♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- (claps) Hi, folks.
I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- And we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet. - In our opinion,
of course, Bob.
- Today, we're gonna show you seven absolute best exercises
for stopping low back pain
and sciatica with everyday chores.
We're trying to keep coming up with exercises
that are gonna translate to what you functionally do
during the day and protect your back.
- Exactly, Bob.
So you can go out and do things around the house
and not have to worry about coming in all bent over
and having to lay down with that backache.
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- [Brad] Oh, excellent, Bob.
Shall we take a look at it? - Yeah, it's awesome.
- There we go.
- [Bob] It doesn't come with a orange one like that.
- [Brad] Well we just put it on
so you can actually see the motion.
- See the motion. - Yep, they're all black.
They work well.
- [Bob] These are awesome, well-made.
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(both laugh) What?
- I'm getting all stretched out
Wow, that was good, Bob.
Okay, Bob.
I've really become attuned to this,
particularly my back problem.
I got spondylolisthesis.
It was a real problem in my life a few years ago.
And as I've learned to strengthen my core,
it's to the point now I can do pretty much anything
I could do years ago before my spondy was a factor.
So I wanna share with everyone, 'cause there's a real myth,
I think, that people think core exercise,
and they think abdominal, get that six pack,
that's the core of the core, which it is not.
It's just part of the core. - A small part of it.
- Right, and we're gonna go through and show you all that.
But before you do your core exercise,
and we're talking about low back and sciatica,
we have to mention posture,
particularly in the seated position.
- Yeah.
I'm sorry, that's where you're headed.
I just thought you were heading somewhere else.
- Oh no, I was headed right there.
What I wanted to say, Bob,
was you can do all your core exercises you want,
but if you sit in a poor slouched position--
- Slouched like this day after day
or hour after hour, you're not gonna stay ahead of it.
- That's a recipe for sciatica.
- You're gonna just reverse all the gains you've made.
- Right.
So we wanna, first of all, if you're in a chair,
just sit in good posture up tall.
Show them really nice tall posture, Bob.
- This is a good upright chair.
I mean, good, solid back, so it's easy to sit up straight.
- You can't see it now, but, Bob,
there's an arch in Bob's back back in here,
but what we need sometimes is a little reminder,
a little help, and just using a lumbar support.
I've got a rolled towel.
You don't have to buy something.
You can find out with a rolled towel.
Can you put that in there, Bob?
There you go.
- And that's the thing.
It's good to start with a rolled towel,
because it's gonna vary from person to person.
If you're a slight person,
more slight build like me, you don't need much of a towel,
but if you're a larger person with a larger ample buttock,
you may need quite a bit of rolled out towel.
- And once you find the comfortable position there,
you may wanna go to a, they're not real expensive,
but a lumbar roll.
There's a lot of different sizes and styles.
I want you to actually pay attention to your posture,
get a lumbar support if needed,
which a lot of people, with me, it's made a big difference
when I found the right support.
Very key.
Let's get to the exercises, Bob.
We could not miss support that way.
I'm gonna go onto the floor actually.
You could do these in bed,
but it's actually better on the floor.
- [Brad] You're right.
- So this is the basis of the McKenzie exercises,
and which flection pretty much causes
your sciatica and pain.
So we're actually extending the back
in the opposite direction.
So what we start off with is
we put our hands underneath the shoulders,
and you're just gonna do micro press ups.
You might even just get up on your elbows first.
But then you're gonna go ahead and do baby press ups
or micro press ups.
You wanna make sure the pelvis is not coming off the floor.
You gotta make sure the pelvis is staying down on the floor.
If you're going up like this,
you can't go up that high then.
You're not even ready for that.
And, ideally, what we're looking for is that the pain
that was traveling down your leg is now trying
to work its way up. - That's right.
- It's becoming more central up here.
That's a good sign.
So if you can eventually get up to this point
where you keep the pelvis down and get your elbows straight,
some of you may never get to this point.
You may only get up to here,
but that's what you're gonna wanna do
on a fairly regular basis.
We usually have people do these six to eight times a day.
- Right, and that's if you're in the middle.
