(Bob groaning) - Okay. That's enough Bob.
Oh. Okay, here we are.
Bob and I, we're actually have a spine here
and we're decompressing it.
Which decompression of the spine is
nothing more than traction,
where you gently pull on the spine one way or another
and it offers relief cuz it takes stress off
and stretches-- - Off the joints.
- Off the joints, the ligaments, the muscles.
It can be a really--
It's been going on for decades
if not centuries.
- Could make you taller too.
I wish it, used to be Brad's height.
Yeah, Bob's been decompressing.
Add another eight inches.
Anyways. So, we're gonna show you 10 different options.
- 10 wow.
- And you're gonna find at least one or two
of them will work for you.
Hold on, we got 9.3 seconds and we're gonna get to work.
What, say you Bob?
- Yeah, I concur.
He concurs again.
Once again, we're on the level.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
Okay. The first one is very simple.
You can do it on your bed.
You will not be able to do it on the floor.
Lying on your stomach, or prone your feet
over the edge of the bed or the table.
And Bob's gonna dorsiflex, pull the ankles up,
that's gonna lock in his feet and he's going to pull
and stretch the back out.
It's critical that you relax the core muscles around here.
Otherwise you will not get the decompression benefits.
- So I can do it, like this too?
Right? - Sure.
You can do it elbows up
pull a little bit, go down, try it that way.
Whichever way relieves the pain.
With all 10 of these techniques,
if it creates pain, you stop. You do not do it.
There's no question about that.
Okay, let's go to number two.
Oh, I'm sorry.
You're gonna hold these 10 to 30 seconds.
Whatever feels good for you.
Do them as long as they continue to feel good daily.
Number two.
Okay, the next three we're gonna do on the floor.
Now, these decompression techniques aren't where
actually you're pulling it apart, but because
of the leverage over the roll or the balls
it does do some decompression and it can work very
nicely-- - It spreads the back.
- Yep. So here, use a six inch roller.
This one's a soft density.
One or medium a little more comfortable.
Use whatever you like.
And this is only used,
we only use this on the mid-back,
not down on the lumbar spine
because it's a little uncomfortable.
And arch over, let gravity do that decompression.
My back already cracked twice doing this. I'm feeling good.
And you're gonna work this for as long as you want.
30 seconds. One or two minutes. It's a wonderful deal.
The next one, if you don't have this,
but your children happen to have--
- A small ball? - A small ball.
And it needs to be a squishy one.
If you don't have kids or you know,
go get one from the neighbor kids.
If it's too soft, it won't work.
This one's gonna be just right for me.
And this one--
- Like dodge ball.
- And these are also not only for decompression
of the spine but really nice for posture.
Posture, posture, posture. Ah.
You can just hang out and let gravity do the work.
Now some people have the large exercise ball.
I do. I really like this one.
And this can actually work really nicely as well.
Oh, spreads out the forces more.
And you just roll back and forth.
My head can rest on the ball. There we go.
- Be careful you don't fall off.
- Yeah. If you're not used to these, it is a wobbly thing.
I've been using them for years
and I feel more comfortable on the ball than I do
on the feet. - Rather the solid.
Solid.
- So you just relax.
And with all these, it's critical that you relax
and let the core muscles around the stomach
and the gut completely relax so you can get
that decompression.
All right.
All right Bob, what do you think of this one?
This is one where you kneel hands up like this.
- You could say your prayers.
- Yep. There you go.
Now this one, I like to do this one and then I rock back.
This is uncomfortable on my knees.
Take a pillow or a cushion.
We like our Pete's choices, you know I really like them.
But a pillow works just fine.
Carpet is good if you have it.
You're here and you just relax
and let your bottom go straight back and right--
- Pressure through the elbows.
- Yep. Breathe and relax and hold.
- Extend the spine.
- Boy, it really does a nice extension and decompression.
Hold it as long as you feel comfortable and it feels good.
It does feel good.
Do you do this one Bob?
- No.
- Well, actually I don't either because I have another
favorite one that does a better job than this
and it's easier. - I know what it is.
- Yep.
Okay, I think we're on number six, Bob.
You need a stick or some sort of handle
four to five feet long.
Bob's using the Booyah Stik works well.
I'm using a nice little mop that works reasonably well.
Now, first thing we're gonna try is both hands on the stick
put it between your legs on the floor or like Bob has
on the chair and you just lean forward and relax.
And we get a stretch--
- That really does a good job.
- Yeah, it doesn't look like much but you'll do it.
And this really-- - Oh really?
