- Welcome, welcome!
Bob, viewers, today,
we are going to show you our six most successful mid-back.
- Mid-back. - Mid-back.
- Thoracic. - The thoracic back
mobilizations that release pain and tension,
and now I'm excited to show you these.
These work, and Bob, what do you got to say?
- It sounds like Thoracic Park.
(both laughing) - Hold on.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪ (upbeat synth music)
- With these techniques, there's six of 'em, by the way.
I've personally used all of 'em.
- I have myself too. - Some of 'em
are my favorite ones, and I use the one that works.
Now, we're gonna show you all of these, but I do want
to mention, if you have some preexisting conditions.
- Like osteoporosis, osteopenia.
- Osteopenia, weakness in the bones, if you have RA or.
- Hypermobile. - Yep, hypermobility,
if you're seeing a doctor or a therapist
for some back conditions already, yeah.
- Don't do these.
- These are for when you have that kink in your back
and you think, man, I just need to stretch it out!
- Stretch a little bit, right.
- Yep, they can work well.
You're not gonna get too aggressive with these.
You're just gonna allow them.
- Be gentle with yourself.
- Yeah, the gentle spirit moves all.
(Bob laughs)
Okay, here we go, number one.
Oh, before we go to number one, I apologize.
We do wanna use Sam for a second, 'cause we're talking about
the mid-back or the thoracic back.
Not Thoracic Park. (Brad laughs)
So we're looking at where the ribs connect at T12.
It's the 12th vertebra down from the base of the neck,
all through here, and oftentimes, this is the area,
wouldn't you say, Bob? - Sore, tender, painful.
- Yep, so Sam, what we're gonna do is actually
move the back and put some gentle force on the back
such that we're gonna get some cavitation or that pop
and relieve some stress.
I've worked with these many times,
where it's just a wonderful thing, easy to do,
carry out. - Feels good.
- All right, Sam, you're done, out of the way.
Okay, for the first one, you're gonna take a fist,
whichever hand you want.
I usually use my left hand.
See how Bob made the fist?
And he's gonna use his fist
and push into it with this hand while he's arching back.
You can do this, I start low and I'll work up.
I'll go on the right side or the left side.
- Oh, a crack!
- Sometimes, you just got one, huh, Bob?
- Yep. - Oh, life is good.
(Bob laughs)
I'm not getting anything so far.
So if I don't get anything with this,
I'll go onto number two. - Sounds good.
- Anything else to say, Bob? - No, that's good.
- All right, number two, cut.
Now, some people are gonna have difficulty
reaching back and getting into that spot,
so the next option is to use a cane or a stick.
We use the Booyah Stik.
You can use a PVC or doweling.
- Or a broomstick. - Broomstick.
It's gonna be fairly strong.
You don't wanna. - Snap it.
- And you simply get this like Bob has there or here,
and you pull in and up and arch back,
and you can kinda work.
You can see how we're working here and working up.
You don't get real high on the back with this.
- No, I don't.
- And if you want, you can put a little rotation in here,
as long as it doesn't hurt.
Sometimes it'll hurt one way, but not the other way.
So you'll just rotate the way it does not hurt
and then reassess that other direction
and see how your progress goes.
You know, you're gonna spend 30 seconds to a minute.
You're either gonna get the movement, or you're not.
If it's not, then you go to the next one.
Bob, I don't know about you, but the six-inch
roller is probably one of my. - Every morning.
- Yep, I do use it maintenance-wise.
I've gotten up in the middle of the night.
- Really? - When my back kinked out
and used it and had success so I could get back to sleep.
Now, you do not need the three-foot one.
You can use the short one.
It doesn't matter; you'll see why.
- This is a softer one.
- Yes, and they come in different densities.
This one's pretty soft! - Really soft!
- This one's soft but not too soft, and then they make
a harder one that's even more aggressive.
(Bob laughs)
Usually for your back, sometimes the harder ones
I think are better, but it's up to the individual.
All right, so you're gonna put it down here,
and you only need as wide as your thoracic back there.
Ooh, that was good!
I just had one, yeah. - Very good!
- And I'll do it like this.
I'll roll back, and I go right up to my lower neck.
I'll roll back, and as I do this,
I'm gonna arch back as tolerated.
In other words, if I get any sharp pain,
I'm not gonna do it.
But a lot of times, you'll feel it, and you'll go, clunk!
You can do it sideways like this.
Ooh, there we go, that did it,
or you can go this way, yep.
So you spend a minute or two doing this.
I like to put my hands here to let my head relax.
Bob, you got any other tricks that you use?
- No, that's it, Brad.
- All right, very good, the six-inch roller.
You can try the four-inch one as well,
but this one is usually better for other things as well.
Good luck!
Okay, we're going on to number.
- Four. - Four?
I thought that was five.
Oh yeah, you're right!
All right, Bob, viewers, we're gonna use the staircase next.