Now with this video,
I'm thinking maybe you've had back pain,
you had sciatica, but maybe not in the flare up,
but you wanna prevent it.
You still wanna do these exercises at least once a day.
And you do 10 of them
just to keep that extension range going
as well as you can do it in a standing position.
- Yeah, you can go ahead and put your hands
down on your pelvis here and lean back like this.
Now this one for some people when they're starting out
aren't able to do this one.
It makes it worse actually.
But it doesn't help the pain.
But later on, if you've been doing on the floor
for a while, you can do them standing.
- If you're doing these,
you don't have any back symptoms, again,
they're great for preventative exercise
to keep that back mobile and flexible.
So back this way.
Let's say you're weeding the garden,
or you're out weeding the flower bed,
- [Bob] That's a good point.
- Then every five, 10 minutes, you're gonna go up
and extend backwards to reverse that lumbar range of motion.
Very healthy. - Well if you picture
in your mind, quite often, when you see a pregnant woman,
what does she do when she's bending back like this?
She's trying to give herself some relief.
So that's what you're gonna wanna do
is like you said, yeah, if you do anything forward, heavy,
you wanna go ahead and bend back as a counter measure.
- Right, very good.
Let's go to the next one, Bob.
We're gonna talk about strengthening.
Now those particular exercises
aren't particularly strengthening the back,
but they're really helping the spine and helping the discs
so they stay healthy, which is absolutely critical
for that sciatica.
Now for strengthening,
actually, I'm gonna start here.
We are gonna start with the abdominals,
although only two exercises.
We got a number of other ones the help
do the other muscles behind you, the obliques,
the transverse, all critical.
And this one ,I like to do this one
where you bring your hands between your knees
and touch your toes.
And my back stays on the floor, so it's supported.
- [Bob] Yeah, keeps the back flat against the floor.
Now, Brad, if you want a little variation of this,
I've seen where they actually...
I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but
- That's all right.
- [Bob] Sometimes they'll actually have you take your hands
and put them in your low back like this.
- Oh, right, yep.
- [Bob] And support that and then just do that.
Yeah.
So and then you're not using the arms as much,
but you're supporting the back even more,
especially if you're you do this
and you find out you have pain.
None of these you should do if they cause increased pain.
- Right, and you can do 10, 20, even up to 30 reps,
depending on how fit you are.
The next one, I like this one.
This is one of my favorite one's.
Hands here, and this works the obliques.
So right elbow to the left knee,
left elbow to the right knee.
And again, my back is down enough.
- [Bob] Staying flat.
- It really works well to protect the back.
- [Bob] Again, do not do it
if this increases your leg pain at all,
I mean the sciatica pain.
- Man.
Now, in my case, everyone's a little different.
I have some stenosis as a component of my spondylolisthesis.
Can you hear me?
My mic just fell off.
I got it on there.
I won't do these.
And if I do, they're very baby ones.
People stenosis and spondy,
that is not an exercise you're gonna emphasize,
or you may not do it at all.
That's not the majority of the people, however.
People who are older may have an issue with that.
I'm talking 50, 60, and over.
- [Bob] Now almost everybody who has a spondy
or stenosis can do these core exercises.
That's the golden ones for that.
- Exactly. - The golden ticket.
- Especially the ones on your back.
Now this is the pointer dog.
This works these muscles
on the backside of your core,
posterior, or the back.
I'm gonna point like this like a pointer dog.
My arm comes up,
and these you do slow with good control.
And a critical point, Bob,
is tightening the abdominal muscles to stabilize.
And if you do these slow, I would say you do 10 of them,
you'll feel like you had enough.
- [Bob] If you're just starting off,
you might just do the arms first,
and then maybe just go to doing the legs separately,
and then work towards doing both,
'cause this is a little bit of a balance issue.
- It is, 'cause if you go like this
and haven't done it before, you'll find out.
- [Bob] You probably find out you're not ready for it.
- Right.
Okay, good job.
Next one.
Now, this is what I really think is critical
for work around the house
is working in the transverse muscles,
which go around this way and the oblique muscles,
which go around this way,
which translates to a lot of activities.
For example, starting a lawnmower.
