- All right, ladies and gentlemen
and everyone else who is watching.
- And germs. - Germs, yes.
- We're gonna explain to you the reasons
for painful knees, particularly as you age,
and we're gonna give 10 very helpful tips.
- Wow, 10?
- 10. - Wow.
- Not just 9, but 10 common, helpful hints
to get you through this pain and get you back moving again.
Wait 9.3 seconds.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪ (light music)
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪ (light drum fill beating)
- Okay, here we go, we're looking at Sam.
He is more than helpful to help us today.
We look at a healthy knee joint,
and it'll be white like this,
if you could pop it open.
- It looks like it's got Teflon.
- Yeah, very smooth,
very pristine. - So that's why.
- And glides very, very easily
when you walk, run or move it.
But, as you age, a few things can happen,
and one of the most common things-
- Is arthritis. - Arthritis.
This cartilage is-
- It looks a little dark. - Yep.
The cartilage that is smooth and pristine becomes rough,
and it may look like, maybe,
you got sandpaper or rust there.
- Or flaky. - Yep.
And what happens is pain is associated with that,
particularly with weight-bearing,
walking, running, those activities.
So we're gonna go though and tell you
three common reasons how this comes about
in our life, as we age.
(swift whooshing)
Okay, the first one is more genetic than anything.
Maybe not, but it's either, we call it,
genu varus or genu valgus. - Right.
- The slang term, or the layman's terms, is
knock-kneed or bow-legged. - Kneed or bow-legged, right.
- Oh, you know, I've gotta admit,
my daughter has a little bit of genu varus.
She's a little bit bow-legged. - Bow-legged.
- She may have some knee problems
when she gets in her 50s or 60s,
as a result of it. - Right.
It could be your hips. - Yep.
- Or your feet is affecting that.
- Yep, and there isn't too much you can do
about your genetics. - Right.
- It's just, you know, what you have to live with,
so make sure you have good feet,
or good shoes. - Shoes.
- And make sure you watch some of our videos
to help you with that.
The second thing is,
if you have a job or you spend a lot of time standing,
particularly on hard surfaces,
maybe with shoes that don't have cushion
to compensate for that. - Or a mat.
- Yeah, exactly.
Or if you wear improper footwear over time,
or you wear out your shoes
and you continue to wear 'em for (scoffs) many months
after they should be replaced. - Right.
Yep, exactly. - Things of that nature.
And then also, very common, history of injuries.
- Yep, an old football injury.
- Yeah, and you know, that knee that you banged up
playin' football or softball on the weekends,
and, 30 years later, sure enough
it comes back to haunt you. - Right.
- So here we go, we got 10 things comin' up.
(swift whooshing)
Okay, number one, we wanna make sure
you have full range of motion,
and particularly with extension.
In other words, straightening your leg out.
- All the way. - Yep.
You could do this in a number of different positions
before you get out of bed is a good place
or in a seated chair. - Right.
- Bob's gonna demonstrate.
- With the ottoman?
- Yep, ottoman, chair in front of you.
- So, if you're lying down,
you're simply gonna reach behind your leg here
and think about straightening that knee,
and hold it and straighten it.
This is nice. You get some strengthening with it.
You could take a cane or a belt and put it around your foot,
and hold it there, and then I could just,
kinda, relax and let it straighten,
and that works out fairly well too.
Actually, the seated is easier.
- No, a much easier way, right?
- Yeah.
- You're gonna let gravity do its thing.
So you just put it up there,
and let it go. - Yep.
- Let it stretch.
You could put a weight on there,
or an ice pack. - Right.
- And you can actually tell if your knee needs it
by comparing the two. - Right.
- So on this one, it has a slight bend, and so
I'm gonna work that one more than I would on this one,
which already straightens all the way.
- Exactly. Okay.
Number two, we're gonna get right into it, Bob,
is flexion or bending it,
'cause this is something you wanna combine typically.
- Right.
- So flexion is bending it.
When you're lying down, this works good,
probably better in bed, but you could do it in the chair.
- You can do it in the chair.
Right. - Yep.
So, if this leg goes all the way,
and I can almost touch my heel towards my butt,
but this one, ah, there's a gap there.
- You'll feel the difference. - Yep.
And you just reach over and stretch,
and see if you can get that heel to touch.
You can use a little over-pressure with the hands,
and pressure on, pressure off.
10 times is probably the maximum.
- Bob, you wanna show
how you do it in the chair? - If you're in a chair,
you wanna slide your butt forward
just a little bit, like this,
and bring the leg up, and same thing,
pressure on, pressure off. - Yep.
- Pressure on, pressure off.