And you know, I didn't realize this,
but Danny, our cameraman there, he said his father's
been doing this for greater than three decades now.
So it's been around for a while.
- Nothing new. - Yep.
I've just started on the stairs.
But you need probably three stairs to have the right height.
Maybe two would work, but one would probably be too low.
We're gonna use the edge of the steps right here,
and you're gonna put that across.
- The top stair, right? - Yep, the top stair, yep.
Across that thoracic back.
Now, if it's a sharper corner and it hurts to do that,
you're gonna take a towel,
and actually, at home I use even a thicker towel.
I would do it here too, but I don't have one available.
But I just fold up a towel so I can slide back and forth.
If they're carpeted steps,
you won't be able to slide like that,
which is okay; you can still work around it.
Anyways, I'm gonna start here, stretch back,
use the handrail there for a little control, if you like.
And I'm moving down one at a time, one level;
in other words, one vertebra.
Then I can go back, and this really does nice.
Nice mobilization, good control.
I'm very happy with this.
If it is carpeted and it doesn't slide,
like this one slides on the wood, but then you can
kinda inch it down like this and work on it.
- Turn. - Yep, oh.
- You seem very happy. - Yeah, I'm grateful.
And like, well, evidently, Danny's dad makes dad noises.
- Dad noises, yes.
- Growling, grunting, and things like that.
- It's all part of it. - Yeah, it's right.
You've gotta be successful in all ways, thank you!
Our next option, this is not gonna be for everyone, Bob.
It's gonna be for probably
the more nimble people, if you will.
But you get a six- or eight-inch ball that's squishy.
So it's not gonna be a soccer ball.
- Like a dodge ball. - Yep, something that
you can bounce like that and you can squish.
Again, you're gonna go down onto the floor.
And the nice thing about this,
as long as you can maintain your balance,
you can easily roll across.
It does not get very, ooh, I just had a nice one there!
I've been cracking more today.
- Wow! - And this is wonderful, yeah.
But it's broad.
It spreads out across the vertebra,
versus getting more singular. - Specific.
- Oh, I'm on that camera now.
Yeah, can you see that?
There we go.
(Bob laughs)
Oops, darn, I bet you that sounded good.
Oh!
So yeah, this is, you can bounce.
(Bob laughs)
Boom, boom, boom.
Have fun on it, anyways. - So long, Brad, so long.
- Yeah, we'll go onto the next one.
And finally, number six, this is a little different here.
Bob, why don't you stand up, 'cause I'm gonna show you.
We're gonna use a few tools here.
One of 'em you have to purchase, but you don't have to.
You can also use one of the balls.
But we're going to actually,
I'll show you with the softball.
This ball is not round!
Anyways, it's deformed.
Instead of going on the center, right down the spine,
we're gonna go off to one side.
So between the shoulder blade
and the spine in that muscle area there,
and we're gonna work that on both sides, up and down.
And this works out very nicely.
Bob and I do this one regularly.
- Every day, yep.
- We use the Backpod.
Again, this is expensive.
If you've got costochondritis
or something of that nature, you might wanna have one.
- You might wanna invest in one.
- Otherwise, yeah, you can use a ball, softball,
a tennis ball. - Tennis ball.
- This is gonna be pretty aggressive.
Some people may tolerate it.
Well, anyways, we'll get on with it.
The concept is the same,
whether you use the ball or the Backpod.
I'm gonna put that down.
I'm gonna start on the left side.
When I first started doing this, it was pretty aggressive.
So I'd take a towel, fold it up,
relatively neatly so you don't get wrinkle in it,
put it on there, and you can do the same with the ball.
Tennis balls aren't so bad.
- It softens it a bit.
- Yeah, it's much more tolerable.
Then you work back and forth.
And when I first did that, I would just go like this.
It would work good. - You can have a pillow too.
- Yeah, that is nice, to have a pillow for your head.
- You want one? - I just hold it.
Yeah, grab a pillow for me.
Once you get like this a little bit, you can start,
I go like this and actually rock and back and forth.
It stretches the muscles at the same time.
Oh, thanks, Bob! - Yep.
- Now I know you care.
(Bob laughs)
All right, yeah, that's much nicer.
Then make sure you go to the left side
and work down the back, right and left, as you go.
It'll take you a couple minutes.
Again, you can do the same thing with the ball,
the same exact thing with this ball.
Now, I'll just mention this.
Usually, with the tennis ball,
you don't need, oh, you can still use a pillow,
but woof, it is pretty intense on one spot.
- Really? - Yeah, but it's not like.
- Not as bad. - Yeah.
So you can use a towel with that if you want.
You do need to work with this a little bit.
There's a little skill involved, a little practice.
So there you go, Bob! - There we go.
- I think people are gonna be grateful and have success
with one of these. - Have fun!
- Yeah, be careful, though.
(upbeat synth musical flourish)