This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/Wy3vqiB9X9A Mike: Elbow pain right here can be very annoying, painful, and last for weeks. And many times people who don't even play tennis have this pain. Brad: Because they call it Tennis Elbow. Exactly, I had this same problem a few years ago, and it was going on for weeks. I was doing typical treatments, that we therapists do. It was getting better, but not near fast enough. So we looked into a new option. Now, just to be clear about this, some typical symptoms with this elbow pain are you're oftentimes going to irritate it by like, grabbing the doorknob and twisting hard. Or if you bump into this area right here, like walking through a doorway and you hit the door frame, it can be really painful. Gripping, pulling. That'll set it off. If that's what you have, this is going to work very well for you. Mike: So tennis elbow is actually called lateral epicondylitis, and it is located where Brad is pointing to Sam the skeleton there. Oftentimes it is due to a repetitive movement, over and over again. So yes, that does happen in tennis, but oftentimes this happens with people who are typing a lot. Brad: That's right. Or maybe a weekend warrior, where you don't do too much, and all of a sudden, one weekend, you've got a big painting project going on and you're using that, and it flares it up. So anyways, a common irritant is the muscles in the forearm actually connect up to that point. They all connect there. Brad: The muscles, the tendons actually start to tear away from the bone right there a little bit. It inflames, and becomes very tender. And if these muscles are not relaxed, it's going to cause pain, and actually make the pain go on for weeks on end until you get these muscles to relax, allow circulation, and take stress off of the point. Mike: So oftentimes if you see a physical therapist, they'll have you do an arm straight out stretch, pushing your wrist down like this, and then they'll get into some deep aggressive massaging. But this doesn't always work for everyone. Brad: Right, so I found a technique from Dr. Lawrence Jones. This is called strain-counterstrain. It's been around for decades, actually. There has been research on this technique with great success. And I tried it, and it worked wonderfully. I thought, "Why didn't I do this a long time ago?" So we're gonna show you the simple technique. Once you get set up, it takes 90 to 120 seconds, and it is that particular. So let's go into it. All right, so this technique is known as strain-counterstrain, historically, actually now it's changed into positional release. We're not going to get into why they changed it. It's not important. I'm going to demonstrate the technique on my left arm, Mike will demonstrate his on his right. It's the same thing. It is nice, I'm going to do it as if you're seated at a chair at a countertop or at a table. You could do it seated in any recliner and use a couple of pillows, just so you can relax the involved arm. So, we're going to start out with a test. You go to the sore muscles that are tight and tender, and you're going to push in and go back and forth and find that tender spot. When you find it, you're going to stop, and you're going to give that pain that you created by that pushing on that tender spot, a number. Ten means you're screaming and yelling. Zero means there's no pain at all. Mike, we just did this before. What do you get? Mike: I'm at an eight. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Brad: You're a really good actor, Mike. So, you're probably going to be over five, seven, or eight, whatever it is, then you're going to write it down or just take a mental note. No, for the technique. It's very simple but specific. So you're going to take that arm and flex the elbow. Bring it up and flex it. The next thing you're going to do is take your palm and open it up with the other hand, and we're going to extend it. So this is extension. Take this hand over your fingers. Now you're not going to push down into an aggressive stretch. It's just the relaxed stretch. And once you get to that point, you're going to monitor how the muscle feels here. Brad: Now at this point, that pain should be released and feeling better. Now you're going to actually rotate your palm. You're going to stop at a position that this area feels the most comfortable, okay? And you'll feel it. Go around, and if you don't feel anything, you can put it anywhere. But typically you're going to find one area. Mine is right there. Feels good. Did you find the most comfortable area? Mike: Yeah, mine's over here. It's a little more stretched out there, but it feels good here. Brad: Right, and that's exactly what you're going to look for. Now, at that point, you need to have a timer. Either someone timing you, or looking at your cell phone or whatever. And you're going to go for 90 seconds. You're going to be completely relaxed. And 90 seconds is going to take a little while, you know? But the big thing is to relax and breathe. Just let those muscles relax. So, the idea is those tightened muscles, while you're doing this for that 90 seconds, will actually release, the muscle spindles relax. If you take the course, it tells you why it happens neurologically. We're not getting into it. After 90 seconds, though you can go to 120 seconds if it's feeling good, but no more than that. But at least 90 seconds. When you're at that point, time is up, Mike, simply let go slowly, relax, and do not do anything fast with that arm. Kind of straighten it out, and work the wrist back and forth in a slow motion. And we want to keep those muscles relaxed. At this point, you can do a gentle massage. And then we're going to retest on that same point, just like you did prior to the technique, and push. You were at an eight before Mike. Mike: Now it's at a four. Brad: Now it's at a four. So if you get significant pain relief, you're doing the right thing. Now, oftentimes you'll get better than half. He went from eight to four. I wouldn't be surprised if you go down to a one or a two. At that point your whole goal is, after you're done for the next 30 minutes to an hour, you're not going to be aggressive with this hand. Hopefully, you can schedule it so that you can do some work that does not stress this. The other thing you're going to want to do is activities that consistently irritate your elbow. You need to stay away from those. And you're going to do this technique every one to two hours for that first day. The second day, you're going to feel much better, and you're going to do it less and less, and it'll improve. If it is the right technique, if these muscles are the cause of this chronic pain, which is oftentimes the case, you will have good success with this. It's amazing. All right, so I did this on my elbow just like we did. Actually, mine went away almost completely within one to two days. We made a video on this three years ago. We put it out to everyone in the YouTube world, and there was such a gracious response. People were very thankful. We wanted to put another one out so you can experience the same. But if it doesn't work, Mike has the answer. Mike: So we have another video on how to treat tennis elbow " Stop Tennis Elbow Pain Now! (3 Minute Self-Treatment) . " This one involves using the dull side of a butter knife. Brad: Yeah, it's actually an interesting technique, and it works well. One or the other should work well. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

These are some of the tasks that you should determine whether they should be avoided (for now). Especially if you are a flexor! We understand that some of the activities on this list may be important to you. We are not asking for you to give them up forever. We are just asking for you to stop them right now so we can reduce your pain. You will be able to return to some of them in the future, and we will try to provide guidance. • Using a riding lawnmower. • Shoveling snow • Canoeing or using a kayak • Horseback riding • Lifting weights unless we provide guidance • Cycling • Downhill skiing • Snowboarding • Snowmobiling • Hiking in hilly country • Prolonged sitting such as in a car, on a motorcycle, or on a plane • Prolonged sitting at a computer • Yoga • Tennis, pickleball, etc. • Running (only if it increases your pain while doing) Check out the full Back Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/back-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/jyNt7yf3RZ8 Mike: The cocoon method is a very successful way to treat back pain. Brad: Now the cocoon method is actually based upon the idea most back pain is irritated by continued assaults or irritations throughout the day. Mike: So the idea is to identify what is causing these bouts of pain and to eliminate them completely. Brad: Right. And the cocoon method actually makes sense once you understand it. We're going to explain it in detail. Mike: It'll turn you into a butterfly. Brad: Mike! So the whole concept of this cocoon method is actually to learn how to stabilize the muscles around your back and spine so that you can move more efficiently and without pain. Mike: So we're going to show you how you can get in and out of bed. Then we're going to focus on transferring in and out of a chair. And last, we're going to go over how you can pick up and carry objects without having back pain. Brad: Right. So all three of these concepts we're talking about, or movements are very commonly assaults or irritants to back pain. First, we're going to address how to avoid starting back pain right away in the morning by how you get out of bed or how you move around in bed. Now if you look at your spine, we want to stabilize the muscles with core muscles around the spine being in your abdomen as well as your lats. Now if you get out of bed, like Mike's going to show the wrong way to do it. A lot of people will rotate their hips and keep their shoulders still. And what that does is it twists and puts torque