♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
(Bob 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 opinions, of course, Bob.
- Today we're gonna show you a do-it-yourself,
DIY neck massage release tension and pain fast.
But you missed, also, precautions, right?
- Yeah, there's some things you could not do
with your neck or it's gonna cause some problems.
This is great, particularly in people working at a desk
and you get that tension and tightness
and your life is just not very...
You're not very productive.
It's not fun. - That's right.
- This is gonna relieve that stress and pain.
- And hopefully, you can do this without medication.
- Right. Yep.
- You know, get by without it.
So by the way, if you're new to our channel,
please take a second to subscribe to us.
We provide videos on how to stay healthy, fit pain-free
and we upload everyday.
Also, go to BobandBrad.com.
Go to the giveaway section, always giving something away.
We don't know what we're giving away today.
- Is this Saturday - We're not stupid, we just...
- Or is this... - It's a future video.
- A future video. There you go.
- I think. I don't know.
So go that channel and go to giveaway section,
it'll tell you what we're giving away.
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It'll be pinned to the top of the page,
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- And if you want longer version,
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- And you can listen to us while your working out
or on the road.
Yeah, we've got some great experts
that we interview on there. - That's right.
All right, Bob, we're gonna talk about that neck massage
you can do it to yourself, you don't need a masseuse.
There are some things, again...
Maybe we should get right away.
We're gonna work at that soft tissue,
the muscle work a little bit, - Right.
- and those ligaments that are holding things together,
stretching, and a little acupressure
- Oh, wow. - Near the end.
- Not acupuncture.
- No. - Acupressure.
- Right, and you can do this right to yourself
and we'll show you a nice, easy way to do that.
Precautions though.
I'm gonna hit that right away. - Sure.
- There's three things that you never should use.
One of them...
We love massage guns,
but we say, "Do not use them on your neck."
It is gonna be uncomfortable.
You could possible injure your neck,
especially if you have some neck problems already.
- I also don't like going over arteries.
- Yeah, especially the carotid area
- Right. - right up in here.
- But you're pounding right into that spine.
- Yep.
- You can hit lower neck like this.
- Down on the traps. - The traps.
- Yeah, but that's inches away from the spine.
See, you know these massage guns, especially now,
they make them that reciprocate forward and backward.
It's quite aggressive. - Yeah.
- It's too aggressive on the cervical spine.
So just forget that.
- And your head too. - Never do.
- You really can't use it on your head
if you had a headache. - Right.
Yeah, that would be uncomfortable.
Everything that we're doing here should feel good.
If it produces any pain while doing it or after,
do not do that anymore.
You should just be completely relaxing immediately.
Stop any painful, any movements
if it creates lightheadedness
or dizziness. - Or dizziness. Yes.
- That means you should stop that.
I don't expect...
I mean that's possible.
That's kind of a rare one. - Right.
- Now exercises that you should do.
First of all, get in a chair,
a nice chair that the back rest is not too high, preferably.
The back rest gets in the way for some of this.
If it goes about your scapula or shoulder blade level,
like I'm about here,
you know this is a little high but it's okay.
That's desirable.
Firm chair's a little bit better.
- Yeah, firm, good posture chair.
- Yep. So get your shoulders, take a few deep breaths.
In the nose, exhale out the mouth,
and just relax and slow everything down.
Okay?
Once you do that three times,
the next thing you're gonna do is...
- I can turn, Brad, if you want?
- [Brad] Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, that's it.
Well, you're so tall and I'm so short.
I'll stand up.
Normally, you do this seated,
but because of our height discrepancy...
- [Bob] So you could do circles.
And you can do finger over finger,
or you can do finger side by side.
And your off the skull here.
You're just right off the skull, right below it.
And you do a circular motion.
You can actually go down the spine too.
- [Brad] Yep.
Well, I'm already relaxing, Bob.
- [Bob] Well, it feels really good
where the neck meets the skull.
- [Brad] Yeah.
- [Bob] The suboccipital area we call it.
That has a really good tender spot for most people,
and this feels really good.
- I was at a...
Actually, it was a karate thing years ago,
and the instructor he called that the occiput,
the skull pan.
- [Bob] Oh yeah, I've heard that too.
- It's kind of a layman's term.
But anyways, that's a great way to start it.
And now the next one...
Now, should we go into the splaying one right away?
- Sure. - Yep.
- [Bob] So what you're actually doing
is putting your fingers together
and you're pulling them apart.
- [Brad] Like that.
- [Bob] And you're applying really decent pressure
while you're doing this. - Yes.
It's almost like you're trying to tear your skin apart.
But I mean, if you're elderly and you have tender skin,
you don't wanna pull too hard,
but I don't think I don't think that'll happen.
- [Bob] Pull the skin off.
- Yep.
So from the side it looks like this,
and you'll work it way up again by that occiput
right at the top of the neck.
Now with this one,
I do like to put some extension
or in other words,
- While your doing it. - look back and up.
And you only do that if it feels good and better to do that.
- [Bob] You can also do a chin tuck.
- Sure. Down. Yep. - Tuck your chin like that,
yeah, while you're doing that.
- Boy.
Our mics are getting in the way a little bit here.
- Was that okay, Tanner? - I'm gonna love myself
after this. - Okay.
So now this next one,
is the same exercises or massages.
On my desk, this works much better for me.
I think I am gonna take my mic off because I know this...
