- All right, Brad.
I asked people on Facebook to share their favorite
back pain exercise and I got 200 comments.
- 200?
- Right.
- From the same person?
- No, from different people.
So here are seven of the exercises of their favorites.
- Yeah this is nice when you actually get
feedback from people that-
- What's working.
- Right. What's worked for them at home
and it's gonna work for other people.
- Right?
♪ Bob and Brad the two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ on the internet. ♪
- The first exercise, Brad is a child's pose.
So I do this one.
You actually reach forward.
Really, reach all you can.
I try to extend my back.
- Yep or arch it downwards like that.
So it's almost kind of like a decompression.
Isn't it?
- Right? I actually use a foam roller
- You do?
There was something else I was gonna mention.
I can't remember it.
- Oh, you do it flexed.
- Oh, well, yes.
Yes I do.
Oh, I do it a little bit differently
but I actually round the back the other direction.
- Right.
And if you have stenosis, which I do, you'll feel
it feel it like healthy stretch.
- Feels good.
- So listen to your body.
Do what feels good.
- Legs are pretty far apart.
- Yeah. So you get little hip stretch too.
- If you got a foam roller
I put thumbs up and I go like this.
Oh my God.
Really stretches things up, Brad.
- [Brad] I'm glad.
Yeah. I can just imagine what your wife is
thinking when you're doing your exercise.
- All right. Go to the next one.
- Number two, Bob
- Number two.
- Okay. This one you can do in bed or on a floor.
Either one works well
floor might be a little better-
- This one works on, on the floor.
- Yeah. The first one also.
- Right.
- So while you're lying there on your back
you may wanna have a pillow onto your head
or whatever's most comfortable for you.
Bring your legs up.
We call this, I call this hook lying position.
Feet will be together.
Knees will be together, but actually
and we're gonna do this windshield wiper motion.
- Right.
- And we're gonna modify this a little bit more
in just a second, but this is the basic motion.
Shoulders stay flat to the floor or the bed.
And when you roll over your knees
and your feet stay together gently
and the hip will actually come off.
So you get some stretch in the low back, the hip.
It's a nice overall stretch.
- Brad, what if it hurts?
- If it hurts, you stop.
For example, if I go to the left.
Ow it hurts.
But if I go to the right, well it's okay.
Then we're gonna focus on going to the right.
- Very good.
And then go back and test the left again.
- Right.
- Typically with time, with a gentle stretching
that left will loosen up and you'll regain the motion.
Now we do wanna mention, is it time, Bob?
- [Bob] Sure. It's time.
Yep. If you've got a throw pillow
or you got a cushion or a peet's choice, you wanna put it
between your knees and that gives you a little separation.
- Right
- And Bob has just done some reading
on this at this offer.
- It helps stabilize the pelvis.
- Yeah. So is the idea we're squeezing really hard.
- Not real hard.
Just enough to hold it.
Yeah. 60%.
- 60%.
- I'm at 58, 59, 60%.
There we go there.
Okay. And then do the same
- Right.
- Same motion.
But with that, got that cushion.
I was, you know what?
I was seeing something on this too
but from a different book than you read
- Right.
- Can't remember.
- Oh, well I think that we saw it with the SI bed.
SI yeah SI.
- Yeah. Don't confuse me, Bob.
All right, let's go to the next one.
- All right. Third one, Brad is cat camel.
A lot of people really like this one it's caused
called different things.
- Yeah, we, yeah.
Some call it the cow and the, I don't know
but anyways, whatever, arch your back up, round it,
arch down. Yeah. And you can bring your head down
and bring your head up.
This is nice to be, do you know on the bed
if your bed's not too soft or on a carpeted floor.
And how many reps do you do? In this spot.
- I say 10.
10? Yep.
And keep your knees together or wider apart
- A little apart.
- [Brad] Yep. And then make sure you breathe with it, right?
If you feel pain with this at one extreme or somewhere
in the motion, it may not be the right thing to do.
Okay. So kind of work with it gently
and let it stretch out and increase it as it's tolerated.
That's it.
- All right. The next one, Brad is the pigeon pose.
- [Brad] Ah, the pigeon actually I think
this one comes from a a yoga.
Yeah. So, you know, hopefully we're we make 'em happy.
- So you're gonna think
about why would you do this to help the back?
Well, when you stretch out the hips
you take stress off the back.
'Cause if you have tight hip lectures
they'll pull on your pelvis and cause you to hyper extend.
- [Brad] Right? I do wanna note
because I- I've looked into this, the pigeon pose
the yoga people are gonna say, this is not proper form.