Anything where you cross your body
and you're doing some twisting, which is a fair amount,
these exercises are gonna be golden.
Now, the thing is that these,
you do need to have--
- [Bob] Some Exercise bands.
- Exercise bands, yep.
We do have our own exercise bands that we promote,
because we want people to that if they buy something,
it's gonna be good.
These are good enough that we do have our name
on the straps and the handles.
They're just
a wonderful product - They're higher quality.
- Okay.
So what we're gonna do,
and we have the anchors, too, which work well,
you don't have to have the anchor.
You can connect it up to...
Bob, you used to use your bed post, right? (laughs)
- Yeah, I did. (laughs)
- He would attach these to the bed post.
- I don't have it over here right now.
You can do it also-- - Yeah, it's right there.
When you buy these,
they come with an attachment for your door.
You open the door and you put it in there.
And then you have the loop here
where you put your band into.
We devise these and invent them,
because they work so well, and it's handier.
Now, Bob, you like this one, don't you?
- Yep. - And I do too.
Out like this, the hands and elbows straight,
get in that stance here, tighten up those muscles,
and then we're gonna
- Yep, stir the pot. - stir the pot.
This is one of those things that looks easy.
- And it is not. - You do this for 20 reps
and you make sure you go both directions.
And if it's too easy, step farther away.
I'm not gonna go too far to get away
from the camera. - You're gonna lose you.
- And then actually you're gonna go both directions,
face both directions.
And then, because we are moving all the time
with activities around the house,
you really need to strengthen your core with movement
more than just that, but with your legs moving.
So we do the same thing here,
and you can tell by my voice, I'm kind of straining my core.
- It's interesting, because it does not look that hard.
- No, it doesn't.
But I'm telling you, not only does it get your core,
but it gets your hip muscles, especially that right side.
Now it's gonna be my left side.
Yeah, and these don't take very long.
I go through a set of these in a few minutes.
Woo, and I'm feeling it.
Absolutely.
Brad's in good shape.
And so if he's breathing hard, I would be exhausted.
- Bob.
Now these are set up for Bob.
I need to have, when I do this at home,
there we go.
Now this is where I put one hand right here
to feel my oblique muscles.
And when I feel that,
I'm gonna take and pull down and across.
I'm not twisting my back.
There's a little twist,
but mostly I'm rotating my whole trunk with my hips.
And I can feel right here those core muscles working.
And there's some times when you first start doing these,
you're like, "There's nothing going on there."
Think about pulling, coming down, and tighten the abdomen
and get those muscles to wake up, if you will,
and get engaged.
Okay.
Bob, you wanna come pull down one more time?
- Sure.
Both? - Yep.
Now, I'm gonna do the same thing,
but on this one, I'm stronger pulling up.
So I'm gonna double it up.
And I'm gonna work up and across.
Up and across keeping that core strong.
And I'm telling you, these are kind of tough.
- It's like you're doing an upper cut, too, there.
- Yeah, you'll do 10 of these,
and you'll probably say, "That's enough,"
maybe even five when you get started.
And then, last but not least,
this is one of our favorite exercises for posture
and the back core,
and that's Ws for?
- Win. (chuckles) - Win.
Oh, I was gonna say Wisconsin.
- I knew you were. - Wisconsin usually wins.
I'm just kidding.
I hope they do.
So it's back like this.
Now, the component that I like to add
and, Bob actually--
- I been doing that too.
- Bob's invented this about when we did the anchor
about, I don't know, five years ago.
- So he's squeezing the shoulder blades together,
strengthening them, and you're getting active movement
while you're strengthening your posture muscles
and your core.
- Yeah.
- That's part of the core.
- Could I stop now, Bob?
- Yeah, you can stop. (Brad laughs)
Again, Brad's in good shape.
So if he's breathing hard, you'd be surprised
at how difficult some of these could be for you.
- Right, and don't worry,
'cause you can use like the yellow band much easier.
- Start off slow.
- You can always start easier and build up.
All right, Bob.
- Let's say goodbye.
- Yeah.
(both laugh)
- I didn't know what I was gonna say there.
- I'm gonna take a break.
I need a rest.
Thank you so much.
And enjoy the chores.
(upbeat tone)