on the spine. We don't want that. We want everything to move together stabilizing the spine in one stable motion, therefore taking stress off the spine. Mike: So this is called a log roll. Now to do it wrong, if I just twist my trunk putting a lot of twist in my spine itself can cause pain and irritants. Mike: So a common thing to do is keep your whole core moving together. So basically you move your shoulders and your legs together simultaneously. This is the log roll. Once you're in this position, oftentimes you want to try to shift your legs off the mat and push with your arms to get up. Mike: Now we're going to go through some little nuances between that depending upon what makes your back pain feel better. The first thing you need to look at is when you're in a hook lying position before you even roll, what position is your spine in? Is it too arched? Mike: Or is it too flexed? Mike: Now find the position that feels best for you. If you feel better having an extended spine, start in this position. If you feel better with the back of your back into the bed here, then start in this position. Once you find a comfortable area for your spine, start rolling over to your side. Brad: All right, now the next way to work with the cocoon method is to tighten up the abdominal muscles, which helps support the back and keep it from moving in a way that irritates it. So one way you can do this is actually take your fingers, put them on the sides of your stomach, push in, and then tighten up and you should feel those muscles tighten. Now if you feel the muscles on the sides tighten, that's a good thing. It's probably your transverse abdominus. You don't need to know that, but that's the goal that's going to help support your back. Just like a back belt would. Mike go ahead. Mike: So I am engaging my core and then I'm going to roll to the side. Again, make sure you're breathing. Don't hold your breath just to keep the core engaged. I'm talking right now and my core is engaged. And then again, you're going to do the same concept, keeping that core tight as you push up into this position. Mike: Now that is another option. So first, flexed arched back, try that, then try this. We're going to go into a third option that may work for some people. Brad: All right, now the third and final technique is actually to stabilize the spine by tightening the latissimus dorsi. These are the muscles that connect from the shoulder blades of the humerus and they are wide broad muscles, they're strong and they connect to the lower back. Mike's going to connect those and actually tighten them by shrugging his shoulders down and I can actually feel the lat muscles tighten up and that's going to stabilize that spine. So you go down and feel them tighten up. Go ahead Mike, show them on the bed. Mike: So again, starting in hook lying position, you're going to do the anti-shrug or pull down. Now I'm pulling down, I'm going to do the side rolling again, while I'm still engaged pulling down, I'm going to push up with my arm. Roll in one continuous motion and do it that way. Mike: Now you're going to pick which one. It's very hard to try to anti-shrug and engage the core at the same time. Do which one feels best for you when you're getting from a lying down position to a seated. Brad: That's right. Now we're not just making this up. This has actually been field-tested with patients and it's really fun to watch a patient get out of bed and they smile and they say, "It didn't hurt when I tightened up my stomach." This really works. Take your time with it. It doesn't come really easy because you have to think about muscles tightening up in different locations, but it can be very effective. Mike: Now if you are a stomach sleeper, Brad's going to demonstrate how you can get up using any of these three methods. Again, you do the same things just from this position. Brad: So it's a little different, but you can actually see this better. Now if I'm from my stomach position and I actually arch my back more and that feels better, then I'm going to proceed. How you get out of bed from your stomach if you have back pain is a little different, you simply slide to the edge of the bed down with one leg until you feel your toe touch the ground. At that point, I'm going to maintain a strong back, like it's in a cocoon. It's not going to move or rotate. And then I take the other leg and I keep everything straight. I don't get all twisted up. Keep everything straight. Use your hands to stabilize and lift your body up and get up and you're nice and tall and straight. Brad: Now the same thing applies if arching, it hurts, but if you round your back like this and that feels better, you get out the same way. Now if you want to try tightening your abdominal muscles, that's actually similar, particularly in prone or on your stomach. When you tighten your abdominal muscles like I am right now, it rounds your back a little bit. That's just the nature of it. Again, come out touch with one foot, the other foot walk up. Brad: The last one is tightening your lats. So from your stomach, do the shrug down, that's going to pull your elbows down then you know you're doing it right. It works out well because your elbows need to be there anyway. And proceed, first, toe touch, everything moves together, everything moves together, and slowly and up you go. Keep good posture throughout the day, like the cocoon is there, your back will get better. Mike: So the first thing you want to do is find a chair with an armrest. If you do not have an armrest, we'll show another option for that. But when you're standing up, do not have your feet close together. This makes it more awkward on your back, especially try to have your feet a little bit wider apart, a wide base. Scooting towards the edge of the chair can also be beneficial for some people. Now if you do not have an armrest to push up from, you can simply take your hands, kind of make a hook shape, and push up from your thighs. Now this is going to be dependent upon what feels better for your back. Some people with back pain feel better when they're flexed. Some people feel better straight or extended. If you feel better in a flex position, you can simply flex over, push from your hands, and get up this way. Mike: Now some people, this is going to create back pain. So what you actually want to do is try to keep a nice neutral spine. You can do this from this position like Brad will show or just use your armrest. Try to keep a nice straight position when standing up. Mike: A simple way, if you're not recreating pain while doing this to check, is actually to grab your seat pan, flex your spine, and pull up. If this creates pain, this means flexing your spine is worse. Next, go into a straight-back extension position and pull up on the seat pan. This makes the pain worse. Extension is worse for you. So do the opposite. Mike: So once you figure out what position your spine wants to be in, we can try the other option as well. So we're going to first tighten the abdominal muscles again, as Brad showed, push out into my stomach muscle, say I like the extension pattern. We're going to keep my core engaged tight pushing out as I stand up with a nice straight back. You can also do this in a rounded position if needed. It's a little harder when you're pushing your stomach out and flexing over, but it is possible help stabilize those muscles as well. Mike: So that is an option for that. Now we can do the anti-shrugging. Pull down, pull your lats down, and do the same thing again, whichever position is better for you, pull down, and keep that core tight as you stand up can minimize the back pain you're experiencing. Brad: I'll give an example of if it feels better with a rounded back. Just keep that in mind. That's where you want to be. Then some people will say, well, that doesn't make sense. You always say avoid that. However, if you're older or if you know you have stenosis, that probably will feel a little bit better than arching your back and getting up. Most people will probably feel better with the arch back. Now we're going to cover lifting and carrying an object. Obviously, if you have back pain, you want to minimize the weight you're lifting. But if you need to pick something up, it's very critical that you find out what your back response to the best. If I'm picking up this box, and typically for everyone, make sure your feet are wider apart. That is a given. It doesn't matter about your back. That makes you more balanced and stable. We're going to bend and lift with the knees, but you do want to find out if you round a little bit, does that actually feel better? Or if you come down and you arch and go better. Brad: Typically, arching is what's taught for most people, that's probably going to be the way to lift. For some people, it may be more comfortable to flex. There are some reasons for that. We won't get into that. Do what feels the best and pain-free. Once you get it up to waist height, make sure that the box or whatever you're carrying is close to your body at the belt line. Don't bring it up to your chest. Keep it down low and close to your body makes a big difference. And then experiment. Does it help if I flex forward a little bit and carry it? Does it feel better that way? Does it feel better in a neutral position? Or maybe if you arch back a little bit, whichever way feels the best, listen to your body. It knows what's going on. We do not want to irritate it more. Okay, the next thing is to tighten up the abdomen. Oh, if you tighten that up, does that feel better? You're going to walk slower and think tight. Then experiment with the lat muscles where I'm going to actually pull my shoulders down. Remember the muscle fibers I talked about supporting the lower back and try walking and carrying the object like that and see which one goes. Brad: You have three options. Work what feels the best for your body, and again, if you have a hurt back, avoid lifting and carrying as much as possible. Mike: I will add if you're doing something like groceries and oftentimes you have offset weight, try to make sure the weight is similar between the two sides. Also take more trips from the car to the house, versus loading up like I do. Brad: Yes, good point. Very good point. That thing of offsetting the weight. If you lift 10 pounds, if you have five in each hand, it's much better than 10 pounds on one side. Mike: So try all three of those options with each movement pattern we showed. Typically, if say the core exercise worked for one, it's going to work for all three. So just try them out, see what feels best, and more than likely stick to it with every position change you do. Brad: What about another video? Mike: If you want to check out more videos on how to improve your back pain, check out our video " Do These Exercises ONLY If They Improve Your Back Pain ." This one has more exercises in it. