Okay
Hi folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist
Brad Heineck, physical therapist
Together we are the most famous physical therapist on the internet
In our opinion of course, Bob
Today we're going to go over the fastest and easy way to get
those knots away from your shoulders, upper back, traps
You know, this is something that plagues a lot of people. -Oh, yeah! And there's good reason for it
We're gonna talk about that in just a little bit.
Right, in fact, I had this yesterday. -You did?!
Yeah, and I did exactly what I'm gonna tell these people to do.
Okay, -It worked for me
Good, It's got some through that parachute. thing on your back?
I'm gonna pull the cord, and I'm just going to jump off the building.
[laughing] Okay
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You do such a thing
Alright, so knots. What are they?
There's little trigger points that you get up in the
-lot of time in the upper trapezius -Upper traps
shoulders, neck... -But you can get them another place in your body too
I've had em in my hamstrings
But this is such a common place.
You can get them all over the place
Particularly for people who
sit at a computer or they do a lot of sitting
and what is not very good, but their
-Forward-head posture.
-Posture. Head-forward posture.
I was just talking to Liz about this
It's just something you creep into even though, you know, you're not supposed to do it.
I did it yesterday
I was at the computer longer than I normally am
and I did-- I do have the stand-up desk
I did that. That helped.
But then I sat for a while
I was just focused
and all of a sudden, "ah crap"
I'm getting that pain -Yeah
-And once you get it, it's really hard to knock out
I mean, you know what I mean?
Right, once that knot gets tightened up it--
especially if you want-- if you need to keep working
and you can't
take, you know... -Right, take time off
-Time to really get after it.
So it's a hyper irritable nodule
and a lot of times in
tight muscle
They're a little bit of a mystery to people aren't they?
Right, Yeah, I don't think-- they're not completely figured out
but you know
They're-- but you can find them. That's one good thing about it.
You can find them, and then you can treat them.
So, go on, Bob
this is-- We usually I take a three step approach.
Okay
And the simple part, the fastest, easiest way
is-- What I do is you correct your posture
and I get some heat on it
And usually what works for me is the infrared heat
and he reason the infrared heat works better than regular heat
is because it goes much deeper.
Right, it gets into the muscle as opposed to the conventional heat
Which is only a few millimeters
Basically, skin deep
It does not penetrate into that the muscle belly
Where infrared heat actually will penetrate up to
2.36 inches -Which is quite, quite, you know...
Quite a distance and it actually starts getting into the joints
of the vertebrae and stuff
So I think that's where it makes a difference.
So-- it takes a little bit to heat up
That's why I got this thing on here.
So you can actually work with it in place [laughs] -Right
We'll talk about the postural benefits as well.
Right. So, you know-- the other thing we want to do is correct posture
when you're trying to get rid of the knots
because that's what's causing it.
So actually, by using the the platinum model,
which is this model right here, this shape right here
of the thermotex
It comes with some extra straps that you can Velcro in place
and it actually pulls my shoulders back and puts me in proper positioning
So we got here. [Snaps Bob's elastic straps]
Oh! Thanks, Brad I appreciate-- [Laughs] [laughing in background]
I thought I'd wake him up!
He's just been waiting to do that all day, apparently.
Anyways, but it just shows that they're wide so they're comfortable
But they do
remind you constantly
-to keep that posture -They pull you back
They actually don't-- I mean it's hard to kind of have bad posture
because it just pulls you right back
It comes with an eight foot cord. Yep. Very industrial right Brad
Yeah, it's commercial Duty is nothing that it's gonna last you don't have to worry about the cord
You know falling apart
so
you know and this option to that you can take it off if you need to get up to go to the bathroom from the
Computer you don't have to drag the court along it
Disconnects right? That's what I do. I just yeah exactly. I just
Connected and you know it takes a little bit for this to warm up. It takes you know, what would you say ten minutes?
Yeah, maybe not that long. I I think a little less than that. But yeah
Conventional heating pads the convection they do heat up faster
but they don't go as deep and this has only one setting basically you turn it on and that's the
The type of heat you're gonna feel and I'd keep it on
I mean you can keep it on for hours if you want, right, but they recommend at least 30 to 45 minutes
Right and that's for you. It seems like the magic starts to happen
You know
I had a nurse come in here the other day and she was having knots and she just works at this facility
And I said, well, you know, what I do is-- I showed her this.
She goes, "Well, I don't know that I can sit at the work station have that on"
And so she left.
She came back and got it, and put it on the work station!
You know, that's how much they bother you.
I mean you're willing to do things like that.
And it worked out good for her! She just sat at her station
did her work on the computer
and it took away the pain.
-There you go! -It was at the same time
This is the platinum model.
If you order through our link below, you will get a pretty good discount.
-Discount -And free shipping
So we highly recommend that you go ahead and do that.
This is approved by the FDA
and also Health Canada
These-- this company is out of Canada. -Right
Really good people to work with. These are expensive.
I mean, that's-- We've gotta tell you that -Right
-They're a little pricey
They're not cheap, but they're going to last a long time.
They're built very well
You don't have to worry about it falling apart in a couple of years
And very inexpensive to run. -Right
Pennies a day.
They tell the story-- I was talking to one of the people over at the company
and they said they have one that's sitting in a chair in their
reception area that they've had there since-- Was it 2006?
-It's basically since they started -Yeah
They're got this model going.
Like 11-12 years or something like that. I might be getting that wrong.
And they leave it run 24/7.
