♪ Bob and Brad, ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists on the internet ♪
(hands clapping)
- 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.
- Humble opinion. Today, we're gonna talk about
daily hamstring flexibility routine for beginners,
no equipment needed.
We're trying to do a, kind of a series of videos
where you don't need equipment, don't have to buy anything.
And then we're gonna do some
where you do have to buy something.
- Right, especially with hamstrings.
You can get an excellent hamstring flexibility
and stretch without equipment,
just a few simple things at home,
so that's what we're gonna show you.
But before that...
- As you can see Brad, I voted today,
and that's what we're gonna ask the people today,
to you know, subscribe to us.
- Oh, sure, you bet.
- If you are new to us,
please take a second to subscribe to us.
We provide videos, how to stay healthy, fit, pain free
and we upload every day.
Also, you're gonna wanna go to the Facebook
and like us because Bob and Brad,
we are giving away something again this week.
I think we're giving away the Thermotex.
- Thermotex...
- Infrared Heating System.
- Okay.
- That's really cool. We got the box right here. See that?
- As a matter of fact, if you did use,
you heat up your hamstrings before you stretch them.
- Oh, then you're, you're in heaven!
- Right, but that's not in the title,
so we can't mention that.
- All right Brad, let's go to work.
- Okay. So hamstrings, oftentimes people are stretching them
because they're probably the most injured
or strained muscle in the body.
You always talk about hamstring pulls.
And also, a lot of people have really good results
when they stretch their hamstrings.
It can relieve stress off your low back.
- Right. If they're really tight, you're gonna, it's,
it's gonna be hard for you
to keep your back in the right position,
like when you're lifting like this, and you're gonna end up
curling or rounding out your back
and then that ends up being a problem.
- Right. We're not gonna get into the mechanics too much,
we've had other videos on that, but you know,
it's just one of those things.
A lot of people do hamstring stretches
and have better back, less back pain associated.
- No, it's correlated. I saw research on that.
- There you go. Say no more.
- Okay. So I'm gonna start.
These I think are the best hamstring stretches
because they eliminate putting undo, unnecessary stress
on your low back. And you get to,
you can relax more and anytime you stretch,
if you can relax and breathe comfortably,
your stretches are gonna be much more effective.
So I'm gonna start out with simply laying on your back.
You could do this on your bed.
On a carpeted floor would be preferable, but not necessary.
Your bed is okay.
Take your hands like this under the knee
and simply kick up straight,
and you're gonna feel a nice hamstring stretch.
Let your head relax. Remember to take a deep breath in.
In your nose and out your mouth and hold it.
Now you can hold it for 30 seconds.
That's a nice recommended length of time
for three repetitions of that.
Or, if you don't have that kind of patience,
or you'd like to do it differently, can stretch and relax.
As we say sometimes, pressure on and pressure off,
and do that 10 repetitions.
And that'll go through all of these stretches
that we're gonna offer.
- [Bob] Don't bounce, but, you want,
want to go ahead and give it a little stretch.
- Now I have some people have a hard time
grabbing their leg like this.
So you may want to take a belt. There you go.
Just any old belt will do, and then you can go like this,
and you can do the same thing like that,
and pressure on, pressure off, pressure on.
Now I have had some people that only get about to here.
You want to have your femur pretty much vertical
to the, to the ceiling.
If you got tight hamstrings, you may only get about to here.
And the goal is, is to get it as straight as possible.
And that will happen after a couple weeks of stretching.
- Do you ever take the belt
and put it around your heel, Brad, and pull it?
- Yeah, that's a good point.
You can take the belt and loop it.
- You might need a pretty long belt for this one, but...
- Yeah, it depends how long your leg is.
You know, Bob is six foot six, so he'd need-
- I need a long belt.
- 10 foot belt. Uh oh, my leg is showing.
Ooh, cover that up. All right.
And now with this, you could go up like this,
and you could do it just keeping your knee straight
and raise it up like that.
- And yeah, with a tight hamstring
you might only get this far.
- Right. Precisely.
- To start off with.
- Yep. And there you go. Now, the other thing for, you know,
anybody that may have a cane
because that's what you use to walk with.
This is a good time to make, make double use of it.
- There you go.
- Yep. Simply take the cane,
especially if it's got this type of handle
- Flat handle like the gun stock almost, is it?
- Yeah. Yeah. Pistol grip, pistol grip.
- Yeah, there we go.
- Yeah. Or a hook cane will work
if it fits around your, your foot.
Now you can do this barefooted or with shoes on.
I like to do it with the shoe on.
It just grips a little bit better.
And again, same thing for 30 seconds
or 10 times. Pressure on, pressure off.
Again it may go down to here.
And as you get better, you'll increase to there.
- Don't steal grandma's cane.
- No, do not. Give the cane back.
- We don't wanna be responsible.
- Exactly. So, and make sure you do both legs.
Otherwise you'll start walking in circles.
- Opposed to talking in circles.
- Yeah. Okay. So those are three really good supine
or laying on your back hamstrings.
This is one that Bob likes to do on a daily basis.