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/x9OErOafo74 Brad: Good day! You can control circulation in your legs. We're going to show you a method that you can do while standing. Mike: Poor circulation can cause pain, swelling, and discomfort in the leg. So we want to show you how you can combat this while standing. Brad: That's right. All right, you must understand some of the facts about circulation in the legs, particularly while we're standing. Mike: So when blood flows away from the heart down into your legs, it's often assisted by gravity, which makes it really easy to get down in your legs. However, if your circulation system is compromised, you struggle to get the blood flow back up to the heart. Brad: Now it's important to understand the blood going down into the legs is full of oxygen as well as nutrients which feeds the muscles and all the tissues to keep it healthy so we can keep moving. Once the blood has taken care of that, it needs to come back up, as Mike mentioned, but we need to assist it and get back up using muscle contraction. That is a part that we can control. Mike: So the muscle contraction is actually like a pump helping push that blood back up into the heart where it needs to go again. Brad: Right. And there's this particular system, if you really want to work that blood up, particularly if you're compromised in regards to circulation and blood flow, we're going to show you the right way to do it. All right, now, pain and problems with your legs while standing occur and get worse with time. Some people can tolerate standing for five or 10 minutes before they really get that leg pain. Other people may only be standing for one or two minutes and they get leg pain because of the circulation being affected. Mike: So we're going to show you seven different exercises you can try if you're stuck in a prolonged standing position, and we're going to perform 10 reps of each of these. Brad: That's right. Now we're going to start with muscle contraction and we're actually going to start at the feet, a complete exercise for the muscles in the feet and the ankles and then the calves, and then the thighs and the quads all the way up into the glutes. So we're going to start farthest down, work all the way up to help pump that blood back up to the trunk where we want it to go. That is the goal. Are you ready Mike? Mike: I'm ready. Brad: Let's go to work. Okay, there are seven exercises. We're gonna go through them all. I want you to do them with us and find out which ones work best for you and see if some of them may not work, but I think they'll do well with everyone. Again, starting with the feet. Little things we want to talk about going up on our heels, but when you do that, think about pulling your toes up and then up on your heels and then down and up on your four feet or your toes. Brad: We're going to do 10 of all of these. So just go through and do 10. Now you can see I'm losing my balance. Mike is actually using the Booyah Stik or something to hold onto. A wall works great. Okay, once you get 10 with those, remember muscle contraction works. So we're going to work some more muscles that normally don't get worked in the ankle and the feet. And these are the famous ziggy-zaggies. Watch what we do with our feet. We're going to go one way with our toes then with our heels. And what this does, if you do this, you're going to feel your ankles and your feet get fatigued. Little muscles are working in there and as they work, they are pumping blood upwards. Brad: It's a nice little thing to do. If you don't want to do that, you can simply work toes together, and toes apart, that's going to do a similar thing. Brad: And you know if you're waiting and aligning and your legs are getting tired, you want to get the blood moving, this might be more acceptable than doing the ziggy-zaggies in public. Anyways, the next one is the butt kick. In other words, you think about your heel going up to your butt and down. You don't have to do this fast, up and down. If you just want to do mini ones, that's fine. Do what works best for you, 10 on each leg. There we go. Mike: What if I can't kick my own butt? Brad: Yeah, well if you can't kick your own butt, that's okay. Fully acceptable, Mike. Next one. What is it, Mike? Mike: It is marching. So you're going to hold onto support again and just march up and down. I'm just going to alternate to get through them quicker. I'm going to do 10 on each leg. You can do one leg at a time if you prefer that method. Going slow and controlled. If you can't go this high up, that's fine. Just do what you can. Brad: If you want to do circles with the knees, that can be helpful. Good for the joints as well. Mike: We got two more Brad. The cameraman's counting for us. Brad: Next, squats. You know, mini squats, you can simply just go down a little bit. That's going to work the quads, we're going to work the hamstrings a little bit. Have something for balance if you need it. The deeper you go, the more work, the better it's going to be, the better the pump. However, we need to be safe. So if you get down too far and you can't get back up, obviously it's not right. So be safe. Have something to hold onto. You can go to a wall. Only go down as far as you can. 10 repetitions. Mike: We're at 10. Brad: Oh, sorry, over time. The next one is working the butt muscles. You simply squeeze your cheeks together and relax and do that 10 times. Brad: Now, if you want to combine these because you want to be work efficient, do the squat up, butt squeezes all together, then you get two done at once. Mike: I'm still working on mine and there are 10. And we got one more exercise, but we need to get a chair out here. Brad: Right, now this is optional depending on how your balance and your mobility because we want to be safe. Mike, do you want to go up the stairs and do it? Mike: Sure. Brad: I'm going to do it on a stool. I wouldn't recommend it on a stool for a lot of people. Stairs with handrails are ideal. The idea is to put your foot up on the stool or step and simply flex the knee, the ankle, and the hip. You get three joints all getting the range of motion, which is good for those. And we get the elevation and now we actually have a little gravity assist and we do a little pumping here. So we actually have a pump with that. Again, if you don't feel comfortable with this, do not do it. It's not that important. We want to be safe. Okay, how are you doing Mike? Mike: Good. If there's trouble in going up to a higher stair, you can just start on the bottom step. It's perfectly acceptable. Brad: Yep. All right, good. That was nice. Should only take you about oh two to three minutes and you get, we're done with that. You might do it every hour or so depending on how long you're standing. My legs feel better already. How about you Mike? Mike: I'm good. You sound out of breath. Brad: Well, yeah. I'm older than you. All right, we are going to give a little bonus information. We talked about exercises, compressing, and getting that blood to move up. Now you can wear special socks. They're called graduated compression socks . Make sure you get some good ones. In other words, they actually have more compression around the foot and ankle than they do up around the calf. So it squeezes here and pushes up. Mike has this pair on right now. They always come up just below the knee. Make sure you get the right length. If they come up over the knee, it's not comfortable and there are problems with those. These can be very helpful. I know people who were very grateful for using these that have circulation problems throughout the day. They are a little bit difficult to get on and off, but they're okay. Mike, do you have anything to say about compression socks? Mike: I had them on the whole time and I actually noticed that this calf is not fatigued at all. This isn't really fatigued, but I can tell it's working more. Just having that support there, even with the musculature, can help. Brad: So if you wear compression socks and you do exercise, you get double the benefit. So they're nice. They can be very useful to wear. We do have other videos on compression socks. Mike, do we have another one? Mike: Yes, if you want to watch more videos on how to improve leg circulation, check out our video " Easiest Ways To Instantly Improve Leg Circulation " . It's the easiest way to instantly improve leg circulation. This one does not involve standing exercises. Brad: And naturally I'm concerned. Do they make compression socks that are red? Because it's one of my favorite go-to socks. Mike: They have all sorts of colors. Brad: Yeah, I think they do actually. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