And again, if you compare both knees,
you'll feel one tighter than the other, usually.
- Mm-hm, yep.
All right, going on to number three.
(swift whooshing)
Okay, this one is one, I think, is looked over
by a lot of laypeople. - Right.
- Is, you wanna check your kneecap,
and see that it's mobility is good.
- In all directions. - Yep.
So, it works best if you actually expose your leg,
so you probably don't wanna do this one out in public.
I hate to do it.
Bob and I discussed, I have a better lookin' leg, I guess.
That's why I have to do it. - He does, he does.
- So, look at this kneecap.
We'll need a close-up of this. - Close-up, right.
- This is easy to do,
and you can do this with a healthy kneecap,
and it's not, you know,
it's one of those things you can do either way.
- Make sure this muscle's relaxed.
- Exactly, so relax the leg so it's down on the floor.
This is a little high.
I'd normally do it in that chair, but this is okay.
And look at that kneecap go back and forth.
- [Bob] Back and forth with it.
- That's a healthy movement.
And you'll wanna compare one knee to the other.
If you've got a sore knee,
the sore knee may not have
the same movement as the other knee.
But, you know, like mine are both good.
They're about the same, so I'm happy.
And then you go up and down.
This is probably the direction,
it may be limited, but not always.
- [Bob] Quite often, it's limited going that way, Brad.
- [Brad] Oh yeah, that's right, yep, yep.
- [Bob] They're tight on the outside.
- [Brad] Yep, but that's why they have
that lateral release procedure.
- Right, exactly. - Yeah, yeah.
I forgot about that, good.
And then you can also work some angles.
And you could just, kind of, mobilize your kneecap for,
you know, 20, 30 seconds, and that's good.
- 'Cause you can get arthritis under the kneecaps.
- Absolutely, we wanna get that in motion.
Okay, we're going to the next one.
(swift whooshing)
- So this one works really well in the chair, Brad.
- Sure. - So, very simple.
You're gonna straighten your knee,
tighten the quadricep,
hold for 10 seconds,
and then relax. - Right.
And actually, I think, if it's just motion you want,
you don't even have to hold that long.
- Right. - So that's just an option.
- That's what I'm havin' my mom do.
- Yep. - Go back and forth like this.
- This is a good one, if you get up and your knees hurt.
- Right. - when you first walk.
- Perfect one. - Yep.
- That's what she does.
- Do 10 of 'em before you get up and walk around.
Get that synovial fluid motion goin'.
If you happen to be lying down or on the couch,
you can do it like this, and that's okay too.
A lot of people are stiff.
- So, synovial fluid is the natural oil on your knee.
- Yep. - In your knees.
- And this gets it movin' before you get at movin'.
- Makes it manufactured. - Yeah, exactly.
All right, on to the next one.
(swift whooshing)
The next one is hamstring flexibility.
If your hamstrings are loose,
or if they're tight, I should say,
that might be part of the problem, so we wanna do it.
It's an easy stretch.
- It's kinda similar to an exercise, that one.
- Exactly right.
Wanna show it in the seated position?
- Sure. You just, again, use gravity.
And you could lean forward. - Yep.
- Keeping your back straight.
I want you to move forward like this.
Not much, it doesn't take much.
- And you'll feel those muscles.
- Oh, I feel 'em there. (Brad laughs)
- And you're gonna hold it for 15 to 30 seconds
or stretch forward and back, like Bob was doin',
10 repetition. - Oh!
- You feel that hams?
- Yeah, hallelujah. - Yeah. (laughs)
You know, if you wanna do it lying down,
you know on the couch or in the bed,
if you take a belt, like this, and you loop it.
Put that around your foot,
and then I'm gonna hold onto that.
Straighten the knee out and then pull up.
Oh yeah.
Feel those muscles from the knee all the way down into here.
- Hola. - Hola.
This one's hard to hold for 15 to 30 seconds,
'cause your arms get tired. - Right.
- You know, I personally, if I'm doing this one,
I'll hold and relax, hold and relax.
Okay, going to the next one.
(swift whooshing)
- Okay, Brad, the first way is
we're gonna stretch the calf, right?
- Yep, heel chord stretch, calf stretch.
- So you can do it actively.
You can just pull your toes
toward your knees. - Mm-hm.
Yep, so go up and down a little bit,
so you get that, yep.
And this you do wanna hold up,
getting a stretch back here. - Right.
Now, you can use a cane. - Oh, there you go.
- You can actually hook it on the forefoot, and bring it.
That works quite well, Brad. - Yeah.
You need to do it with your shoes on.
If you do it barefoot or stockinged,
it doesn't hook with the cane.
- [Bob] And you can also take a belt.
