♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists on the internet ♪
- Hi folks, I'm Bob Shrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- And we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our own opinion, of course, Bob.
- We're gonna go over seven daily habits
to greatly improve your balance,
plus we're doin' a giveaway.
- Oh, the giveaway.
- So, if you wanna check out our giveaway,
go to bobandbrad.com, go to the giveaways section,
and you'll see that we are giving away this week,
it's called Pete's Choice,
and it has everything to do with the video.
In fact, it's a balance pad,
and they have two sizes.
One is 20 inches by about 16 inches,
they're two inches thick,
and the other size is about 15 inches by 13 inches,
and it's two inches thick.
(Brad laughing)
But these are fantastic, really well made, high quality.
- Yes, go on, Bob.
I'll talk more about it later.
- You'll also find it on Facebook,
BobandBrad, the contest, it'll be pinned
at the top of the page.
Give you a chance to win a couple.
If you want a short version of us,
go to Twitter, or Instagram, or Tik Tok.
- Did you say go to bobandbrad.com?
You did? - Yeah, I mentioned that
right away.
By the way, you can also use this
for sitting on, right Brad, you said?
- Yes, yes, I keep mine out on my patio deck.
Now that it's a little cooler,
I sit on it, keeps your bottom warm,
it's comfortable, and you can kneel on it as well.
I love 'em.
- Sure, multi-use, really well made.
The first things we're gonna show you though,
you don't require any equipment.
Then we'll show you, maybe, a couple of things
you can do with the pad, too.
The first thing I'm gonna recommend at home,
is that you actually walk around with your stocking feet.
Now, this is from me, personally.
Again, I'm gonna give the excuse here first, Brad.
I'm tall, I'm 6'6". - That's true.
- I have small feet, and I have high arches,
so I don't have much that I'm balancing on.
- Well those feet aren't that small,
just that you're tall.
- Yeah, for size 11 1/2 for a 6'6" guy is small.
- Well, that's pretty small, isn't it?
- So anyway, I for a long time was walking around
with these, with some slippers
that were really thick soled,
and my feet got weaker, and weaker,
and my balance was terrible, Brad.
I remember I came out a store one day with my wife,
and I went, like this. (laughs)
She goes, "What's wrong with you?"
- Was it a store, or a bar? (laughs)
- Yeah (laughs) it wasn't a bar, it was just a store.
So I started walking around in stocking feet
and it strengthened the muscles of my feet,
and honestly, I've improved significantly
just by doing that.
- And I'm sure there's a lot of viewers saying,
yeah, there's a lot, well not a lot,
but there's a fair amount of information
on barefoot walking, barefoot running,
to strengthen those intrinsic, the small muscles.
- Intrinsic muscles of the foot.
- So there's some good basis there.
- The other one that's really helped me, Brad,
is doing heel raises.
Now, I thought my calves were getting pretty strong
'cause I run, but it wasn't the case.
So I, actually, a couple times a day,
and you can do these just throughout the day,
while you're standing and talking to people.
You can do heel raises.
But I also do some single ones,
you know, I just hold on to something,
and do it because it's a little bit difficult to do.
- Right, so you wanna do it safely, definitely.
Do you do the opposite, and do dorsal flexion?
- I don't, I just haven't found the need for that one.
- Yeah, but I think it's a good one for people to do.
- It's a good one, too.
So what he's saying is not only raise the heels,
but also raise the toes.
- And that, you know, if you have a tendency
to fall backwards, that's a good one to help that,
but when you do it, you have to hold on to something solid.
- Yeah, safety first.
You gotta maybe have a wall next to you,
a countertop, or a chair.
- A lot of times I'll have people go to the kitchen sink
so they have their fingers to wrap around something,
'cause you may go that direction.
- So, in fact, while you're doing dishes,
if you don't have a dishwasher,
you could go ahead and hang on to the sink,
or while you're brushing your teeth.
There's all these sorts of things.
All right, next thing, while you're walking
you can throw in this while you're walking.
Brad, we've had some of our patients do this.
Are you okay?
- Well, yeah, I'm checkin' on my mic, go on.
- When you're walking, we actually have people do this,
and this is one where you gotta be safe.
I'm gonna have you move the chair, Brad,
just for a second.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
- And you might have to walk along a wall,
or something, just in case you lose your balance.
But I want you to look down, up, side to side.
It really taxes your balance,
especially as you get older,
and we have patients do this,
because what happens is, they'll be at an event,
like at Christmas, or something like that,
and they'll be walking along and someone will say,
"Hey, Grandma, how you doin'?"
She'll go like this, and then she'll fall,
because your body has to adapt
to the vision changing rapidly.
- As well as that head movement,
all has to do with your balance.