Level one : Your number one goal with level one commitment is simple, we are trying to reduce your pain levels and possibly any inflammation you may have. We do that using these three methods: 1. Decrease the amount of “pain makers” you experience each day. In our world, a pain maker is an action, a position, or a thing that causes pain. The pain can be in your back, or it may be “referred” pain. Referred pain originates from a structure in your back but refers to some other place in your body (butt, legs foot, etc.) If you perform a task and you begin to feel pain, that action is a pain maker. If you move a certain way and it causes pain that movement is a pain maker. If you are lying in bed on your back and you have pain, that position is a pain maker. For many of you, these painmakers occur throughout the day and severely limit what you can do. We want you to change that. 2. Use pain management tools from the Bob and Brad toolbox that help decrease or manage your pain. These might include education or guidance on what to do and what to avoid. 3. Use exercises and stretches from Bob and Brad’s toolbox with the end goal of decreasing pain. Why it is important to decrease the Pain Makers in your day? ➢ Reduce the pain makers in your day and you begin to reduce the sensitivity of your nerves to pain. It has a cascade effect both ways. Increase pain from pain makers and increase nerve pain sensitivity. Decrease pain from pain makers and decrease nerve pain sensitivity. People are sometimes surprised to learn the way they move and activate muscles can eliminate pain. By reducing pain makers, you begin to see you control the pain in your life. It does not have to control you. The fewer pain makers you have, the more you can do. Check out the full Back Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/back-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in April of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/Wh6R48fvz30 Mike: Are you struggling with back pain related to lumbar stenosis? Brad: So stenosis is something that a number of people have. It can be treated with exercises. You need to find the right ones. We have eight options here and you need to go through all of them, find out which ones relieve your pain, and work with them. Mike: So tip number one is to check if you have an anterior pelvic tilt. Now that sounds like a big word, but essentially all that means is if your pelvis is tilted like me forward like this and oftentimes when you try to stand upright, I'm doing a very extreme version of it. You can have tight hip muscles and this can cause your back to get worse. Brad: So we will look at this more clearly with a skeleton here. So here's the pelvis, the anterior motion, if you have tight hip flexors, the muscles in front will actually pull the pelvis forward like this. Brad: Now the stenosis is happening right where the nerves exit the spine. When this gets going, actually the foramen or the holes that the nerves come out at get even tighter and squeeze and impinge causing pain. So we need to relax those hip flexors, allowing them to open up, making sure that there's plenty of room for the nerves and less pain as a result. All right, Mike is going to demonstrate a really nice hip flexor stretch. You're going to do this on the edge of your bed like Mike is doing. If your bed is really soft or you have a footrest there that gets in the way, you could do this on a sturdy table or if you have a plinth at home, which most people don't, but you'll have to work with what you have. Mike actually does his off the edge of his bed regularly. Mike: Yeah, it's a little soft but it works for me. So what you're going to do is start in a lying down position with both knees to your chest. You're going to let one leg drop down to the floor like this. If you're tight, you may be way up here and can't go down any further. Mike: Try to go down as far as you comfortably can, bend that knee back, and you'll feel more of a stretch. Pull the opposite leg towards your chest. Hold this for 30 seconds. This leg should be in a nice, straight line. Don't let it venture off to the side. You're not going to get as good of a stretch. Once you do one side, switch and do it on the other side. Again, the same rules. Hold for 30 seconds. If this is making your back pain worse, then this isn't going to help you. If it feels good, then keep doing the stretch. Brad: I want to emphasize the importance of the leg or the hip that's not being stretched, the knee that's up, make sure you pull that knee up so that actually stabilizes the back and allows the hip flexor to stretch versus irritating the spine. Again, Mike mentioned if the knee is way up away from the table, and it only drops down part of the way and the other knee drops down farther, it's a very strong indication that the knee that's up has tight hip flexor problems. You really need to do this stretch. Take your time with it. It may feel a little awkward at first, but you'll get a good feel for it and learn to relax. Good key to stretching it. So now this next stretch is to specifically open up one side of the spine to open the foramen and decompress the nerve. Mike's going to point to where it is. Now when we do the stretch, watch what happens where that nerve exits, it's going to pull and open that up right there and that's where the whole goal and that's going to relieve that stenosis. Let's show them how it's done, Mike. Mike: So these stretches are from Rick Olderman , who's a physical therapist. So we're going to show it in a doorway first. You can certainly use a pull-up bar if you have access to it. Brad will show it with a stick because we realize some people can't reach up that high. So you're going to take the side that is bothering you if it's one-sided pain. If it's both-sided pain, just kind of pick a side. So I'm going to take my left hand here. I'm going to face my palm away from me. Reach the top of the doorframe and then I'm going to lean into the doorframe. This is going to open up those foramen and can help take away some of your pain. I'm just going to sit here for 30 seconds. Some people may not need to lean into it too much to feel a stretch. Some people can lean in more. Just make sure your pelvis isn't hiking up because it's not going to help, let it relax. Breathe through it and you can perform it on the other side if you want. Just see if it helps. You can try both sides and see if this helps your pain. Brad: Now, if the doorway is too tall or you don't have one, you can certainly use a stick that's reasonably solid, or you can use a piece of PVC pipe. We use the Booyah Stik . We had people use a broomstick, as long as it's solid enough, you could put it on a table and if the table is smooth and your stick is smooth, you simply put a shoe there so it does not slip around. We're just going to bring the hand up, palm facing away from you, grab the stick. We're not going to let the hand slide down. Just going to grip it there and step away a little bit. If you see right here, loose clothing. If that clothing tightens up and stretches, that's good. That means we're stretching the right area. Not only does it open up the foramen, but there are probably tight muscles in that area closing the foramen, so we need to relax and stretch them as well. Brad: Now if you do the painful side and it does well and you do the other side and it creates pain, only do one side, do the side that feels good. Both sides may feel good. Everyone's back is a little bit different so listen to your body. Now this next stretch is very simple. It's one of my favorites. I do it on a regular basis because it consistently relieves my lower back pain. It manages it well. I do have stenosis at L4-L5, L5-S1. Go ahead Mike, show how simple it is. Mike: So it's simply hanging. You are going to need some type of pull-up bar or something to hang from in order to do these. Notice right now my feet are on the floor, but my hips and pelvis are relaxed. This is essentially a distraction technique or traction, basically just separating your vertebrae, taking away any pain you may be having from stenosis. You can hold it here for as long as you comfortably can, and come back up. As you advance and if you're say younger or stronger, no matter your age you can do this and actually let your feet dangle or it's a tall enough system, that is perfectly acceptable too. But for beginners, you can start with this method. Brad: And I really want to emphasize when you start doing this that you start out slow. If you go down like he did with his feet off the floor on the first day, you're probably going to have pain. It's not going to be comfortable. Simply go down, allow only 50% of the weight, and not lifting the feet up. It should feel comfortable. Do not get too aggressive right away. I can't stress that enough. Mike: Typically when you're hanging, most people like to do it for two to three minutes roughly, but just let pain be your guide and obviously your grip strength. Brad: I usually go about 30 seconds regularly and it works well for me. Everyone's a little different. Now walking with stenosis is something you'll want to do if you tolerate it. So in other words, most people with stenosis will walk so far, that they start having back pain. When you sit down, the pain dissipates relatively rapidly. So you're going to walk as far as you can comfortably. For example, if you can walk and at about 10 minutes, it starts to be irritated, you walked too far. Your next walk, the next day go eight minutes so there's no irritation there. Make sure you're on a flat surface, you're not hiking in the hills, and then always walk eight minutes. You can progress it a little bit, maybe up to nine minutes and then 10 as it's tolerated. Mike: Now another good suggestion is if you can comfortably walk eight minutes and you want to do more, maybe walk eight minutes in the morning, eight minutes in the afternoon, and eight minutes in the evening. Just break up your walking so your back can tolerate it. Brad: That's right. Mike: So the next tip is if you're walking and you have back pain constantly but say you go to the grocery store and you notice, hey when I lean on a shopping cart, we call this shopping cart syndrome, my back pain feels a lot better. What you're actually doing is taking pressure off the spine