- It offers a lot of leverage.
- Yes it does. - Oh.
Now, the nice thing about this is
now if I'm gonna do this,
cuz this actually works good on the floor
but it doesn't work good on the chair.
So, take your shoe, put it there
and then it allows it so it doesn't slip.
And that works fairly decent.
Now if you're back, this the big advantage of this
is you can do one side or the other.
So, Bob's got a good angle there.
- One sided back pain.
I would try this.
So if you have pain on the right side,
lean on the right.
Palm out. I like to do that.
Yep. Hi. Palm out, grab there.
Yeah, you can do it either side or you can do both.
If you're gonna do one side or the other
and only one side feels good, the other one hurts,
only do the side that feels good.
All right, next one.
Okay, Bob.
You know this. I know this.
But, they may not know it.
Is this is one of my favorite decompression for the back.
- Me too. - Yeah.
And it's called hanging. It's good for the back.
It's good for the shoulders. And it's also good for posture.
Yeah. So you can do this with a pull-up bar
or anything you can grab a hold of
that's very safe to hold your weight.
Make sure it's not anything you have to jump up to grab.
You need to have something you can get a hold of
over your head and you can slowly, with very good control
let pressure and that decompression go through your back.
Cuz if you just start this,
50% of your weight might be all you need.
And then you'll just hold it there.
My legs are supporting the them--
- And the advantage of the hanging
is you can actually lean the against the wall.
- Yeah. So if you've got a pull-up bar, which I do at home,
it's away from the wall.
It doesn't work as well as using the wall
to support your back. Good for posture.
Not necessary though. If you've got a pull-up bar,
figure out how to do it so it works well.
And you just hold 15, 30 seconds.
Typically your hands may get tired first,
especially if you're--
- A number seven, or number eight, Brad?
Well, it's the same thing with the hands.
But this really works well for me.
If you happen to have stenosis
you'll probably find this as very beneficial.
I do this, I'll put my--
- Or spondy.
- Or spondy, yeah.
There we go.
- Make sure you have a good grip.
- Yep. And I'm gonna hang like this for,
I go about 15 to 30 seconds.
This up here feels better than this.
- Than down there. - This feels okay,
but this feels good with my back.
So, listen to your body.
And now the next one you can use this or on your feet
and we're just gonna add some rotation.
Be careful with this one.
Don't twist hard. - Hanging twists.
- Unless it feels, clearly feels good.
Sometimes going one way feels good. The other way hurts.
So, don't go the way it hurts. Just the way it feels good.
- No pain, no pain.
- These are not aggressive exercises.
They should feel good while you're doing them
and afterwards when you get done.
That one if I hang too long on, I know it's not good
cuz then it starts to bother my back when I walk around.
So, I don't overdo it.
Okay, Bob.
The next one where we don't have a demonstration of.
The reason I didn't is because it's a inversion table.
- It's pretty evolved.
- Yeah. You have to order one.
They're pretty expensive.
If they work for you we have people that love them.
They're great. So, inversion table's another way.
- And you used one for a while.
- I did. I used one for about a year and a half
or two years. It worked good and then it--
- Stopped working. - Yeah.
It wasn't doing benefit and it was taking up room
so I sold it.
There's another thing I like to do.
I just started doing this in the last year or so.
This is not decompression, but it's a little bonus for you.
Again, take your stick of four, five feet long
and I like to bring it back here on my shoulders.
It's good for my posture.
It locks in my shoulders.
And then if I sit down on a stool,
something taller.
If it's a chair, usually not with armrests.
And you just gently rotate.
And this mostly works the upper back, the thoracic spine
cuz that's mostly responsible for rotation.
The lumbar spine does not, they don't rotate too much.
And then I like to do this as well
kind of hang out and relax.
- That probably gets a little more lumbar spine.
- Yeah, it's one of those things
that just feels really good on my back.
Try it. If it works, it feels good, do it.
- Again, you can go one direction.
- Yeah, if one way hurts, just go the way that feels good.
And then go back and bump into the painful way.
And over time you should be able to get to--
- There you go. - Rotating back and forth.
Well Bob, my spine is thoroughly decompressed.
- Decompressed and rotated. - I betcha I gained an inch.
We should have measured before and after.
Very good. I'm sure you're gonna find at least one
or two of those exercises beneficial
for your back, spine and put a smile on your face.
And once again, Bob, we can fix just about anything--
- Except for a broken heart. - That's right.
And the old decompression is probably not a part
of the formula.
(upbeat music)