♪ Bob and Brad, the two most famous ♪
♪ Physical Therapists on the internet. ♪
- Hellooo!!
- Hey folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, Physical Therapist.
- Brad Heineck, Physical Therapist.
- And we are the most famous
physical therapists on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- And my opinion is the one that matters, right?
Today we're gonna talk about - Why, Bob?
stopping finger joint pain in minutes.
Motion is lotion self treatment.
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- That's right - Bob, finger joint pain, very common.
Often times from arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis,
but also from after injury and you're trying to get
things moving again.
One way or another, if you want to manage pain,
get more functional, you've got to get them moving.
Just like in the title, motion is lotion.
As if you're gonna put some of that nice lotion
on there to feel better to get moving,
well it doesn't always work that way.
You actually have to get 'em moving
and that's what we're gonna show you.
- You get more blood flow to the area.
It helps it heal better if there is an injury.
- The synovial fluid in each joint.
- Yeah, they found out that arthritis
actually gets worse quite often with no movement.
People think, well it hurts so I'm just gonna splint it.
- Right, right. - And it actually gets worse.
- Right. - Hard to believe.
- I mean there's, if it's so bad that you can't move at all,
as a matter of fact, I'm babbling on here,
so just fast forward.
- No he's correct, though.
Arthritis can get to the point
where it's so bad you just can't even move it.
- Well, I'm gonna tell the story, just fast forward.
I just had a friend, he had a heart attack.
He was in a bed cause he had, and he's fine now,
but you know they put the scope through the femoral artery
so he was in bed for a day and a half.
Could not move that leg.
He had mild arthritis, didn't really bother him.
After that no motion for a day and a half,
he was using crutches. - Yep.
- It took him a week and a half of movement
and now he's fine again.
He's a farmer and he's out farming.
- I've heard this story many times,
I mean I've seen this story many times.
- So okay, now we'll get back to the video.
So finger motion, so particularly in the morning
when you get up and you have those fingers,
I experience this myself, especially my right hand.
If you cannot make a fist they're so stiff,
you gotta get 'em moving. - Yeah.
- So the first thing you're gonna do is just,
you don't have to hold them out,
but you know get your hands out
and just open and close fists.
- Gently open and close.
- Yeah you don't have to go fast,
just go to the point where they stretch a little bit.
You're not going to be able to go fast anyway
because it's a little uncomfortable,
but don't get too alarmed about it.
They'll loosen up with time.
10 to 15 repetitions is probably gonna be enough,
but then add this:
Make sure when you close 'em,
take the other hand, go over the top
and give a little over pressure to get that full fist
if you can not get all the way in.
And just kinda work it, not too aggressive.
You don't have to create pain.
- What's nice about this, you're hitting
all the fingers at once. - Exactly, precisely, Bob.
And that's kind of a comfortable thing.
- Yes, it is. - In general.
You got that full wrap around your fingers.
Obviously make sure you do both hands.
And I think a lot of times probably people do have
one hand that's a little stiffer than the other.
- Often their dominant hand. - Yep, exactly right.
If you had an injury, usually that finger,
like I have one finger I injured
and that one's definitely stiffer than the others.
- Same with me. - Well you go that,
- Dupuytren's - It's getting better though.
- It is getting better.
- The other thing, don't forget, go like this
like you're gonna say a prayer.
And then go and stretch them the other direction.
You don't wanna just go this way.
You wanna go both directions, flexion.
- Cause quite often I see people
with arthritic hands they can't straighten
any more than this. - Exactly.
- You really want to stay ahead of it.
Actually the pain levels tend to go down
if you gain a little more motion.
- And probably not in one day.
- No, no. - If you haven't done this,
give it a week or so.
- It could take a long time, actually.
- Okay then we're done with that.
Next thing is to do range of motion
in each individual phalange joint.
In other words, the joints in each finger.
I'm just gonna go through one finger.
- Right, and I don't know if you necessarily
have to do it if the hand is fine.
- Right. - One of the fingers is fine.
- Yeah, if you got that problem finger,
like mine is my third digit.
- Yeah that's where you want to spend the time.
- Right, and it actually works good.
I don't have, oh I'll use this.
- So what he's gonna do is,
he's gonna apply the stress to each joint.
- Can you zoom in on this?
- So first he's at the, well we call it the distal.
- Yeah the most distal phalange joint.
And so I'm pinching not over the joint,
but before I get to it.
And I could go like this,
and can you see that Liz?
I'd have to break this finger off to make you see it better.
So I'm isolating that joint.
I've had people with injuries, a broken hand,
maybe their hand got semi crushed or whatever.