- Yep, so you're gonna work on side to side,
up and down, up to one angle, one to the lower angle,
doing all that while you're walking.
So, just something to work on.
Another one, sit to stand.
So like, whenever you're gonna get out of a chair,
instead of just getting out once,
get out three times. (laughs)
(Brad laughing)
So you know, when you're gonna get up,
you're gonna go ahead, and if you have to use your hands,
go ahead, and use your hands, use the arms of the chair.
But go ahead and do three right in a row.
Keep those legs strong, keep those buttock muscles strong.
- This exercise, there was a study on it,
and this was the number one exercise to prevent falls
in the elderly. - Really?
- Yep, a simple sit to stand,
because it works all the muscle groups.
Usually, not usually, but oftentimes,
people do have a fall getting out of a chair,
so it helps you with the strength and the balance
for that function, plus for walking.
It works similar muscle groups.
- So, and you can obviously do more than three.
You can throw in a time throughout the day
where you might do 10, and you can work on it.
Eventually, to the point where you actually get out
of the chair without your arms,
and just maybe lean forward and do some of those.
- It depends what level you're at.
- Right.
Hip abduction, also, big muscle group involved in balance.
So the muscles that are gonna stop you from waddling.
- They call that Trendelenburg,
but otherwise the waddle.
- Trendelenburg, yeah, but you can just go ahead
and push, you're gonna have
your toes point straight forward, not this way.
- Right down here.
- And you're gonna go off to the side like this.
Now you can do these on the floor, too, you could.
You know, laying on your side.
You're gonna show it, Brad?
You could do it in the bed.
- Yep, yeah, roll over in bed,
and do five or 10 of these on each leg,
otherwise you'll walk circles.
- And kick your spouse. (Brad laughing)
You wanna show the, do you call it karaoke,
or what do you call it?
- Well, I call it the karaoke, or the grapevine.
- The grapevine, you wanna show that, Brad?
- This one, can you throw me the balance,
or the Booyah stick?
This one, even if you're fairly good.
- [Bob] It can tax ya a little bit.
- Yeah, I mean, you may wanna have a cane.
We use the Booyah stick, of course.
- [Bob] Or again, you could do it against a wall.
- Wall, a cupboard where you could put your hands,
and then you, so here, the right foot goes
in front of the left foot, skip,
left foot behind.
This one, when I work with patients, I say,
sometimes they have a little bit
of a problem, but once you get used to it, it's fine.
But it is a really nice, if you've had a hip replacement,
don't do it.
They don't like that crossing the midline.
- Yeah, they won't recommend that.
The last one, we've mentioned this one before too,
like also when you're brushing your teeth
or something, just try standing on one leg.
This is where I still have some trouble, Brad.
- I've used this quite a bit with patients
that have balance problems, and I'll have them
at the cupboard, or you know,
if they're really high level, brush your teeth
while you're doing it,
but if your balance is pretty poor,
put your hands on the cupboard.
- [Bob] Look at me, I'm still terrible at this one.
- [Brad] Yeah, I can't wait to see when you're 80.
- (laughs) I know, it's gonna get better.
I'm gonna work on it.
- I can just see us doing videos
in 20 years from now. (laughs)
- Yeah, falling over left and right.
So now, if you wanna make, go advanced,
you could get the pads.
- Oh yeah. - And if you're a therapist,
but the way, you should have one of this around.
- Yep, they are really handy to use,
and patients really like 'em as well.
- Now you can just have 'em do squats on these.
You can have them work on touching forward,
touching back, touching to the side,
and going back like this.
See, I'm struggling on this one, too.
- [Brad] I would take the plastic off, though. (laughs)
- [Bob] Yeah, I would take the plastic off, right.
- [Brad] But yeah, they are really, really nice.
And you can do it--
- [Bob] And even standing on a single leg,
it just makes is a little harder.
- Hey, throw the ball at me, Bob.
I've done this with younger patients.
You know, people that are maybe in high school,
and they're got a sprained ankle,
and I'll have 'em throw the ball while standing
on the pad, (laughs) and I can't hardly do it.
- [Bob] Okay, now you're just wanted to show off,
and now you're finding out.
(Brad laughing)
- But it shows, it's not just for old people.
- Yeah, it works ya harder.
- Yep, it's a wonderful device.
- All right, we'd like to hear your comments below,
if you guys have any ideas on how to improve balance,
we're always glad to hear 'em.
- Yeah, yeah, people converse back and forth
in the comments section.
That's always fun to read those conversations.
You never know where they're coming from,
it could be across the world.
- That's right, we got some wacky ones out there.
- Bob, why Bob, why?
- Thanks so much.
(upbeat music)