♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical Therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Hi folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Looked like a little panic there.
(Brad laughs)
- Together, we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- Today we're talking about five
(number snaps)
secrets to make car seat more comfortable
and pain free for long distances.
- Right, so like,
if you're on vacation and it's like,
you know you had a few hours to go
and you'll wanna have an enjoyable ride there
as well as once you get to the location.
- This is very timely,
'cause Brad is going on vacation
right after we get done filming here today
so he's-- - Right, as a matter of fact,
I'm gone already (laughs).
- All right, yep, he's halfway there, so.
By the way, if you're new to our channel,
please take a second to subscribe to us.
We provide videos how to stay healthy,
feel pain free, and we upload every day.
Also, you're gonna want to join us
on our social media channels,
maybe turn it around Brad,
because we're always giving something away.
Right now, we're giving away those TENS units,
we're gonna give away a couple of TENS (mumbles)
by iReliev, fantastic company.
And they're also giving away to the runners up,
some roll-on, some pain roll on.
- And this can be used on vacation as well.
- There you go.
- Handy dandy. - bobandbrad.com,
go to the giveaway section
or go to Bob and Brad on Facebook
and we'll have it pinned on the top of the page.
All right Brad.
- [Brad] Well?
- This will be you in a couple hours, driving.
- Right, so the big thing is, if you have a car seat
that you know is not comfortable,
like I had--
- A lot of car seats are that way.
- Right.
Often times the problem is,
this seat pan where you sit is too low.
It's got a hollow spot,
it allows your butt to get too far down in there;
so you want to fill that in.
- That'd be step number one,
if that's a issue with your seats.
- Yep.
Some it's not--
- But I can see with this one it is.
- You could just use any kind of cushion.
Now, I actually have used a pillow,
I've a used a cushion like this,
I actually used a,
it was a cushion for a boat (laughs),
a flat boat life preserver.
And there we go.
So that can lift you up there,
if it's already a fine seat,
you don't have to worry about that.
Now, so make sure that's there.
The next thing is your back.
Make sure your lumbar-- - Some type of lumbar support.
- Right.
Now this one for me,
it takes my back and hollows it out
and we want to keep that spine in a neutral position.
So we wanna have lumbar support,
particularly if you're having back pain.
- It rounds out your back, is what you meant, right?
- Yeah, what did I say?
- You said, "Hollows it out."
- Oh, well it depends on which way the hollow is.
- Right (laughs).
- Now, you could do so many things
to adjust your back position so it's proper.
You can buy things or you can just simply get things
from right at home. - And some of them
are built in.
Some of them have a knob that you can twist
and some people don't even realize it,
that their seat has that.
- Right, I've had patients,
I said, "Do you have your car seat adjusted?"
(mumbles) "I didn't even know if it adjusts."
So we go out to the car seat and sure enough,
they'll have an adjustment.
It's usually on the side,
it's a mechanical one where you crank it
or sometimes a button where you push it
and an electric motor pumps it out.
You know, you can do something as simple
as taking a towel roll,
particularly if you've got sciatica or something.
This is a good way to keep that arch
and we'll put that right in, about at the belt line;
maybe a little above or a little below,
and that already feels better for me.
Now, I'm gonna have to remove my hat.
I'd have to worry about it in the car,
because I don't have the sun roof open.
- So now, you know,
with the towel, what's nice about it is
you can make it a different size.
You can see what size works for you,
you can make a thicker towel roll,
use a beach towel, or you can use a small towel
and see what works for you.
A lot of times the smaller you are,
slighter build you are, the smaller towel you need.
- Precisely.
And, you know, if you really like the towel roll,
you'll probably gonna want to go buy
- A roll eventually. - A roll, yeah.
And it could just be a little more comfortable,
and like this one has the strap
that goes around the back side
so it doesn't fall down. - That way you don't have
to worry about, right,
falling away on you.
- This happens to be the McKenzie roll,
they make a great product,
we promote (drowned out by Bob).
- They're the ones that invented it.
I mean, they're the first ones to market,
they came up with the idea.
- From Robin McKenzie, is a physical therapist that
have literally changed how therapy
is done throughout the world.
- Right.
- There's other car seats, now,
if you have stenosis or like I've got spinal osteitis,
I think those people want some broader support
over the back seat.
Now this is just a simple one,
you know, you could buy.
Go to any pharmacy or big box store,
go online and you'll see dozens
(Bob mumbles)
of different ways to put support in.
If you don't need much,
something like this, it's just got
a plastic support that might be enough.
I can tell right now, it's not enough for me.
Now there's this, I like the memory foam,
so I'd say come out with these.
Now, this one, like Bob's used it
and it's way too big for him. - I don't like it at all.
- For me, it's okay.
I actually, I really really liked it
when I first started using it,
but it felt a little big.