And then I'll have 'em go through each joint
over the edge of a table.
And oftentimes like this so you get
that full range down, all the way to straight.
And then the MCP joint, we call that the first one there,
your big knuckle, grab ahold before the knuckle,
bring it down and up.
And you can do some rotation on these,
and that can be very, that can be like the trick
that oh my goodness it loosens right up.
That's a little trick.
- You can even do a little rotation
and then bend it. - There you go, exactly.
- And try different ways.
Rotate it this way, and if it increases the pain,
don't do it. - Right.
- If it feels better, do it.
- If it hurts at first and you move it,
and it's like it breaks loose,
- Right. - Then you're fine.
If you haven't done this before,
don't get too aggressive the first time,
cause it might get sore the next day.
So be gentle with it and gradually work into it.
- Well, one thing you were going to talk about
is putting heat on it before.
- Right, if you respond well to heat,
let's say you're doing dishes and your hands
feel better, loser, after a shower or bath,
and you really want to get some deep heat in,
cause water feels good but it'll go about skin deep.
And a conventional hot pack,
if you buy it off the counter that costs about 30 dollars,
they'll go skin deep and it feels good,
but if you want to get into the joint,
you're gonna have to use
far infrared heat. - far infrared heat.
- So if you're interested in that,
we really like this.
Bob and I both use one of these.
- We use it primarily on our backs.
- But that's a nice one to get, and there's a reason for it.
It works really good for hands
because you can make it into a muff.
- And the thing about far infrared heat
is it actually penetrates, so again,
regular heat only a millimeter or so, just surface.
This goes 2.36 inches. - Right.
- So imagine that, that's gonna easily
go all the way through the joint of the finger.
- Your fingers will get warmed up.
And it's not aggressive heat.
- No, not at all.
- You're not gonna burn yourself.
- Lot of times almost doesn't feel like it's...
- Exactly, when you first put 'em in you'll say,
that doesn't feel like a hot pack.
It goes to about 104 degrees, which is therapeutic.
- But it'll go all the way through the hand too.
So that's what's nice about it.
And then if you get like the platinum one,
which this one is, you can use it
all over the whole body.
- Right, you can use it on your back.
I mean right now you can easily do both hands at once.
It's gonna get full penetration.
And then if you've got a knee issue,
you can wrap it around your knee.
You can put it on your back.
And these are, they're just made,
I mean they're expensive, but this is the kind of thing
that's gonna last you a long time.
They're built well.
- I got one for my aunt who had fibromyalgia,
because again it's one of those things
where you get pain in a lot of different spots,
and it's versatile, and it's deep.
- She's grateful? - I hope so.
Trying to be a good nephew.
- Trying to get some inheritance, or what?
- No, are you kidding?
- Just kidding, Bob, just kidding.
Let's carry on here.
So good luck with getting those hands.
Oh yeah, by the way do these exercises
in the morning is a good time,
but you can do them couple three times a day.
- Throughout the day, yeah you really
can't almost do them too much.
You can really make it part of your routine.
If every hour or so, especially if you work at the computer,
take a little time and just do some of these.
- Right. - It can help.
It can make a big difference.
- I do want to say one thing, Bob.
Now I'm babbling, but this is a true story.
I was watching a video on apple cider vinegar
and I thought, I wonder if that
would be good for my hands.
This is the truth. - This is the truth,
cause I witnessed this.
- I woke up in the morning and I could not make a fist
with my right hand until I did these exercises.
- And that was going on for quite a while.
- Yeah it had been a couple years.
- I remember you complaining about it.
- Couple years, and I thought well I'll do
two tablespoons with a little water.
And I did that every day, and after two weeks,
I started to notice less stiffness in the morning.
And it's not 100% gone, and actually I cut back on it
because I kinda forgot about it.
So I don't take it every day.
I take it about two or three times a week now.
- Sure, but it was a, I mean first off
there's research that shows that that works.
- Right, I didn't find a lot of it, but there's some.
- Oh I saw some.
- Well it's not like, - Solid?
- It's not like how much research they do on eggs
and heart problems, but yeah.
But no, I'm saying I don't believe
a lot of research anyway, Bob.
You know that.
(laughing)
- But there was some research that said it.
- There was enough for me to believe
that there's some science behind it.
It's just not snake oil. - Right.
- And it's safe, you dilute it out enough.
- And what's the placebo effect?
- Right, exactly.
- What a great thing.
By the way, Brad and I can fix just about anything.
- Except for - a broken heart.
- There you go.
- There's no research on that either.
- We're gonna get some, though.