- So nobody's gonna hear your mic, Brad, now.
So what he's doing,
he puts his elbows on a table sometimes.
- Right on my desk.
- On your desk. - Yep.
Right where the computer's there
and I just go here and take a break.
- "Computer's there," he said,
and he's able to reach that area very easily now.
Plus, he's getting a little bit of stretch
in his mid back here too.
That's actually get a little leverage on there.
And so you're in good posture, plus...
Oh, he's gonna put his mic back on.
You're in good posture. - Keep, talking, Bob.
- You're in good posture, plus you're doing the massage.
You're getting a double bonus here.
- Yeah, and for me, that's a game changer.
'Cause if I'm up like this,
I'm working my shoulders and it's kind of uncomfortable
when I allow my arms to relax
by putting support on the elbows.
- But he's also able to get
the upper trapezius this way too.
Right? - Yeah.
- [Bob] So you actually...
When he's leaning like this on the table,
he can get the upper, right above the scapulas,
and really pull forward on those.
It's almost a splaying massage.
You're not going to park
but you're pulling it forward towards you.
- You get right over that trigger point too.
- [Bob] Yeah.
- And boy, when you hit that trigger point
and you get that to relax and release,
- Right.
- Oh, your pain will go from here down to here
and you're putting a smile on your face.
- Your level of irritation will go from here to down here.
(Brad chuckles)
- The next one which is directly correlated to that
is not a massage, but a stretch.
So what you're gonna do...
I always would tell my patients,
assuming you're gonna have a pocket, a chest pocket,
is you gonna look down to see what's in that pocket.
Take your fingertips only right in the corner
or the side of your head here and gently...
It's not to the side. It's not straightforward.
It's kind of an oblique or a 45 degree angle.
Gently stretch that levator scapula muscle.
- Levator scapula. - Yep.
- I never forget I had a woman,
she started doing this at work
and it really helped her a lot.
She was so excited, she told everybody at work.
(Bob chuckles)
"Come do this stretch,"
and she's showing the whole office
the levator scapula stretch.
- It actually does what it sounds like it does.
It lifts up your scapula, which is your shoulder blade,
and it's the thin, little muscle that get really irritated.
- Yeah, when you get tense, it tightens up
and that can cause this kind of thing.
- Right.
- Boy, does that knot up and it's a painful deal.
The next one...
Now this, I used to use this quite a bit with patients
because it's really inexpensive
and pretty much everyone has this.
You take two tennis balls, take a sock,
and drop 'em in.
You kind of have to work 'em down to the bottom.
So there's one here and one there.
- So they're side by side. - Yep.
Now you cannot to this on a bed.
I'm gonna show you on here just so it's easy to show,
but you need to do it on a carpeted floor.
And what we're gonna do
is get a sock on each side of the neck.
And this is a nice one
because all you do is I'm gonna lay it there at the neck.
You're gonna find that tension spot and lay on it.
It might hurt a little bit at first,
but within 20 to 30 seconds,
you should feel it release. - It starts to release.
- Yep.
And you just let the weight of your head do the work
and just lay there,
and you might wanna roll it like this a little bit.
I'm gonna go down.
I can feel I need a little more down.
There we go.
- So is this what you're referring to as acupressure, Brad?
- One of 'em.
- Okay. - Yeah.
Actually, what you have in your hands there
I would consider a little more acupressure.
There, but once you get to the spot,
then you get to lie there and relax
for a minute or two or three.
Don't fall asleep though, 'cause we've got more.
- I could hook you. - Yeah.
- Time to get off the show.
- So originally, these devices were everyone,
at least in the therapy world, I think, called it...
- Well, there's the Thera Cane
and I think the Back Buddy?
If I'm right. - Oh, yeah, yeah.
And you know, they're manufacture-
- Now there's hundreds of them out there, I think.
- You can actually use a cane that you use for walking,
but this works better 'cause it's a bigger hook.
- Right. - Gets to more places.
And sometimes they have handles like this.
- Yeah. They knobs all that place.
- The knobs are where you get your pressure from.
- Right.
- This is the one that...
- The main one. Yeah. - Yeah.
You'll get on there and you simply find the tender spot,
put some pressure on it, relax,
breathe in your nose, out your mouth,
and you hold it for that 30 seconds or more.
- So he's pushing right on the trigger point.
- Yeah. It's gonna hurt.
- And he's trying to get it to release.
And yes, this will be hurt.
Hurtful. - Yeah. Like right there.
- Painful. - I just found it.
- Ooh, I just found mine. - Yep.
And then just leave the pressure on there.
And you know, if it doesn't release in 30 seconds,
it's getting worse,
it's too much, it's not a trigger point
or something of that nature.
But nine times out of the 10, it will release.
And then you can work around,
and that's the beauty of these large hooks
is you can get to locations.
- Well, I actually like using these
and moving a little bit while I'm doing it
I don't know why.
It just feels good when I do some rotation with it.
- Or you can like...
I'm using that slides right across my shirt
and you can kind of work that.
You know, there's no definite rules on this sometimes.
What can work for you? - What feels good?
This is why I like to use it
like you just did, Brad, on my low back.
- Sure. Oh. - Oh. Baby, baby.
(both chuckles)
- Oh, I guess we better cut it off right there.
- Oh, sugar pops.
- All right. Good luck with your massage.
Keeping your upper body or back relaxed.
Enjoy your work more and...
Bob!
(upbeat tone)