Because it's memory foam,
after I use it and sit in it for about five minutes,
it squishes, so it feels good.
But then, I found--
- The Kubota. - Yeah and this one's not
so thick and it's got a few lumbar protrusions here
to help support that lumbar area;
and it's memory foam as well,
and then I fell in love with this one.
This really makes a difference for me.
Again, everyone's gonna be a little different.
- Yeah, I do not like this one.
- Yeah, it doesn't work for Bob.
- I just like a thin support behind me.
- I've got three of these.
I've got one in each car and I've got one in my recliner.
- So yeah, again, Brad has spinal osteitis
and I imagine with spinal stenosis too,
you'd like to have this.
- Probably.
But again, it's an individual thing.
So now you're thinking, "Man I gotta go through all this
just to get comfortable."
But I'm assuming that you've already had some discomfort,
you're going on this long trip and you want to make sure
that you're enjoying the trip.
- Now you're advising, we were talking earlier Brad,
that ideally, number one, you shouldn't drive.
If you have somebody else with you,
let them drive, because you need to adjust
a lot as a back patient.
- If you're having some back issues
or shoulder or neck issues, yeah.
It's not good, even with all these supports,
well, I want to get into the neck before we get into that.
This is a nice, I got this at a airport actually,
I was gonna sit in the plane and it happens
to have those little beads in there so I can...
You can conform it, it's really light weight
and it works well.
You can roll it and fold it in half, you can roll it
into a support there, and use it for your back.
This one, I like to use for my neck,
and I actually use this for reading a lot at home.
But in the car seat, it'll work well too.
Now this one, that would be too much of a bump.
I would do this and let it flip over.
And that's better and--
- Take it back. - Yep, take it back.
Now my mic is getting in the way, so it's kinda hard.
- I have a device too that you left with me
made out of similar stuff that I use to adjusting,
stops my head from turning this way
and that sort of (mumbles). - Like the horse shoe.
- Yep.
- Okay, Bob, you had the (mumbles) sock.
- Yeah, okay.
My kids made fun of this for years, the sock.
This is good for like,
when you're a tall person,
you tend to flex right here,
and you get that neck hump.
- Well yeah, because your head's banging into
the roof of the car (laughs). - That's right (laughs).
So anyway, years ago I started putting just putting
the rolled up sock right behind.
Brad saw this the first time a couple years back.
- You used a glove.
- A glove, I used a pop can one time.
(Brad laughs)
And it just gives a little counter-pressure there,
it just feels so good and like I said,
almost every one of my kids criticized me about this
and now I think every one
of my kids is using something like this now.
Especially if they drive long trips.
- The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
- That's right (laughs).
It's a rotten apple.
But, you know, this doesn't cost you anything
and you can try, this is great if you're having
pain in that upper traps and also upper back area.
- So, if you're driving,
you get the best you can if you
do have discomfort and you can stay,
be in the passenger seat (mumbles) even better yet.
- But also take frequent breaks.
It's really important that you get out and
walk around little bit,
it's great to do it at gas stations
and probably not on an interstate.
(Brad laughs)
All right, don't be walking around there.
- Right, well if they've got the rest area.
And then, the other thing,
if you can go way back as far as you can,
if you've got lower back pain, typically--
- Obviously don't drive this way,
we're talking about as a passenger.
- Right, and you know, you trust the person driving.
I mean some people, you feel like, more comfortable
if you see where they're driving.
- My wife says to me, she goes, "I can't,
I might as well drive," she says,
"'Cause I can't sleep while you're driving."
(Brad laughs)
- But anyways, roll back,
and the big thing is, change position.
And you may be back here for, you know, an hour,
taking a little nap.
But then, you know, get up and change it up within here,
take that support out,
change it around again and then continue to--
- Yeah, constant movement really,
to try to put the back in slightly different positions.
- It's like when you fall asleep in bed,
you don't typically lay on your back for eight hours.
You're rolling, 'cause your body needs different--
- Your body knows that it needs to have some movement.
- It helps maintain circulation and keep things comfortable.
- Arthritis, you know, in itself as a problem,
doesn't like to be still.
I mean, if you keep an arthritic joint
in one position all night long, it's gonna hurt.
- As a matter of fact Bob,
I was just doing research yesterday on this
and we're gonna have
a video coming up in a couple weeks
on some updated research on that.
- A teaser.
- Yeah, so anyways, if you're going on vacation,
you're sitting in that car seat for a number of hours,
take some of these tips and enjoy.
- So does your wife drive?
- Well, yeah she drives,
but I usually drive. - You guys mix it up.
- Actually, we're taking two cars this time.
- Oh. - It's a long story,
it's a family thing.
- You guys probably get along a lot better that way.
(Brad laughs)
All right, thanks for watching.
(electronic notes)