- All right.
This video about spinal stenosis
and the exercises that are confirmed
by the author-
- Terri Night.
- Terri Night, who wrote a book.
She's a therapist been working with...
- Absolute expert.
- Expert. She is.
Spent 40 years, I believe, working with patients.
Wrote a book on it.
She is absolutely-
- You could tell.
- She's devoted to the subject.
Anyways, we're gonna show you
what she has to say to help you out
with your spinal stenosis treatment.
It's a good thing.
I wish I knew this before,
because I have spinal stenosis.
- Right. You need a...
(both laughing)
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♪Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
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- I stand to be corrected, Bob.
I said 40 years-
- It's 25.
- It's 25 years
of hands on patient care.
- Still a lot.
- That is a lot.
She's still an expert in my book.
I really wished I would've had this book
five to 10 years ago when I was into it.
- Absolutely. To be our guide.
- Right. Although I feel pretty good
because a lot of the exercise
that I came up with-
- Have done well.
- And match with her ideas.
- Yeah. Great.
- So that is a good deal.
So first of all we wanna address is she talks
about in the book with patients that come in
they just got from the doctor.
- Right. They're upset.
- They're upset.
The doctor took scans, X-rays.
- They're worried
- MRI, CAT scans
and the doctor says you have spinal stenosis.
- Oh my God.
- Right. And the people get, you know
they're not familiar with the term.
- Right.
- It sounds scary.
They're wondering if they're gonna need surgery.
So she puts the fear of that
and settles it down.
- Will I ever walk again?
- Many people, particularly
when you get over 50 or 60 years old.
- Very common.
- It's very common to have spinal stenosis.
Oftentimes it's asymptomatic
and you do not know it.
- Right.
- But there is stenosis,
which we should clear up the term stenosis.
- Sure.
- Okay spinal obviously.
We're talking about the spine.
Stenosis.
What stenosis means is a narrowing
of a hole or an outlet,
if you will-
- Now.
- in this case.
- And it can,
You have stenosis of arteries.
You can have stenosis
of a bone area like this.
So it's a general term.
- Term. Right.
- Spinal stenosis can mean like
where this nerve exits right here.
There's a nerve exit at every level.
This is called the foramen.
The hole that the nerve comes out,
that hole becomes narrower,
and it can actually pinch the nerve
and that can be a problem.
And send pain down your leg.
There can also be stenosis of the canal,
which actually kind of squeezes
the spinal cord.
That's a little more serious.
- Right.
- Or it can be.
Typically this is my stenosis is of...
- Inflammation can make it worse.
- Yeah. Inflammation,
bone spurs the,
just the fact that as you age.
- Bony overgrowth.
- Yep. I was thinking about the discs actually-
- Sure does.
- as you age.
- Ligaments
- calls at a number of reasons.
- Right.
- I just wanna mention typical symptoms
of someone with spinal stenosis.
- Right.
- Particularly in the low back where
it is most common
is standing for longer periods
of time.
- Or walking.
- Walking irritates it.
You get pain in your back.
You may get it down your leg.
- Right.
- I personally had it in my leg
- May be down both legs.
- Yep. You may be down both legs.
My case, it went down
on my right leg
after walking three fourths of a mile,
it was extremely consistent.
Was very, I didn't know what I was gonna do.
- And painful right?
- Yeah. Yeah.
Numbness.
And I know the nerve
was being pinched.
I didn't get too excited
because I knew what was going on.
But then I found an exercise.
- Quite often the legs feel heavy.
- Yeah. That heaviness feelings.
Now what people do,
if you have stenosis.
You have one or many of those symptoms,
when you sit down,
it goes away.
- Immediately.
- Yep.
- Right.
- Things feel much better.
It might take a minute
before it all goes away
but clearly sitting makes
it feel better.
- Right.
- Okay.
Now Terri talks about four different areas
of treatment to approach.
- To focus
- Yep.
- Right.
- And she says the most important one is activity
- Aerobic activity.
- Right.
Now don't get excited.
That does not mean going to an aerobics class
- Aerobic class.
- As a matter of fact
you probably do not want
to go to an aerobics class.
- With Jane Fonda.
- Yeah. With Jane Fonda, right.
That's getting back there.
- Yeah.
- So anyways,
simply walking can be an aerobic activity
if you're walking a little bit faster
and you say, well,
walking irritates it.
- Right, bothers me-
- How can I walk?
So what you do is you walk
and assuming you can walk 100 yards,
200 yards before you get the pain.
Make sure you have an area where,
when it starts to hurt,
you simply sit down
take a break for a few minutes.
- Or you might use a walker.
- Yes. One of the four wheel walkers
that has a chair in it.
- A belted seat.
- Then you're not limited by a-
- Right
- you know a park bench
or whatever it may be.
So you do, if-
- If you can walk further with a walker.
- Right.
- Why not use it?
- Just make sure when you're walking,
if you'll use a walker,
you're not getting all hunched
over like this.
- Right.
A little bit is fine.
- Yep, but that can be a good option.
Other things you can do.
Get on a stationary bike
where you're peddling.
Keep the motion going.
- Yeah. Really works well.
- Make sure you don't overdo it
the first time you get on it
or the first few times.
Take your time gently work through it
and then add a minute or two
on each time.
You may go up to 20,
maybe 30 minutes.
- That's your middle name Brad.
- What?
- Overdue.
- Overdue, yeah.
I'm an expert.
- Brad Overdue Heineck.
(Brad laughs)
- Well, you know,
I'm a slow learner,
but I, I do learn.
Swimming can be a great exercise.
I realize the majority
of people either don't like
to the water or swim
or don't have a pool available.
- How did yours feel swimming?
- Always felt good swimming?
- Even over...
- Crawling?
- Yes.
- Yep.
- I think just the non weight bearing
and the movement-
- Sure
- was good for it.
So activity that does not irritate it
is what you'll want to find.
Whether it's biking,
walking, bike...
- Take your choice.
- Yep, take your choice.
Now the number one mistake made
as Bob just alluded to.
I'm really good at it,
is over-
- Over doing it right.
- Yeah, if you,
- You fired up it's hard to calm it down.
- Right, yep.
So you start biking.
It doesn't hurt while you're biking.
You went for 20 minutes.
You've never been
on your stationary bike before.
It may not be your back
that gets sore.
So it might be your other joints
or your muscles.
- Right.
- And you get up the next day and-
(Brad groaning)
- What have I done?
Let's get rid
of that stationary bike.
She doesn't know what
she was talking about.
So start out slow.
Five minutes.
Even if you're not tired.
- Right.
- Stop.
- Feels good.
Good.
- Yep. Wait till the next day
or two days later
and then maybe add a minute or two.
- Right.
- Not 20 minutes.
So take your time.
- Slow pace.
- Absolutely.
So again, there you go.
Activity,
controlled activity.
- Really important.
- Yep. I erased mine
from walking three fourths of a mile
with leg pain.
I can walk.
- He's back running now.
- Yeah, and I can walk
pretty much indefinitely.
As far as I feel.
- Right.
- You know, three miles.
- Triathlons.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There was a big problem
with that as well.
So there's light at the end
of the tunnel.
Take your time.
This took a period
of three years or so.
- Well you became a robot too.
- A robot?
- Yeah.
- What the heck you talking?
(both laughing)
- He had surgery.
No, I'm joking.
- Yeah
- He, he's joking again.
All right, Very good.
Take care of your spinal stenosis.
You will do well
if you approach it properly.
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