Yeah, they just leave it on all the time
A little more uncomfortable during the summer
because it's warmer -Right
You know during the winter, Brad and I as a habit,
we have these in our chairs at night
and we sit. Right? -Right
-I like-- -A little less during the summer.
I use it for my lower back
I've got a chronic problem there
but I actually look forward to winter
because it's so fun
at the end of the night
Sit down, read your-- -It's like a little treat
-Right, right. -We don't have much going on in our lives.
You have to understand
We don't get out much.
So again, it comes with the extra strap
The other thing you're gonna want to do along with this
For the long term now,
you're gonna want to come up with the movement that's gonna take away the pain
because a lot of this is related to
the fact that you're standing still
and not moving with bad posture.
So a lot of times we have people do shoulder shrugs
Right. Yeah, so we're gonna-- you know--
You can go straight back
You know, if you work circles
sometimes that works better for something.
I think that kind of-- that downward motion gets a little stretch on that upper trap
And then again
This [imitates bad posture] -Right
-Do that chin tuck
That's a probably the first thing you want to work on.
The ears go over the shoulders.
So we-- you know, so many times--
and Bob and I do catch ourselves
We're like this,
It's like, if you could see yourself in the mirror
It's like boom! Get that back where it belongs!
Get the shoulders back
and you know
They actually have products, and now there are warning devices that--
as soon go--
We've done a video on one of those that would beep
when your head would go forward
But the other one, Brad, that I found for me--
yesterday, the problem one was
just plain old
cervical extension
which people have trouble understanding but
Actually, the neck consent pain down into that area -Right
And so I was working on doing these and even rotating back and forth like this
Now did you do that standing or did you sit down?
I actually could do it sitting and standing
-Sure -Most people do it sitting
and most people, a lot of times people start with a towel.
Do you want to show that one real quick, Brad?
I always like to sit, and this is not my office chair,
but my office chair is really
It's really nice -It fits you right for doing this one
This is okay. -It's a little high
-You don't want the back of the chair too high
Can you show we're too high is, Bob? -Yeah
[Bob] I got a disconnect here, first. [Brad] Oh, yes!
[Bob] Otherwise I can't come by ya
Yeah, we gotta get maybe get a longer cord
Get a 220 foot cord, perhaps
[Bob] So generally, I like it so that it hits you maybe around
mid-shoulder-blade
And then if you have a towel roll, it just makes it more comfortable
and I find with most of my patients
the towel roll, they're much happier
So I tell them good a towel roll by your workstation
or in the-- you know, in your house
Wherever you need to do this
and then do a little chin tuck first
and then I'm gonna roll back
and stretch like this
Now, there's alternatives.
This is one
you can take it, and go up like this and
Like Bob says the-- I don't--
[Bob] Little bunny ears [Brad] Little rabbit ears-- The bunny ears (laughs)
[Bob] Rabbit ears, bunny ears...
-Whatever! You go up so that you're--
I always say so your thumbs are gonna point right towards your eyes
When it gets up there
Then do that... Now, if you have some shoulder issues
which, you know, some people have, particularly if you're a little older,
you may not be able to do this comfortably
[Bob] So in that case you might have to keep it down
-Yeah, hold it down here
You know, even down here, you can pull this way and it helps come up
So, you're only going to do this
if it feels good, like a good stretch.
If it creates pain
that means that you're gonna have to work more gently on it
[Bob] Or not go as far [Brad] Or not go as far
[Bob] You may want to just do short arcs
instead of the longer arcs
I get people that are knotted up
and they get back to about here, and that's it.
[Bob] Right [Brad] And it's amazing how well it does work out.
But if it's too bad, you may have to go see a therapist
that can help you out
So you can't always get this by yourself
[Bob] Right, but I think people are-- a lot of times, are surprised that it is coming from their neck
[Brad] Right [Bob] They don't think that's the case
But you know, I kind of had forgotten about it
and I was like "Oh, I did a couple of those yesterday after I had heated it up"
-Right -and things felt a lot better
You get the heat get there, get the muscles to relax.
Now, you can do reps of like 10 to 15 -Sure!
And you can do it every hour.
That's how often you can do it.
So as long as, again, is it's pain-free.
Yeah, and it makes things feel better
If you do it the first time, it hurts--
So you're not gonna go out and just hang out there for you know, 20 seconds.
It's back and forward and back and forward
and by the time you get to the second or third one
You should clearly feel it feel better
getting more motion
That's the green light that you can continue on.
And eventually you could maybe go without the towel
-Right, yeah. -And I was able to do it without the towel
Because I kind of know what I'm doing
I could do it when I'm standing, I knew how to keep things all nice and still.
But, for most people, it is a lot better to start in the chair -Right
And I'll have patience just use your hands
to support -Oh yeah! So like this...
Yeah
I usually get underneath your clothing until you get right on the skin
that can work out
Then you kind of splay and stretch the muscles and the fascia at the same time
Feels good!
So you can get kind of a double benefit then
Ahh...I'm gonna do it-- You just keep talking, Bob
If your head falls off, I'll make sure to pick it up
and put it back on -That only happened once!
All right. Thanks everybody for watching
Okay, folks. This is either gonna be at the start of the video or at the end of a video.
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You're gonna want to--There's gonna be a post on there
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We're doing a giveaway. Really exciting!
We're doing a giveaway of this mattress by SleepOvation.
You just need to go to Facebook. You need to like that post
It'll say a contest post
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Isn't that exciting!? It is! So get on there and go if you want to get a...
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That's right. Thanks for watching