- Bob and Brad, the two most famous
physical therapists, on the internet.
- Hi folks.
I'm Bob Schrupp, Physical Therapist.
- Brad Heineck, Physical Therapist.
- Here we are the most famous physical therapist
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course.
- Just hanging around Brad
just hanging around, tell you we're talk about
two simple walking exercises, to prevent falls for seniors.
Also, it's good for people who've had a stroke
or if they have been diagnosed with
Parkinson's or Parkinson's disease.
- Right
- This is all gonna help them.
- Right, and they, this is really focused on people
who often times may have their feet.
They, we call a scissors gate.
If I can show you here.
Where one foot will bump into the other.
Which obviously puts you in a high risk
for falls, you, you can trip and, and go forward.
So we wanna eliminate that scissors gate.
Other, other than that is a
a toe drop, you know, where you have
- A tow drag or toe foot drop
- Right? Where the foot drags.
And obviously wouldn't that toe drags, especially
if there's a, you know, on a sidewalk
where there's a curb it catches
that little curb or over a threshold, down you go.
So, we wanna make sure that we eliminate that.
Sometimes it's due to a lack of like from a stroke
the muscle's not working well.
Sometimes it be from an injury or just a bad gate habit
from whatever it may be, maybe recovering from an injury
and that they just don't even realize they're doing it.
- Right, it may be something they have to
pay attention to more.
- Sure
- They, I mean
they're just gonna have to realize that it's weak.
And by the way, if you are new to our channel
- Oh, Bob
- Please take a second to subscribe to us.
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And we've tried to prevent foot drag and hip abduction.
Also, if you get a chance, we've got a big day going here.
- It's coming up.
- Big couple weeks here.
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We're really not giving it away.
They're giving it away.
- Sleep Ovation is, and it's a top quality premier mattress
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It's, it's, it's the Primo mattress.
All right, Brad, what do you wanna start off with?
- Okay. Let's address scissors gate.
And really this is what I like to use,
is, is a two by four.
Eight foot or longer one, works better.
If you wanna get a ten or a twelve foot one
depending on if you have room.
But first of all,
we're gonna just take a two by four and set it down.
- Now you put some tape on there, Brad
to kind of give them some guidance.
- Right.
- Now you could put tape on this side too quickly
- Right? Yep.
And you know, depending on the person's vision, you know
if they've had a stroke or a traumatic brain injury
vision can be involved.
So you wanna make sure they can see it.
Sometimes colors, some colors are more visible
than others for the individual.
I don't have it on the edge, but that would be a good idea.
- Right.
- I'm gonna put it on edge
because that's an inch and a half wide.
And if you're doing a scissors gate and it may be a struggle
and the person may be using a walker.
So then, they can look down and see it, you know.
And if they bump into it, they can feel it.
You know, assuming they've got that sense.
- It's giving them that feedback.
And of course, if the person's not safe, you're gonna
want to go ahead and grab onto their belt or put a belt
around them and hold
onto it so that, you know, safety comes first.
- Right, yeah
- Oh, yeah, safety first.
- Yeah, I would not recommend anybody that has this.
You're not gonna practice this by yourself.
- Right.
- Whatsoever, you gotta have a partner with you.
Like Bob says, be safe and have them right there
to help you out.
When it gets to the point, where this becomes easy
then simply put the two by four on its side.
Now we got a three and a half inch gap.
Sometimes that's a big deal, sometimes it's not,
but it's always worth trying and just
make sure that those feet don't touch and we keep
that distance away and you can practice that.
And you can also go backwards 'cause a lot of times
going backwards that you'll get that scissors gate too.
So you can practice forwards and backwards and particularly
backwards that partner's gonna be there with the hand right
behind the back in case there's a
stumble and they're the fall direct going that direction
- So it's nice to get visual feedback
and they get tactile feedback.
- Right.
- They can feel it.
They can feel when they're in, still in right place.
- Right.
- As opposed to going way over and
crossing over, so
- Depending on the individual, if they're going to
use a cane or they're ready for a cane,
you do the exact same thing.
You may wanna start with two canes.
I, you can use a walking stick as well.
We've got the Booyah Stick here, that works really well.
And you know, it's the same thing.
You're gonna start like this again.
Have your partner right next to you,
so that things are safe.
And typically again, we can go to the flat like this
but most people, don't wanna walk around
with two canes or stick and a cane.
So that's just how you're gonna start.
And then you'll go to your one cane
and watch that and make sure things are a good distance.
You know it like right there.
