- [Singer] Bob and Brad
the two most famous
physical therapists
on the internet.
- [Bob] Hi folks. I'm Bob Shrupp, physical therapist.
- [Brad] Brad Heineck. Oh balancing, yeah.
Brad Heineck, physical therapist
- [Bob] Together we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet. In our opinion, of course.
- [Brad] Bob that's my line.
- [Bob] I'm sorry about that.
- [Brad] That's alright. We got it in.
- [Bob] Alright, seven best balance exercises
after injury, stroke, or brain injury.
We're gonna go both seated and standing.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] And obviously you're gonna probably
start with the seated.
- [Brad] Sure. Right, it could be anybody you know,
geriatric, someone elderly that is just very weak,
that cannot sit on the edge of the bed.
Anybody there on the edge of the bed has therapists.
We can relate to this very well.
So how do we get people stronger that way?
And this is a protocol one through seven, seven, Bob
you know, I feel about seven.
- [Bob] Yeah. He loves that number seven.
- [Brad] It's a complete number. You do something with seven
and you're gonna get right to the end.
- [Bob] So let's see if we can get seven new subscribers
right now Brad. If you are new to our channel,
please take a second to subscribe to us.
We provide videos on how to stay
healthy, fit, and pain free.
And when we upload every day, also go over to Facebook.
And which I understand, some people are having trouble
finding this on Facebook.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] It's it's Bob and Brad.
- [Brad] Yeah.
- [Bob] I think you put it all one word or try it separate,
you know, separate the words.
Either one, one of 'em will work
- [Brad] Or go on our YouTube and there's link over.
- [Bob] Yeah, link over and don't make us beg you.
I mean it's not a pretty sight
when we have to beg. Right Brad?
- [Brad] Yeah. Yeah. My wife was frowning on it.
- [Bob] Oh, she was okay. Let's get started, Brad.
- [Brad] Okay, here we go.
In the seated position. You know, if you can get a chair,
hopefully you know, if you're at the level where you don't
need armrest to hold your balance
and you can sit without the backrest,
and it may be challenging at that point,
if you want to challenge yourself a little bit more.
So we're gonna do that by using these cones
you know, at home, you don't have to have cones.
You can use just a can of soup or some plastic glasses.
If it's after a stroke or brain injury,
it's nice to use different colors because sometimes
the injury may affect the eyes and the vision
and that can help stimulate that part of the injury.
- [Bob] You probably have a red solo cup in your house.
Don't you Brad?
- [Brad] Well, Bob, we don't want to talk about
we got a lot of them.
- [Bob] Yeah. This is a family show.
- [Brad] Right. And then we're gonna put one cone in front,
one to the right, and one to the left.
And that's very important, particularly
if it's a brain injury, but as well as, even if it's not
so we can go right and left.
And we cross the midline because when you cross the midline
that challenges a mind neurologically.
- [Bob] Especially, yeah.
- [Brad] We don't want to get into the details,
- [Bob] Especially after a stroke or brain injury.
- [Brad] Yes, exactly. Okay. So we're gonna start here
and we'll simply reach a cone off and put it back.
Okay. Here and back.
And then this is a little hard part with the right hand
going over to here, you're twisting and everything.
And that might make a big difference for some people
and then do the same thing with the left hand.
- [Bob] And he's having to do it visually too.
You know, his eyes have to go, you know
to the different quadrants.
- [Brad] Yep. Precisely.
- [Bob] So it makes it a lot harder.
So now we're gonna go make it a little harder, Brad.
- [Brad] Yep. So, yep.
Simply move the, the, the targets if you will, farther away,
so you have to reach farther.
- [Bob] And, and again, remember with this,
always safety first, right. If you're concerned, you know
you might hold onto his belt or, you know you
just wanna make sure he is not gonna fall off the chair.
- [Brad] Yeah. You may have a person
on each side of it. But you know, if it's that shaky
then you have you're too far out.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] Bring the cones back in
so that it's challenging, but not dangerous.
