.
We're gonna side step to the left.
Now, if someone's had a stroke
and the left side was involved,
that's usually the harder way to walk.
And then walking backwards -
this is the tricky one -
this is really good for their balance
and proprioception.
You're gonna have hold on good there, and walk.
- Make sure someone's holding on to you.
- Yep. Hold on.
And then just walk backwards, take the time
and get to here that's where they learn a little trust
with the, with the person helping as well.
And then we're gonna go to the right, side step
to the right with that cane stop there.
Now what I'll do often is go to the left
and go around the square,
the opposite direction, okay?
Now when they get to the point
where they can do this
and you don't need to help very much at all
they're getting more confident.
The next step is take the cane
and get rid of the cane.
Keep holding onto that gate belt,
be by their side and again, do the same thing -
forward, left, backwards.
- So now you're picking up the speed?
- You bet.
And you know, it's gonna be according
to the person's comfort level, all right?
Now when they get even more advanced,
that's the fun about therapy -
continually advancing - right Bob?
- Mhmm, it's fantastic.
- Oh man, we have more fun than you
can imagine, seriously.
Now the next thing you do is you're gonna
have them walk the line toe to heel.
This is tough with the cane and holding
on and you might even hold onto their hand.
So it's hand hold belt here for the person.
Help come show 'em, Bob.
Come on in here.
- Oh, come in?
- Yeah, come on.
You just show 'em.
How, how good hand hold.
Okay. Here, here.
And like that.
Okay. You want dance bud?
(laughs)
Killing me.
- All right
We're gonna get back there.
Okay, so that's the proper handhold
cause this is the tough one.
This is getting pretty high advanced.
Okay, cause a person may wanna get back
to dancing actually.
And I've had patients do that
and then going backwards heel to toe
and be specific, their toe should touch
their heel while they're looking straight ahead,
without looking down that really gets
the appropriate perception.
That's something we use in therapy a lot.
It's the thing that keeps you upright
and stable on your feet.
So that's it start with that square on the ground
work all four directions, right?
Left heel toe.
And the next thing you know
the Fred stare dancing with them and all that stuff.
And remember to subscribe to us.
Cause we've got a lot of extra handy things you
can do to help your parents, yourself,
And who else, Bob?
Talk to me, Bob.
- I'm I'm I'm letting you on your own Brad.
- God, I can't think of anymore.
How about the skill is..
- There we go.
- Cut it off. Cut.