by leaning on a shopping cart so it may be time to experiment with the walker as needed. Now I have a standard front-wheel walker here, Brad can show on a four-wheeler. But essentially you can press through your hands, taking pressure off your spine, and most often people will slightly flex forward like this with stenosis because it feels better and they will walk like this. If this is how you have to walk to begin walking again, it's perfectly acceptable and you should try it. Brad: Now if you're at the level where you can walk fairly well with that grocery cart and it feels good, you may want to use a four-wheeled walker like this, which allows more freedom and it has a chair to sit down and when your back does get sore. Walking is a great form of exercise. You want to continue to do it as well as long as it doesn't irritate your back. That's the big advantage of a four-wheel walker, allows that freedom. I'm slightly forward, but I'm working on getting straight, but I don't want to irritate it. Brad: So we're in that mid-range where it's tolerated, allowing you to walk longer distances, and then you can sit down, take a break. Oftentimes a little break when you're walking with stenosis, a few minutes can be enough so you can get up and walk again pain-free. Don't overdo it, be careful with it and use good judgment. Okay, now we're going to address problems that can occur in the upper back and in the lower neck, particularly with a flexed forward posture. The head will come forward and we get this bump, we call that the neck hump and that can cause problems and pain. Brad: If you look at it on the spine, we have good posture, but this happens. Can you point that out, Mike? Brad: So what we need to do is straighten that out, opening the gaps in that area so we have good posture and relieve the stress and pain there. So, Mike, he's just going to straighten up, bring the shoulders back as far as you can, and try to straighten this area as much as possible. Brad: It's one of those things that takes time. Work with it and monitor your posture throughout as you're walking, as well as doing the stretch. Alright, so Mike's going to demonstrate using the wall and actually stretching that lower neck. Go ahead Mike, this is a nice stretch to do. Mike: So first of all, you want to get close to the wall, place your buttocks on the wall, and then initially just try to touch your shoulders to the wall. Some people may be tight and they're rounded forward. Work on eventually trying to touch your shoulder blades to the wall. If you can successfully do this and it is not painful, the next step is to work on that forward head posture I have. So simply try to touch the base of your skull here to the back of the wall. Notice I'm not looking up, I'm just going straight back, performing a chin tuck. This would be optimal positioning. Obviously, if you've been stuck forward for a while, it's hard to get into this motion. So just take your time slowly each day, try to get more of your back touching, and eventually try to work your neck muscles. Brad: So after it feels more comfortable using the wall, you can simply do this stretch without the wall. You'll get a good feel for it and do it without that as you stand throughout the day or even in a seated position in a firm chair, you can work that posture, getting things where they need to be. Okay, so as you progress, the neck is feeling more loose, and the lower back is loose. We're going to address the thoracic spine. Brad: These next two stretches we'll show you work quite well. One of them is fairly aggressive, and we'll show you that and how to work with it. Now the first way to stretch it is probably a little easier and less aggressive. What works well is if you have a chair that has rollers on it, and then at a tabletop, you can put a cushion, or a pillow for a little cushion on the table. Elbows will go on the cushion, your hands are going to go behind the head. You're not really grabbing aggressively, just a place to put them to rest. And now I'm going to go outwards with the stool and stretch and I can feel that upper back really starting to stretch. Come forward, you can hold it. The key to this is going a comfortable distance, a comfortable stretch, and just relaxing for about 15 to 30 seconds. If you haven't done this before, it may be only five to 10 seconds until you get used to that because it is a little aggressive. Brad: Now after you've done this and it feels pretty comfortable, you want to get more aggressive. Mike, you can show them the next one. On this one, you do need to get down on the floor comfortably. Mike: So we are going to be doing the same thing Brad just demonstrated. My hands are going to go behind my head and my elbows will stay on a chair. This is a good height for me. Again, you're going to be on your knees. Just walk your knees back and you can see if I'm flexed and stuck in this posture, what I'm going to do is try to extend and relax this. You're almost doing a cat-camel motion if you've ever done that, but my forearms are supported, so it's really going to stretch into my thoracic spine and I feel a good stretch doing this. Mike: So if this feels good for your stenosis, it's certainly a good option to try. You can, again, just hold this for a duration of time, five, 10 seconds, up to 30 seconds if it feels good, and repeat this throughout the day. Now we will show another option that may be better for some people. Brad: Alright, so this next stretch again for that thoracic region we mentioned, you can take a towel or a couple of towels, and roll it up so it's about six inches in diameter. Get it firm, tape it up, and we're going to use that as a fulcrum point to actually mobilize that thoracic spine. We'll put it on the floor. I'm going to have a pillow for my head as you'll see how this works. I'm going to put that towel roll right between my shoulder blades. Oh, my back just cracked there, it worked very nicely, and it felt good. And you work forward or back, whatever feels like the comfortable and the most important spot, you'll get a feel for that after you do it. You have a pillow so you can relax the neck. I might actually tilt the pillow or use two pillows and then start here. You can bring the arms up overhead. Let gravity stretch. You're going to stretch out the front pec muscles as well and do this as tolerated. Brad: Typically, you'll start out with five seconds or so. Again, the pillows are important so you can relax your neck. We don't want to irritate the neck and get sore muscles. If you happen to have a foam roller, the 36-inch foam roller works well. They make them different densities, the softer one is more comfortable and you'll put that down. This is a little more challenging as you will because it's a little unstable. So that can be a benefit for some core strengthening while you do this. And you need to make sure that the roller or the full roller is at a point where you can hit your head on it. If you end up with your head off the roller and your head goes back, it's no good, not what we want. Use a pillow underneath that feels much better. And now we're going to do the same thing. This works a little better than the towel roll. It gets in where it needs to go and you can hold it here and this is one of those things you can work on just in general. Even if you don't have stenosis, it's a great postural stretch. Mike: So the last tip, number eight, is for if you're walking around either your house or you're out and about and you're having some back pain, it's going to be something you can do. It's a traction technique. So if you're at home, use a countertop. If you're out and about, try to find a park bench or picnic table that is very sturdy. What you're going to do is go up to the table. This is kind of short compared to those things, but we'll work with it. I'm going to face my palms away from me, and then I'm going to walk my feet away from me. I'm going to put my feet in the other direction and I'm just going to kind of let my body hang. This is going to get some distraction in my spine muscles there, which can help if you're having any stenosis issues. Brad: It's important that you lock your elbows, it takes a lot of work off the arms. Again, this is too short. We need to be about four to six inches higher than this and it's much more comfortable. I'm sure Mike will agree. Mike: Yeah, you probably won't have to kick your feet back quite as far as this if you're doing it on a taller surface, but it's the same concept. Brad: Alright, so there are eight different options. Try all of them. Do the ones that offer relief and continue to do them. You can go on to other ones as you progress, as we instructed in the video. Mike: If you want to check out more videos on stenosis, check out our video " Spinal Stenosis Best & Worst Exercises Must Know! " These are the best and worst exercises you must know. Brad: That's right, enjoy. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/ildCz2OdBeI Brad: Wrist, finger , and hand pain. I've actually experienced this directly approximately in the last five years. Grabbing things, opening things, working with tools, and actually shaking people's hands got very painful and I decided I needed to look into this. I found some excellent exercises and treatments we're going to go over how they cured me or actually allowed me to manage it very successfully. Mike: So as we age, it is very common that people start developing wrist and hand issues, making everyday activities much more challenging and it can be very frustrating. Brad: Yeah, it's not fun. Okay, now we're going to go through the exercises. They're quite simple. You probably do not want to do these until you've been out of bed for a while, maybe a half hour, and let your body warm up. We're going to go through the hand, the wrist, and actually some very interesting other options at the end of the video. Mike: So we're going to begin with the wrist exercises. So we're going to do wrist flexion, which is going down like this. Mike: And then extension, which is going back like this. Mike: Now you can just do them forward, you don't have to go to the angle we were doing. You can have your hands straight out in front of you as well. We're going to do 10 in each direction. And I have a little goofy wave going on and our cameraman is laughing at me right now. Mike: Now the next thing we're going to do is rotations like Brad is showing. So simply turn in a circle what you can. Again, keep your arms in a comfortable position that works for you. Make sure to go clockwise 10 times and then go counterclockwise 10 times. Brad: Alright, now we're going to show you the wrist exercise that I learned a few years ago that's been very helpful and we have a good response to it from other videos as well. We're actually going to do some decompression or traction on the wrist joint. In other words, we're going to pull the wrist joint apart a little bit, which allows the synovial fluid to get into the joints, and stretch out some of the tissues. It's a gentle exercise. So the key is, to keep this whole arm as relaxed as possible. Now I'm going to take this hand, grab around the knuckles just in behind the knuckles here like this. So we have a good grasp of this hand. And as everything is relaxed, if we get a good closeup, watch the joint here. It's going to actually separate. You can see it right there, possibly right there it's actually separating the joint. We're not creating pain, this should feel good. Brad: Now, once you get used to doing this, it may take a little practice. We're going to add a little rotation. So I grab, relax, do the distraction of the decompression, and then watch I'm going to rotate my wrist, but my hand will stay the same. A little rotation there. We're not pushing it hard, it's gentle. We do about five to 10 reps back and forth and then repeat it on the other hand as well. So it's a nice stretch for that wrist j oint. Brad: Now let's go the fingers. Mike: Okay, now we're going to get into the finger exercises. First is flexion-extension again but with the finger joints. So essentially for flexion, you're just going to try to make a fist. Obviously, if you have bad arthritis, you may get stuck. Just go down, which you can. We'll show some other options later. And then you're going to work on extending your hand all the way straight if possible. We realize some people don't have as much range of motion as Brad and I do, so we'll show you some other ways to get that range of motion. Brad: Right, now I personally could not make a fist. My fingers would get about this far and it was very concerning to me. Brad: This would be in the morning, so I would work these exercises back and forth and actually take, usually my right hand's a little tighter than my left hand, I'll go over all four fingers and I'll help them as long as it didn't create any sharp pain. Pressure on pressure off and after five or 10 repetitions, I would get further and actually get to the point where I could touch and then I would leave them alone, shake it off a little bit. Mike: Now if you're struggling with straightening your fingers out, what you can do is put your fingertips together, all five of them, and just try to press them together and touch your palms if possible. This is going to push you into an extension pattern. Mike: Obviously, if it hurts here, just stop there. Do what range of motion you have, you can comfortably do. Maybe over a while doing repetitions, you'll start to loosen up and you can almost touch your palms together. Brad: That's right, now, one thing I realize is sometimes people will have one or two fingers in particular that are very tight, and myself, it's my third digit. Okay, that finger's very tight. So what I'll do with that finger alone is I'll grab that finger and I'm going to do a little traction just like on the wrist, but we're focusing on the joint at the base of the finger. So I'm just going to relax, gently pull. Again, this is gentle. Do a little rotation back and forth, the same concept as the wrist. Okay, and then flex it a little bit. Should get a little more bend. Brad: Then I'll take my thumb, put it at the base of the finger, grab the finger on top, and then work this first joint. Okay, once that loosens up, I'll go to the next joint, assuming it's tight and we work just that joint. Again, you can put in a little traction, and a little rotation. You're really just trying to loosen things up getting all the soft tissue in there moving and the synovial fluid, and then the last joint, which I think most people don't have a lot of problems with, but it's always nice to be complete. Brad: All right, good. We have three other nice things that are not exercise-related that have helped me quite a bit. Now the first of my three simple tricks that helped my hands get back into gear is heat. Now typically people that have arthritis in their hands respond well to heat. It makes them feel good, and you get a little more motion. So that can include things like doing the dishes where you actually get some range with the heat, taking a bath, a shower, you can use a hot pack. Now, one thing I wouldn't buy is just a normal hot pack because using water would be the same thing in the dishes or the bathtub. If you want to get some real deep therapeutic heat, there is a hot pack that's special and it's far infrared. The difference is this will heat more than two inches into human tissue. So when you wrap it around your hands, you're going to get the joints, and the muscles all heated through the hand versus if you were just in water, you feel the heat, but it does not penetrate. Mike, can we talk about this thermotex a little bit? Mike: So this is a Thermotex far infrared heating system . This is their platinum model. It has three panels and this is the side that's actually going to be warm. So I'm going to wrap my hand up in it real quick and show you what it can look like. Mike: So you can see, you can wrap it up like this using the strap and my hands are in here and stay nice and warm. You can use this infrared system on any body part by the way, it doesn't just have to be the hands, but it's very versatile like that. Brad: That's right, they are expensive, but they do work well. They get that deep heat. Again, you can use an ankle, hip, knee, shoulders, your back. They're very versatile, so that's important to know. Alright, now the next thing is diet. Now we are not a channel that specializes in diet, but I know personally, particularly around Christmas time when there's a lot of chocolate, which is my weakness, I'm going to eat it. My hands and my joints do get more sore. So I cut the sugar out. Things get much better typically within a week. Mike, you have similar issues at your age even. Mike: Yes, most refined foods, have a lot of carbohydrates, sugars, and salt as well. Typically, if I overindulge in them and I try to work out, my joints are much more achy the next day, and I'm more sore. If I'm eating cleaner, my body just feels better and functions better. Brad: That's right. And the last thing, now this is something that I've done. I don't recommend it necessarily to other people unless you watch the video to make sure you're appropriate for it. I had a patient who is about 80 years old and he came in, he said, I started using apple cider vinegar and my joints feel so much better. So I thought, wow, that's interesting. Maybe that would help me as well. So I did some research on it to know how much to take, how to really take apple cider vinegar, and if there's really something to it. And sure enough, if I take apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon, it has to be with the mother organic, get the good stuff with four to eight ounces of water daily within a week I notice things are getting better and calming down. However, don't take my word for it. Make sure you watch this video. It's called " Apple Cider Vinegar, Can It Harm You? " We have a pharmacist who did a lot of research on if it's going to bother you, particularly, there are a couple of medications you do not want to take apple cider vinegar with. You need to know that. And of course, how to take it. This video is very complete and you'll find it very useful. Sorry Mike, I took all of your talk, maybe you want to throw something in. Mike: Do not just take a shot of it, it's rather bitter. Brad: Yeah, it's, you have to do it right. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

