- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp physical therapist.
- I'm Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- And together,
we are the most famous physical therapists on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course.
- Brad, we got somebody corresponding with us,
and we're always thrilled about that, Brad.
We like your comments below.
And, what he wanted to know, was how to help muscle cramps.
Now, I'm assuming he was talking about cramps in the calf.
- Cause you can get-
- It's pretty common.
- Cramps and spasms nearly in any part of the body.
- Right.
- But let's talk about this.
One of the things you wanna do is make sure
you're not dealing with any deficiencies, right?
- Sure, you bet.
- Possible deficiencies,
probably the most common one and the easiest one to treat
is just dehydration.
- Right.
- Make sure you're drinking lots of fluids,
especially before bed.
- Water, soda doesn't count.
- That way you can be up all night going to the bathroom.
- Right.
- Another deficiency would be a potassium or magnesium.
- Right.
- Right, Brad?
- Electrolytes, kind of...
- Electrolytes.
So maybe do that through a vitamin,
or a lot of people talk about the bananas, of course,
to get the potassium.
- Sometimes just eating the right food is good.
- That's right.
Calcium deficiency, especially in women,
I guess, is a common one.
- Yeah, moreso, I believe.
We're not dieticians, so we're a little weak on that, but...
- Right, we're kind of a little out of our wheelhouse
here right now.
But, the other thing is that you can get it from...
I'm looking at my list here...
Overexertion, insufficient stretching...
Which is one thing we're gonna cover here,
show you stretches to do.
- Right.
- Stretches, especially before exercise,
and maybe stretches before you go to bed.
Watch out about exercise in the heat.
I remember seeing a lot of football players
get these cramps-
- Sure, you bet.
- During games.
And just plain old muscle fatigue.
So let's jump into this stretch, Brad.
- Okay, go ahead.
- The first one I'm gonna show you
is actually a stretch of the bottom of the foot,
'cause some people get cramps at the bottom of the foot.
- Yeah, those toe cramps.
- So this is a great stretch,
you just get a towel, a long towel,
you put your foot down,
and you're gonna actually just pull up,
and that's gonna bring the toes up-
- Here.
- To extension like that.
Oh, I got a ugly looking toe there, Brad.
- Oh my god, cover it up.
Cover it up, Bob.
- So, anyway...
- So right here's his toes,
you can see it's pulling them up.
- I'm gonna pull a little bit to the side, Brad,
because that gets all the toes, then.
- Yeah, look at that-
- That really pulls up.
- That gets everything in here.
That's a good stretch.
- This is actually a good stretch
for plantar fasciitis too, Brad.
- Sure, yeah.
- It actually is a great one for plantar fasciitis.
So I get two...
- Two for the price of one.
- Yeah, I'd say a good 30 seconds, times three, Brad.
- Sure.
- 30 seconds times three.
All right, you can also,
which, you don't like this one, Brad, really,
but you can also stretch the calf this way
by place the towel around the end of the foot,
by the forefoot.
- Yep.
- And just pull forward like this.
- Sure.
- You do it with the leg straight.
- Yep.
- And with the leg bent.
And again, 30 seconds times three, I would say.
- You bet, yep.
- Now, Brad's gonna show us some stretches
that you can do for that calf,
lot of times people,
when it happens, they're on their leg,
what do they doin'?
They're jumpin' out
and tryin' to get a little pressure on the calf, right?
- Right, you put some weight on it,
and if you can just get the foot flat,
or lean up against your bed,
and can do a heel stretch like this.
Oh, that feels good right now, even.
So, if you look back here...
You got that, Nancy?
- Right here.
- The heel-
- Heel is down.
- You wanna drop it down like here,
and don't let the foot go out the side.
- Don't let it drift out.
- You go straight ahead.
And I'll show you another little trick here,
I like this.
I always like things that save you money,
and work really well.
And you take a dumbbell,
if you got one layin' around
that you bought and you thought you were gonna use
and you never use 'em anymore for lifting,
not that that every happens.
But you can take your foot right on one of these,
and this works better with a shoe on,
and then you can use that
for a nice kind of a pseudo incline board.
And that gives it a nice stretch.
- That's a good stretch, isn't it?
- Yeah, it's fun, yeah.
Yeah, and you can balance on it.
But, no, I'm just kidding,
don't play like that.
- All right, Brad, as always, remember,
we're not just pretty.
- Yeah, we're pretty,
pretty ugly or pretty good?
- Pretty old.
- Pretty old, that's right.
- Pretty old.
- So if you're 40 and above,
this is a great station to look at.
We're gonna give you hints like this
to keep your body healthy, vibrant, and keep on movin'.
- Fit aid free.
- You better believe it.
- And if your parents don't know about it,
let them know about it too,
'cause we're gonna help you well off into your elder years.
- You better believe it.
- You're gonna become awesome elderly.
- Say no more, Bob.
- Old is gold.
- See that, I caught it.
- Yeah, without looking at it, anything?
- I don't know, it just happened.
(upbeat music)