- Yeah, there you go.
- Step backwards, stepped right on there, clearly
- More difficult, yeah.
- Yep.
- And that's why you want to have somebody
with him and holding on, so that he doesn't fall.
- There you go.
- Sometimes what I like about the Booyah Stik Brad,
by the way, Booyah!
Is that I think sometimes
it helps you keep your posture better.
- Right
- Look at me, a tall guy like this.
I can really push up and really keep my posture
while I'm working on my walking.
As opposed to kind of leaning over on the cane.
Just I wanna throw that in there.
- It, I just had a guy that total knee replacement
he's using his cane and his posture.
I couldn't get him up to straighten up.
I gave him the stick and he went
up like this and he was much, he was a tall, he was tall.
Like you.
- Yeah.
- And he liked it.
- Yeah.
He, he, you know, he was not that old that it, he, he
I think he felt better walking with a stick, than the cane
- Than a cane, right. It's a little bit less stigma.
- You bet.
- So, okay.
Now let's go to the next
- Next issue, which is dragging your foot.
- That foot drag.
We're not gonna use the two by four for that.
Take that home.
We're gonna build a house with that.
Okay. Now with this, you can use a walker.
What I have here is I just got some white trim.
I went down to the, the local hardware store or whatever
and picked up some white sticks.
I cut 'em to this length and I put some pink tape on there
for vision again.
And then you can put 'em whatever distance you want apart.
- So very inexpensive.
- Oh right.
- And, and, but yet they really do a great job
because if you do screw up, you shouldn't fall, very easily.
I mean.
- Right.
- You know, it's not gonna cause you to trip very easily.
- You're still gonna want to have a partner,
a helper with you.
- Yes.
- Because when, when you have foot drag
and that toes is going down, as a matter of fact
I've got someone right now working with this as well.
And it's a long term and it's not real severe
but this would be a really good exercise.
And I would like to use these
with him as well, just to get that.
If you're unable to get the muscle
to do the dorsiflexion you wanna
at least make sure you get that foot up to avoid that drag.
- Yeah. What I like about it is, you know, I mean
because they may not even know they're cheating, you know
they may not even know they're doing it.
They go like, no, that was fine.
Wasn't it?
But if the stick moved.
- Yeah.
- They know they cheated.
- Right.
So they, if they go like this and
they go, no, I didn't cheat.
- Right.
- I think we can say, fall.
- Yeah.
- You did!
- The evidence is there.
- The evidence is there on the floor.
So the distances are apart will be different.
If you're a taller person, they're gonna be farther apart.
I've got these set up.
So this is kind of a normal stride length.
And you know, I've got four here.
You probably want to have six or eight of them.
- Sure.
- So that you can do a longer distance
without breaking it up.
- And, you can flip around and head back the other way.
- Yeah.
- And this too, as long as someone's with you
and holding your backside, you can go backwards because
in real life we do walk backwards, like backing up
into a chair, backing up into a car.
We're not this kind of distance
but it's still good for practice as long as
- And sidestepping.
- Yup, there you go.
Without a doubt because I mean, exactly.
Right. You know, in life you're doing things like your
you've got your closet here and you're grabbing something
from your closet and going this way
you're going into your bathroom or whatever.
- Right.
- I mean, at sometime in your life
you're gonna be going in different directions.
- Yep. So then we're gonna work that side step
make sure that foot, you know, doesn't drag and
and do that kind of thing.
You can do, do this on carpet.
It works out well too.
That's a little bit harder, harder than
on a hard floor, but you know
every lot of people live with carpet in their house.
So again, a cane, a stick or, you know
if the person's high level, you know, you could do it
without and make sure someone's there to help you out.
And obviously you might be thinking this well
these are high level things they do in 'ath, in athletics
the same thing, but it's a much higher level.
- Higher speed too.
- Higher speed for, but they're still working basically
a high level gate balance exercises.
- So he can do braiding.
- Oh yeah, the grapevine.
- Yeah, yes
- Now we're getting a little bit more difficult, right.
- Whoa. Oh.
And he's gonna do the dance, right.
Wow.
- So that shows you again, six foot six with small feet.
I don't have good balance.
Yeah. Well, you know, that's all part of it.
'Cause there are tall people you're not the only
tall person out there.
- I've notice that, I've noticed that.
- So well, Bob all is there anything else
you want to help people out with?
- I wanna do the drums.
- No Bob, why Bob?
- Bye
- Can't you wait till the camera turns off.
- Thanks for watching.