If you have not already done so, call your family doctor if: • Pain travels down your leg below your knee. • Your leg, foot, groin, or rectal area feels numb. • Your leg, foot, groin, or rectal area has a tingling sensation. • You have a fever, nausea or vomiting, stomachache, weakness, or sweating. • You lose control over going to the bathroom. If you suddenly lose control of your bowel or bladder, see a physician immediately. • Your legs are weak, or you experience foot drop. A foot drop is a weakness in your foot or ankle that causes you to drag or slap the foot while walking. • Your pain was caused by an injury or trauma such as a car accident or fall. Your back pain awakens you at night. • Your pain is so intense you can't move around. • Your pain doesn't seem to be getting better after 2-3 weeks. Check out the full Back Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/back-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/87nFLQno0qQ Brad: Do you want to avoid slouchism? You may be asking what slouchism is. This is as a result of head forward posture constantly, rounded shoulders, and a rounded upper back. You have that hunchback starting. It's so much promoted by bad habits like looking at our phones 23.7 hours per day. Also working at our computer, sitting in our car, sitting at the table with poor posture. Mike: What do you do with your other .3 hours of the day, sleep? Brad: We don't really know yet. Now the reality is most people aren't aware of their posture. They're not aware if they're slouched forward unless there's a photograph or someone actually says, "Boy, your posture needs to be taken care of and straightened up." My wife does that for me, so that helps. I did that with my daughter growing up. It was a good thing. But most people don't have that help. Let's test your posture using the wall. Mike has his back to the wall. Can you talk to him about how to do a simple self-test for posture? Mike: So when you go up to the wall, make sure you can get three points of contact. I like to do buttocks, shoulder blades, and then head. If you can do this, you have good posture and you can get in this position. If you do this, say you can get your butt and shoulders, but your head is kind of stuck forward, you're starting to get some slouchism. This is a simple test you can do to check if you have a forward head posture. Brad: That's right. I want to go over a couple of little small points. Some people will try to touch their heads by extending up. Brad: That doesn't count. You need to touch your head with your chin in. There we go. And see if you can get the shoulders back because that's part of it as well. So a couple of little points. Now if you can do all this without any problem, head back, shoulders back, everything is good, you're going to go to the next step. We have a three-step posture exercise that's going to work well. If you cannot get your head back or your shoulders back, there's one thing you have to do to break things up and get your posture so it's mobile and going to be looking good. So let's go to that little step. If you did not pass the wall test, you're slouched. You cannot get your shoulders back and your head back, there's a lot of tightness in the back of the shoulders here as well as in the front musculature. Brad: We need to loosen that up so we can get back to work. There we go. We can get to that good posture. Mike's going to show you how you can do that using a towel roll and going to the floor. Go ahead, Mike. Mike: So you're going to need a rolled-up towel. We actually have a bedsheet and towel rolled up, simply taped around. You can certainly use a foam roller if you want if you have one instead. Now I'm going to place this in the middle of my back between my shoulder blades. So my head is off of it and the first thing you're going to do is see if gravity can just pull your head down and you can stretch into extension. This will be the opposite direction of that bad flex posture. Mike: If this seems easy to you and not a problem, we're going to start working on the tight pec muscles. Now, laying like this for a prolonged period while doing a pec stretch gets a little uncomfortable for my neck. So I'm going to use some pillows. As you can see, my head still gets to neutral. I'm not flexed while I'm doing this. So I'm actually going to do what looks like snow angels. If you live anywhere with snow, you know what they are. I'm going to touch my hands down to the ground and bring it up as high as I can. I have the pillows in the way now so I can't even hear anything plugging my ears. And you're going to go back down. Mike: Go to what feels good for you. If you're very rounded, obviously, you're going to struggle. You want to make sure before you start bringing up overhead that you can touch your hands at least close to the floor and then start bringing them up. Go slowly and breathe through this. This is a little trick we got from our friend, Rick Olderman . Brad: Yes. Now one thing I've done with patients on a regular basis is if they have really rounded shoulders and they have the roll underneath their shoulders, can you bring your arms down? And if you want to have a friend or a family member that you trust, just have them put your arms down, and relax. I just put some gentle pressure here to help stretch out the muscles in here. It'll accelerate the process. Again, someone that you trust and is going to be nice to you. The stretch should feel good. Mike: I don't trust Brad. Brad: All right, now the master stretcher is three steps to it. This is one that you can do. It's very quick and easy. I'm going to break it down first and you can actually go to a wall and do it with me. So we're going to again, put your buttock up against the wall so your belt line is hitting shoulders against the wall. Now the first thing we're going to do is simply shoulders back, sternum, or chest out. So we do this once. We're going to do it two times and we're going to do it three times. Brad: The next thing is to get the shoulders back and stretch. And now we're going to get the chin tuck. So we're not going back to touch your head looking up. That's wrong. We're going to keep the chin level sliding back like this. So if there's a table there or your hand, you slide your chin up there and you'll feel a stretch. If you get headaches, this is a nice stretch. It can actually get rid of those headaches as well. Do three of those. Brad: And then once we're there, we're going to go up to this position and we can do Ws or like the snow angels that Mike was talking about and do that three times. Brad: Okay? Now once you get good at this and you remember it, you simply go to the wall, you do your stretches here, two and then three, one and two, three hold and up, and do the whole thing. If you want to do it more than three up, three reps, you're certainly welcome to do it. That'll take you about 19 seconds. It's not a big deal, just get used to it and do it throughout the day. We have some other hacks that can really help your posture. Avoiding slouches, I mean, gets you back up where you need to be. Mike: So we're going to go over four additional stretches you can try to help work on your posture. Some of them obviously, if you're very bent over, it might be kind of challenging. So work on the things Brad showed first. You could try these if you want if they feel good for you. The first one, you're going to need some type of object to hold onto. You can use a belt, a bed sheet, or a stick of sorts. Brad's holding the Booyah Stik there. Typically, you want to grab a little bit wider out with this and we're going to just go over our head and then back and place it kind of on our shoulder blade region. We're kind of making the W shape Brad was showing on the wall. Again, we're just holding onto something. You can do this in a seated or standing position. Obviously, if you're seated, you can't really have something right behind you because you're probably going to hit the chair. Brad: One thing that we'll keep in mind when you do this, make sure your head stays in that neutral position. Don't go forward with your head to get the stick behind or the belt. You can use a broomstick, Dowling, or whatever you need. It needs to be four or five feet long. But that's important not to do the head forward. Brad: If you can't get behind the head, that's okay. Just stop there. Eventually, you'll get there. Mike: Another common issue people have is not grabbing wide enough. You could see for me if I'm too close together, this is pretty challenging. So to make it a little bit easier, I just go out a little bit wider. Makes it easier. Brad: There you go. Let's go to the infamous door stretch. Mike: Okay, the next stretch we're going to do is the doorway stretch. Now we're again going to make a "W." If you see me right now, I am making a "W" shape for winning. As Brad would say, we could say Winnipeg, Canada. Why not? Okay, so we got a door frame here. I'm going to go into it. Both hands are going to touch. The more you go into the door frame and lean through it, the more stretch you're going to feel. You could see if I'm kind of rounded forward, this is going to help push back and straighten my posture. It's basically the reverse of doing the wall stretch. Brad: That's right. And again, don't let your head go forward with it. Keep it in that nice neutral position up. That's all you do. Simply every time you walk through the door, stretch one or two times and continue on. It's going to be a big fad. Come on up, I can guarantee you. All right, the next stretch is you can do a seated position and a firm chair. You can do it in an office chair as long as it's stable and the back does not come up too high. The back has to be at about shoulder-blade height. Go ahead, Mike. Mike: So what you're going to do, again, especially if you have a forward-rounded posture, is start in a good posture position. You're going to take your arms and raise them above your head. Some people call this the hallelujah stretch. You can call whatever you want. Maybe you're making a field goal post with your arms. Just bring them up, keep the back in contact, and go back down. Mike: You can also do the "W" shape if you want with this. Essentially, all you want to do is make sure you're getting that extension pattern, opening up the pecs, and getting a nice good stretch here. You can do this for reps. Or if you just want to kinda hold this position for 15, to 30 seconds, you can certainly do that. Now if you want to get a little more stretching with this, you can take a ball. We just have a kickball here, slightly deflated. It makes it a little easier for you. So I just put it in my lower back. You could pick what position you want. You can go up more midback, whatever region you want, and then you're simply going to go back and kind of arch it kind of rolls with you. It feels really good to get a little bit more back extension with this variation, but it feels really good. Brad: Yeah, you can't go wrong with the ball. If you get to the point with the ball, you know your posture's improving. Mobility's improving. It's a wonderful thing. Let's go to the next one. Now there's an option if you really want to get after this posture and get it done in a hurry. And you have that hunch that rounded back below the neck, there is this device that we actually invented. It's called the Posture Pad , and it's designed specifically for this. It's a wedge