Okay. Alright, now when this gets too easy and it's like, oh
well things are going pretty good.
The balance is looking good.
Then we go to stage two. Bob, why don't you throw me a
actually
- [Bob] You wanna start with this? Or just a cushion?
- [Brad] No, that right back there. I have a special cushion
cause that's something you might have at home.
If you're doing this at home. Thanks Bob.
Just get a, some foam rubber we call that.
Anything like out of a piece of furniture
you might have that or just go to the furniture
and rip one off.
- [Bob] Sure.
- [Brad] I'm just kidding.
But if you, if you got some foam, that'll work.
One thing I like to have is a bubble ball.
The half bubble ball. I'm getting to that one, Bob.
- [Bob] Oh sure. This one?
- [Brad] Yeah. CanDo makes them, so this is not a CanDo one.
This is a different one, but it's squishy
and it's kind of a pancake, it's air filled.
And you put on that all of a sudden it's like you're on a
on a top and this really challenges you.
So once you get stable with that,
then you can repeat the whole procedure.
We're not gonna go through that again just for time's sake
cause you can. But it's the same thing we're gonna reach,
and you can spread the cones farther.
But it's gonna be harder with this wobbly cushion on there.
- [Bob] So if you're a therapist you may want to get this
or you may, Eric's makes really nice cushions here.
- [Brad] Right, yep.
- [Bob] And these are ones you can stand on or sit on.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] But they're gonna challenge you,
especially with the standing.
- [Brad] Yeah. And you know,
these are a little more expensive.
But, if you're a therapist, you're gonna want to get this
cause they last they'll last a long time. You can clean 'em.
Wash 'em.
- [Bob] And they're very high quality.
You got a couple back here too Brad, that are,
that are real nice, so.
- [Brad] Right.
It's always nice to know what
when there's a good product out there.
Okay. Now, and then once we get to that point where this is
you're on a wobbly surface and you can reach,
and it's getting easier. Then, you go to the next level
of the seated wobbliness and Bob, why don't you
we're gonna go to the exercise ball, the stability ball.
Woo. There we go.
And you know.
- [Bob] That's a huge step up, wouldn't you say Brad?
- [Brad] Yeah. And in here, you know
you're gonna hold onto the ball, help the person. You may.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- [Brad] You're gonna be with people.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] But once you get on the ball and
or go on the parallel bars, and once you get used
to the wobbliness, and you feel comfortable without holding
onto something or having someone on each side,
then we progress to reaching for the cones again.
And over.
- [Bob] But again, a lot of safety with this one
because you can slide right off that ball pretty easily.
- [Brad] Yeah. These balls are, are wobbly.
- [Bob] I wouldn't wanna go out too far on these even Brad.
I wouldn't wanna.
- [Brad] Yep.
Very cautious, use good judgment.
You could actually use two hands and actually
for the rotation ones that's even a step up for
- [Bob] Good idea.
- [Brad] Okay. Excellent. Once that's good.
You want to go to the next step.
We're at step number four.
- [Bob] Okay. Sure.
- [Brad] Four of the seven standing balance.
Now with standing balance we're going to simple
the same procedure,
same method with the cones or whatever you have set up.
And you know, you may start
with your feet out wide doing the reaching,
the same program.
Then bring your feet close together,
reaching, the same program.
Da da, da, da.
Then we want to go to the cushion.
So Bob, why don't you
- [Bob] Is you want this one right here?
- [Brad] Well, sure.
- [Bob] Well you wanna there's that one?
- [Brad] Oh, it's over here on the floor.
You could use this if you're at home
and you don't have one of the fancy ones. You know,
you could use the same cushion that you used for seated on.
And it's amazing when you stand on something that's squishy.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- [Brad] All of a sudden it turns on a whole different
venue as far as balance and your, your body's
the proprioception as therapists, as therapists out there
you know exactly what we're talking about.
