♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Hi Folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- Today another short video.
We're just gonna talk about
how to load the dishwasher
versus doing dishes with back pain or sciatica.
- Right.
- So we'll talk about the dishwasher first
and then we'll show what you do on the sink.
- Right.
- If you were gonna go ahead and use the sink.
So, this is another one of these situations
where we'd actually have you --
prefer to have someone else do this for you.
- Right. Avoid it because you're gonna be bending forward
if you forget about doing your good body mechanics.
Or, if you're in a flare up, it's gonna be tough.
- Yeah, and any time you flare up the back,
it takes a little bit longer for the nerves to calm down.
- Right.
- So we're trying to avoid those pain makers.
But, let's say you're stuck and you gotta do it
So, we're gonna have you borrow --
we're gonna borrow your imaginations here.
- We don't have a dishwasher in our studio.
- So, we're gonna go ahead,
and this is gonna be our dishwasher.
Now, the problem with this is there's almost no way
you can open up the door and keep your back straight
without turning and bending.
- Right.
- So, what we're gonna need to do is have you get down
on your knees.
Do you mind if I do this, Brad?
- Oh yeah.
Now, we realize probably most dishwashers flop open
this way, but you'll just bear with us.
The concept's the same.
- A pillow on the floor often helps.
- Right.
- It's best if you get down on both knees, actually.
- Sure.
- And, use the countertop to help lower yourself down,
so we're gonna get down like this, open our
little dishwasher up here.
Now, what I would do is I would put the dirty dishes
up on the counter first.
- Right. Get it organized.
- Yeah, get it all organized. All ready to go.
You're gonna pull out the
We're gonna really push your imaginations to the limit here.
So, I'm pulling out the rack
- Now, one thing I do want to mention is
for the upper rack, when you pull that out,
you may be able to do that standing, so --
- Good point.
- Put all the heavier dishes on the upper rack that fit,
and then the lighter ones that go on the bottom.
And actually, what you could do is do two loads and just
use the upper rack, and, you know, that's an option.
- That's an option, too.
Not efficient, and maybe cost you a little more, but --
- Right
- But you, you know, you gotta do what you have to do
when you have back pain.
- Right.
- So, you're in this position.
Now, you're in a good position to help load the dishwasher.
Now, can you put, like, can't put plastic cups and stuff
in the lower rack, can you?
- I do.
- Oh, well I --
- I don't --
- Eileen keeps yelling at me that I can't
- Well, I don't know.
I haven't read the directions thoroughly
but they come out fine.
They're not melted or nothing.
- Well, we'll have somebody make comments on that
if that's wrong, but you can see now I can keep my back
supported.
I'm holding onto the counter.
I'm staying in a straight position the entire time.
And then, we can push it in.
Now, reverse is you're gonna wanna do the same thing.
When it's all clean, you're gonna wanna get down
in the same position, pull it out, and then put stuff
on the counter.
- Yep.
- You don't wanna do one thing at a time.
You know, stand up to get down.
Get everything all lined up here and get ready to go.
But this is the safe way.
This is actually similar to actually loading --
doing laundry.
- Sure. Right.
You know, if you have knee problems, and you're unable
to get down to your knees like this, I would strongly
suggest there's always the old fashioned way.
Do them in the sink.
- And that's what we're going to talk about next.
- Oh, good! Good. Excellent.
- So, when you doing it in the sink,
one thing that we used to recommend, we did a back program
when I worked at Mayo, Brad.
- Sure.
- We'd recommend getting two tubs, so you take one tub
and you -- to raise it up a little bit.
Especially if you're tall like me.
- Right.
- Now, your height, maybe you're fine with the sink.
You're not leaning over as much.
- Well, it still helps.
Even a few inches makes a big difference.
- So, what you do is you take one of the tubs and put it
upside down and then put the other tub on top of it.
- So, we're talking about those plastic tubs.
- The plastic tubs
- They don't cost that much.
You can get them at, you know, most box stores or online.
- For hardly anything now.
- Right.
- So, you fill the top tub up with water and that'll be
raised then.
- Right.
As long as it's steady.
Cause you don't wanna have it slipping off.
- It's steady, and a lot of times you have two sinks
so you can pour it off into the other sink.
- Right.
- Otherwise, it's a whole thing.
- Yeah, so you gotta use your ingenuity a little bit
with that.
- The other thing that helps sometimes with some people
with some back problems, it helps for them to open the
lower cabinet.
Do you wanna show them, Brad?
- Oh! Right.
So, if I was doing my dishes here,
wash wash and put it up here
open this up
so you can put one foot up and then every few minutes,
you can change position.
And a lot of times, that can relieve stress on your back
and you'll feel it right away immediately as you shift.
- And it allows you to get a little bit closer to the dishes
- Exactly. That's a good point.
- Again, with all of this, you want to make sure the back's
in the locked-in position, which means you have
kind of an arch in your back.
- Yep.
- You might have to tighten up your abdomen at times.
You may have to adjust the arch in your back
if you're having troubles.
But, do it safely, so you don't have any pain when you're
doing the dishes.
- Yep.
- So, thanks for watching.