- Yep. I go into, this is my, if you could picture,
my stairs go down and here's a little railing.
And I put my leg up like this and I,
I actually will start here.
Yeah, you're gonna have to sit on that, Brad.
And I'll, I'll start back a little bit,
but then I'll move closer and closer as it gets straight.
And I can just relax. And it just does the work for me.
I don't have to hold it up. You know, and you can,
of course, do this in a doorway, too.
- Yeah. So if this was a door,
you'd be walking in and out this direction.
So your foot would go through the doorway,
and this would be up on the wall.
You know, take your shoes off
so you don't get scuff marks on the wall,
but this way you can do the 30 seconds very easily
'cause you're just relaxed.
- You're just relaxed. And I'm thinking about the day.
And then if you have the doorway,
you could go ahead and switch then
and put this side in on the other leg.
Which I need to do right now when I'm, when I'm doing mine.
'Cause it's the stairway,
I have to put the other one over like this
which is a little awkward.
But it works really well.
And plus I get a little hip extension, even,
hip flexor stretch because my leg's going down the step.
- There you go. It's a bonus.
- It is.
- Excellent. Now the next thing, if you wanna do it,
and like say you're at work or, you know,
in the kitchen or whatever, sitting in a firm chair.
- Oh you're doing chair first?
- Yep. Can you roll me that stool over, Bob?
Now the thing about anytime you go to a seated
or a standing hamstring stretch,
you really have to monitor low back position or posture
so you don't strain your discs or low back.
So you wanna get a, a firm chair's best.
You can go at the edge of the chair or scoot way back
so you have good posture.
And then we're gonna put your leg up to here.
Now Bob, you wanna show how I have good posture.
I'm not gonna do this.
- Yeah. This is the bad thing he's rounded out here.
I'm gonna use this pole here.
- You know, some people will do this and they'll think,
"Okay, I'm gonna reach for my toes
and it's gonna stretch my hamstring," and it may.
- And when he does it wrong, you know,
like this he's actually only got one point
of contact again on the, on the low back.
Now if he does it right...
- And then the other thing is also, look at my knee is bent.
You don't wanna have a bent knee
'cause that eliminates the hamstring stretch.
So straighten your knee out. Get good posture.
And see now he has three points of contact.
Here, here and here. So you've got good-
- That tells me I've got good back posture.
I always tell my patients, "Think about bringing your chest
to your knee, not your nose to your toes."
So I'm gonna go like this, and already I'm stretching.
You don't have to go very far.
- [Bob] No, it doesn't take very much.
- Now, if you want something to hold onto,
could you do the cane or the belt? Doesn't matter what.
Or you could grab your leg. I kinda like doing this.
And it gives you something to balance the self,
kind of hold and you're gonna hold.
I'm getting a really nice stretch here right now.
You know, much better than this.
This I'm going farther, but I'm stressing my back.
And my hamstrings aren't very, stretching very well.
Straighten the knees, straighten the back,
and chest forward.
And I like, on this one, I go pressure on, pressure off.
It's just more comfortable.
You can do whatever you would like to,
but that's a good way.
And the necessary way for posture body mechanics
for hamstring stretch.
Wow. I'm getting all stretched out, Bob.
- All right. Well good.
I think you've only been stretching
the one side out though, haven't you?
- Yeah, you're right. I gotta get my left leg.
I do like to do this one standing before,
if I go for a run or something of that nature.
If you got a stairway, you know,
not just a stool, but a actually stairway with a handrail,
is a really nice place to, to do it.
If this is a handrail and this is a stairway
going into my house, this is what I do.
I'll put one leg there.
Here, let's do it this way so I can stretch my hamstring
on the left side.
It's important that the knee is straight.
If you let the knee bend,
it it's not gonna be as isolated, not near as effective.
Straighten the knee. Again, same thing with back posture
as in seated. You're gonna arch the back,
keep it strong, and just lean forward like this.
This would be the handrail, and we just lean forward.
And on this one, I'll go either way.
I'll hold for 30 seconds.
- You've still got good posture there.
- Yeah. Good job Bob. Thanks for helping out there.
You know, if you got two handrails, it works really well.
You can relax a little bit more.
I oftentimes do it just if there is a,
a ledge, I've got a, a little, some,
I don't know what it's, a ledge right there.
Holds up the dirt so it doesn't fall into the driveway.
It's like a tie wall, and I'll do the same thing here
and I'd keep a block there.
And you know, if you don't have very tight hamstrings,
you're gonna probably need to start low.
As you get more flexible,
it's actually easier to get it up high.
Keep that knee straight and hold it.
Oh, this feels really good, Bob.
- Yeah. Eventually you'll find that, that object
that'll fit you right.
- Yeah. Go around the house.
Somewhere you'll find the right stairwell.
- You laugh, but I always do.
I'm like, oh that one's a little too high.
That one's a little too low.
- Yep. Or you could have, you know,
have someone build, you know, get some two by fours out
and get the perfect height.
You know, it'd be kind of fun. A little project on the side.
- All right. Thanks.
Remember we can fix just about anything.
- Except for a broken heart.
- There you go. I got it right here.
Thanks for watching.