We're changing gears a little bit.
And then all of a sudden this becomes much harder.
- [Bob] Well again.
- [Brad] And then you're gonna have someone behind you.
- [Bob] Holding onto a belt
- [Brad] Yep.
Get a, get a big gate belt on or hold onto your
your belt to make sure that it's safe.
Bend over here because we certainly
don't want to have a fall.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- [Brad] Okay.
- [Bob] That would kind of defeat the purpose
of rehab is if you go into a fall.
- [Brad] Right. So, and once that gets too easy
then the next step and you know, this is pretty high level.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- [Brad] This next level is more for the athlete.
- [Bob] I don't know if I can do this.
- [Brad] If you're getting to this level,
you're you really need, your goal is probably athletics.
- [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] Okay. And that's the single leg balance.
And this is where someone who is an athlete,
and they have a sprained ankle,
and they're recovering from that.
This can be a really good.
- [Bob] I, I would say, I mean
you could certainly do this even after a stroke
if just working on trying to stand on one leg.
- [Brad] Sure. Yep.
- [Bob] You know, and not even do any grabbing.
Or just,
- [Brad] Just touch
- [Bob] Just touch.
- [Brad] Yep. Just touch over here.
- [Bob] And keep 'em up at like a good level
that you have to bend.
- [Brad] Right. And you may then
because the rotation really gets complicated right.
For that level of person, you know, if you are
if you know, and that'd be great.
If we had someone who had. It would be fun to work
with someone who had a stroke and recovered
'em back to athletics
- [Bob] To that level
- [Brad] As a therapist, wouldn't that be really cool?
Cause this really challenges a lot of muscles
and lot of balance.
Okay. Now,
this is the ultimate, the advanced technique where
not only does it incorporate balance,
but vision, hand-eye coordination.
So this is very high level.
It gets your mind off of balance.
And if you can balance
when you're not thinking about balance, then you know
you're at the top of your game.
So one good way to do it is go ahead, throw me Bob
is just get a ball
- [Bob] Start with a ball.
- [Brad] Yeah. See how Bob's throwing it.
- [Bob] And I think this is a good one that you can do
with someone who's had a stroke.
- [Brad] Sure.
- [Bob] As long as they're using both legs.
- [Brad] Right. And then someone's right behind you,
holding onto the gate belt.
- [Bob] Cause we do this all the time.
- [Brad] Oh yeah. Right.
- [Bob] This is one we do with the elderly.
- [Brad] Sometimes we'll start with a balloon,
so it floats through the earth slowly.
- [Bob] Yep. They'll pop the, punch the balloon.
- [Brad] Right. And, and sometimes they punch the therapist.
- [Bob] Yeah.
(laughing)
- [Bob] I haven't been punched in a while.
- [Brad] Yeah. I, I got a mouth guard,
and I've been using that.
- [Bob] So you can see I'm going different angles.
I'm trying to make him work a little bit by going down.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] And then we can go to a larger ball
if that's getting too easy.
- [Brad] Yeah, no, this is,
- [Bob] And we can even start doing this.
- [Brad] I wanna get this chair outta the way before I
start doing bouncing.
Ooh. There, yeah.
The big ball, and the extra mass,
and the size makes a big difference.
And if you know, you're really
really advanced try this on one leg.
(laughing)
And, and you know make sure you got someone
holding onto you, working as appropriate and as needed.
- [Bob] All right, Brad, we've got enough fun.
- [Brad] I'm getting tired Bob.
Hey, that ball matches your tie.
Look at this. Wonderful.
- [Bob] Cool.
- [Brad] Color coordinated.
- [Bob] Well, remember Brad,
we can fix just about anything.
- [Brad] Oh yeah, except for
- [Bob] We're gonna put it right on here.
- [Brad] Oh, that'll show up nice.
- [Bob] A broken heart.
Thanks for watching.