- Right.
- It needs to be up this way.
More like that, like this.
- Oh, like a figure forward.
- Yeah. Yeah.
Now I cannot do that very well.
But either if you, if you have your leg down like this
you're still stretching
- Getting a lot of hip flex
- The hip flexor.
So this part is not so important to get the hip flexor.
- [Bob] This is probably more advanced.
- Yeah.
- For a lot of people.
Definitely more advanced.
- Yeah. I'm definitely tight on this one.
And I just started putting into my routine in
the last couple weeks.
And I'm, it's gonna take me a while to get
- And you do both legs, right?
- I do both legs.
I don't wanna walk in circle as a result.
All right.
We got a couple more to get through Bob.
- Okay. All right.
The next one, Brad is real simple, simple walking.
I mean Stuart Miguel.
- Yes.
- The guru of back pain.
- Sure.
- Recommended, you know, three times
four times a day, 15 minutes.
That's a lot.
But if you want to get your back pain
it's gonna help the motion is lotion.
Right?
- Right.
Just remember you're gonna walk on flat surfaces,
avoid hills, avoid uneven terrain.
And actually, you know
Stuart will talk about-
- Good posture.
- Yeah. Posture tighten.
If you have back pain, tighten the core up and you know
your first few walks may be, you know, a hundred yards.
- Right.
- And if it's enough, that's enough.
Don't push it into pain.
- Right.
- So walk away, be careful and graceful.
Well, it's true, Bob
- Number six, Brad.
This is probably slanted
more towards the younger population wouldn't you say.
- Sure, in general.
- Yeah. Right.
So you put your hands, right.
Beha- no. You put your hands right
below the shoulders and you're gonna press up-
- [Brad] Ah!
- keeping your pelvis on the bed.
Don't lift up like this.
- [Brad] Yeah.
- You're not doing a plank or push up.
You actually bend in the back in the opposite direction.
Yep. I've done these my entire life.
- Yep.
I really think they help keep me way out of
out of any back pain, man.
- They will. You know,
if you do these and they create pain after doing 'em
then you may not want to do 'em.
- If you have spondi or spinal stenosis
you don't want to be doing these.
- Right. You know
one thing I've always told my patients is pretend
there's a belt around your waistline holding that down.
And I would actually hold my hand there.
- Right.
- And that gives some really good feedback.
Okay. Number seven.
And the last one we have Bob, by popular demand.
- Right.
- Is lying on the floor.
And then you put your feet
up on a piece of furniture.
- Right. Ottoman, desk, not desk
probably coffee table.
- Well, you might do desk 'cause they're pretty tall.
But you know, a, a cushion chair works better.
- [Bob] Right
Like this is not so cushion.
You may find, if you put a pillow in there, it feels better.
But just lying like this
in relaxing can really take stress off of the back.
I do a, I do this and what I'll have patients do as myself
either put a hot pack or a cold pack
that's comfortable underneath my back.
- [Bob] Right.
- In other words, they have to be a soft cold pack.
Not one that gets hard
as a rock when you pull it outta the freezer
and you're just gonna lie there.
You know?
And if we look at Sarah Meeks
she'll talk about the hand position.
- Right.
- Palms up at about 30 degrees to help relax.
And she emphasizes no noise, no dogs licking in your face.
No kids
- [Bob] Work on breathing.
- Yep.
- And you can also add a oh active loop on it, right?
- [Brad] Yeah. So we're gonna add elbow straight.
If you can, if your shoulders tolerate this
and go all the way back like this and forward.
- [Bob] Help give your back a little stretch.
- Now was that recommended to hold it there
for a period of time?
- [Bob] No.
- Or repetitions.
- [Bob] Repetitions.
- Yep. And that will arch the back a little bit.
- Right.
- It feels like you're getting that decompression
of stress relief off of that back
and work with that breathing
breathe in and exhale.
- [Bob] Mike will love you.
- I'm feeling better already.
And, and I was feeling good when I laid down.
- [Bob] Yeah. Because you, it was your favorite number.
So number seven,
- [Brad] Number seven.
All right.
Yeah. Those are excellent exercises.
Try them and you'll see works for you.
Yep. But Bob, once again, I think we should go on
and do this survey to our viewers on who has-
- A broken heart.
- Yeah. No, no.
Who has the better option for a broken heart?
Oh, definitely.
- Yeah. And then they could,
- Yeah, we need some help.
- Yeah, we do.
'Cause the book is not getting very far.