- [Brad] Yep, absolutely, get a little leverage.
- [Bob] Same thing, on the forefoot,
and give it a goof yank. (Brad chuckles)
- And standing, if you feel comfortable with this,
this woks very easy, it's been around forever,
is the wall stretch, where you lean up against the wall.
This is the heel chord getting stretched, not this one.
And I lean forward.
Keep the heel glued to the floor,
and hold that, you know, 15,
30 seconds if you wanna be long,
or stretch on, stretch off.
- [Bob] So this muscle does cross the knee,
the calf muscle. - Yes,
especially when the knee is straight.
You know, if you happen to have and incline board,
these work really well,
but you don't need one, that's for sure.
Yeah, so that's the calf muscle,
and the ankle stretch, that direction.
We're gonna go to the next one.
(swift whooshing)
Okay, this next one,
you do need to have to purchase a product,
and it is the Fit Glide.
It's a very nice product,
particularly if you're having problems walking,
because your knee pain is so bad,
and you wanna keep 'em moving, either seated.
- Or in bed. - Or in bed.
- And it only weighs 5 pounds.
- You're right, it's very light, very durable.
You could put it on your couch as well.
- I think this is cool, Brad. - Yep.
And watch my knees. I'm just gonna-
It easily glides. - Yep.
- You cannot do this in your bed really any other way,
because you can't slide your heels to the front.
- [Bob] It's like he's runnin' in bed.
- Yep, you also get hip motion as well,
and a little bit of ankle,
but mostly knees and the hip.
It also works very well.
- Gonna hand it over to me? - Yep, in the chair.
(swift whooshing)
All right, so, in the chair it works really well as well.
See, Bob's movin' back and forth,
gettin' those knees movin'.
And you do this for a couple minutes,
you're gonna feel some exercise as well.
- Right, but the nice feature is, Brad,
the handle actually works as a stand,
and now I'm gettin' the quadricep muscle.
- [Brad] Right.
And it just makes it easier,
particularly if your ankles are a little stiff too,
it makes it easier to work the knees on this.
- And then we can also work the hamstring.
- And this really works the hamstring quite well,
more than you anticipate. - Yeah, it does.
- [Brad] When we first started doin' this, we thought,
"Well it's not big deal."
- A little bit surprised, right.
- Yeah, (chuckles) you do it for a couple minutes,
and you feel those muscles start to burn a little.
All right, we're gonna go on to the next number.
(swift whooshing)
All right, we're on number nine already, Bob.
We're gonna talk about,
if your knee joint responds well to heat,
this is a good option.
You can use a standard hot pad. That works well.
Far-infrared hot pads, like this one,
go much deeper. - Right.
The other way is only skin deep.
- Right. - This is 2.36 inches?
- 2.36, and when you wrap it around the knee,
it goes 2.3 inches one each side of the knee,
so you're getting a complete.
- All the way through the joint.
- Yep, yep, the thermal benefits are really gonna come in.
And Bob has actually got this wrapped on,
so you can see it there,
The only thing about these is they're expensive.
- [Bob] Right, very expensive.
- So you're not gonna buy one,
unless you know your knee responds very well to heat,
and you're gonna use it long term.
- Or you're gonna use it on your back and your shoulder.
- Right, yeah, 'cause this pad does work well,
knee, ankle, hip, back, shoulders.
- Well on back, right. - Pretty much all over, yeah.
So that is an option for ya that can be beneficial.
- And we're gonna come up with number 10.
We'll just go right into it, Bob.
- Sure.
- You wanna keep those knees moving
in a non-weight-bearing activity,
like a stationary bike. - Right.
- You get on there an pedal away.
We don't have one to demonstrate,
but everyone knows.
- Well, a Fit Glide could also work for that.
- Exactly right.
Even a good one, which is not very accessible,
is pool therapy.
- Right, yep. - Getting in the water.
So if that's an option, take advantage of it.
Most people do not have that availability,
but it is a really good way to work it.
All right, so, you're gettin' older.
Your knees are startin' to hurt.
I'm sure there's at least four or five options
you can do with knees throughout the day.
Your knees will get better if you keep 'em movin'.
Remember, motion is lotion, Bob.
- Right, got it.
- But, there's something more important.
We can solve just about anything...
- We can fix anything.
- Oh that's right, except for-
- A broken heart.
- A broken, what are you doin' there?
- I'm doin' this.
That's broken. - What the hell is this?
- It's broken.
- What is. - The heart.
- Where's the? Oh, there it is. (laughs)
I get it. Yeah, I'm a little slow.
Be careful. - (scoffs) Oh my gosh.
(quick ending music)