shape. You can use these balls that go in there. I'm going to talk about that in a second. You simply on the floor, you're going to use this. Put it down like this. This has a radius or rounded edge. It's that way specifically. So you can work on the individual vertebra levels to break up that rigidity and get that posture to improve. I'm going to lie on it and simply extend back. Oh, my back just cracked, you will feel that. I'm at the mid-level of my back now I'm actually going to slide down one level and extend back. You can put your hands at your side. I like to hold my head, it's more comfortably, elbows back, and really get a nice stretch. Brad: I can feel that being very specific on my back. And you'll work that. You'll spend, you know, only about a minute or two doing this, but it's best to do it throughout the day. Now you can break up the tightness in the back a little more aggressively by using the tennis balls that nicely fit in the holes. You can go two, you can do four. The dark blue balls are a little more rigid and the light blue are softer. Do whatever you need for comfort or aggressiveness. I'm going to put all four in there. And they go into the muscles on each side of the back and you can kind of work up and down. You can feel those muscles work. If there's any knots in the muscles, it'll loosen those up. And then do the extension, tuck the chin in. Brad: There we go. Looks very nice. It's a nice device. If you're interested, go to bobandbrad.com, we do have them for sale there. Otherwise, you'd use the other things that we talked about. They'll work as well. What else, Mike? Mike: If you're having some trouble with that and some neck pain or stiffness, you can certainly put a little throw pillow behind your head. Brad does not have slouchism. Brad: Yeah, not anymore. So the other thing is actually when you're sitting around in the airport or at the bus stop or anywhere, do a little people-watching. And you're going to be amazed at, there's a number of people that are slouched over and at an early age, which is a little problematic. It bothers me. It's one of those things, you know. Mike: You must like the people watching you travel. Brad: That's right, I do. I was in the airport the other day and I saw 327 people with slouched backs. Mike: Glad you tallied them. Brad: No, seriously. Look at other people, family members. If you have your children or your spouse and they're slouched a little bit, do them a favor. Say, you know, "Let's straighten up." Hopefully, it's taken well. My wife does it to me on a regular basis and I love her for it. Mike: If you'd like to check out more videos on how to fix your posture, check out our video " Single BEST 60 Second Posture Exercise, You Can Do It ANYWHERE! " Even at the airport, right? Brad: That's right. This is a really good video. I watched it again. It's like, "Oh, I really like that exercise." I'm going to do it again shortly because it's a super exercise. Very accurate too. Very nice. Mike: Bye. Brad: Take care, be healthy, fit, pain-free, and anything else that you can think to be happy. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/P8aZt2KavA4 Mike: One of the best gifts you can give your friend is a way to take away their pain. Brad: That's right. One of the best ways to help them with their pain is to give them an option so they can take care of their pain, get rid of it, and do it on their own. The best way that we have found to do this is to actually give them the information, and the education in this book, " Top 3 Fix ." It actually gives the best three exercises for pain in all parts of the body, from the ankles all the way up to the neck. Mike: So this book covers the entire body, like Brad said, but today we're specifically going to focus on neck pain. Brad: That's right. There's some interesting exercises that will work for you, and it's just a matter of learning how to do them. Mike: So Bob was actually experiencing some neck pain. Now, it wasn't horrific, but it was bad enough that he had to do exercises each day. Brad: That's right. And we're going to go over two exercises and one habit change that actually made a big difference for Bob, and he's actually pain-free. He says not even a lick of pain. Mike: That's a funny phrase. Brad: So to be specific, Bob was having low neck pain right in this area. Brad: What he was doing to help manage the pain was using a hot pack daily on this area, which gave him relief, but it was only temporary. It was not solving the problem. And what happened, we found out, or what Bob found out after the information from the "Top 3 Fix," is he had problems with his shoulder mechanics and one of his shoulder blades was actually a little low, pulling, putting tension from the shoulder blade to the neck, causing that neck pain. That's why the exercise we're going to show you is a little unusual, but it specifically addresses this and gets that shoulder blade where it needs to be, taking the stress off the neck, therefore the pain gone. Mike: Okay, this first exercise in the book is called All Fours Rocking. It looks similar to a prayer stretch or child's pose in yoga. So I'm going to be on all fours. Brad will show a seated version later if you can't get on your knees. What I'm going to simply do is sit my buttocks towards my heels like this. Notice my feet are touching. This makes it easier for me to sit back like this. As I'm going down and keeping my shoulders up above my head, what this does is teach my shoulder to properly get in place, help stretch out those muscles, and elevate that shoulder blade again, which can help decrease some of the neck pain you may be experiencing. Brad: Right, so here the shoulder blade is coming up, stretching the muscles that are actually pointed down, causing that pain. Now, if you want to emphasize one side, say the left side is where you're having pain, you want to emphasize it, you can simply take the painful side, use that hand, and bring it over to the other hand like Mike is demonstrating now. This puts a little more stretch on that, which helps it out a little bit more. Do that as you feel comfortable. How many repetitions, Mike? Mike: You're going to do three to five repetitions of this. When you're sitting down here, just breathe. Try to sit for three to five breaths roughly and then come back up. I am keeping my palms pushing down into the mat the whole time I'm doing this to help teach that scapula to glide up as it should. Brad: There you go. Now, if this is uncomfortable for you, you can't get down on all fours, I'm gonna show you, like Mike mentioned, how to do this using just a chair. So for this option, seated position, you'll have a table or countertop in front of you. If you happen to have a chair that has wheels on it, it works really well. I'm going to show you that option. If you don't have that, there's another way to do it very simply. So here we are. I'm going to do the same thing that Mike was in with the hand position. Okay, a little pressure down into the countertop, and then we're just going to roll the chair away from the counter. I can already feel that stretch, and I can feel my shoulder blades moving upwards, getting the stretch below where we need it. Relax, it is very important. Do your three to five breaths, and come back up. And, again, do that three to five times. Brad: If you do not have a chair that has wheels, simply sit on your kitchen chair, whatever it may be, put a towel on the countertop, and we're going to use that just so we can instead of moving the chair back, move our hands forward. And our body experiences the same stretch, the shoulder blades are experiencing that stretch. And then we come back up to here. Same thing, three to five breaths, three repetitions. You can cross over if you wanna get that one painful side a little more aggressively. The other big benefit of this is you clean the old countertop up a little bit. It's a bonus. All right, let's go to the next one. Mike: Okay, the second exercise we're going to do is called Arm Slides on the Wall. So I'm going to work my left shoulder, say, this is the painful side of my neck here. I'm going to put my elbow flat against the wall up to my pinky side. Notice I'm just below 90 degrees with my shoulder angle right here. To begin, I'm going to push or slide my arm up the wall. As I go up, I'm going to slightly try to shrug or elevate the shoulder. Go up as high as you comfortably can. It may not be this high, whatever is pain-free. Hold for a few seconds, and then slide back down, keeping contact with the wall the whole time. The important thing is to emphasize feeling your shoulder blades actually elevating and lifting, turning out as you go up. And then come back down. You're going to try to do five to 10 repetitions. Now, with neck pain, if it's centralized, it's important to work both sides, and see if one side you notice is struggling more than the other. Brad: So you might ask, "Why do this exercise? "Why does it make the pain go away?" Remember that the shoulder blade is depressed or down, and it needs to be moved up so the muscles connected from here to here actually shorten up, taking the stress off of that low neck. So one thing when I do this one, go ahead. Now, once you get to 90 degrees, your humerus or your arm is horizontal, even with the floor, that's when you're going to think about bringing this shoulder blade and scrunch that shoulder up towards your ear. And you'll feel these muscles in here fatigue a little bit because they're working. So this exercise actually complements the exercise on all fours or if you're doing it in a chair. That exercise stretches the muscles at the bottom of the shoulder blade that is pulling the shoulder blade down. This exercise strengthens and shortens the muscles at the top of the shoulder blade. And the end result is to get that shoulder blade up where it needs to be, releasing the neck pain, and actually there are good benefits for the shoulder mechanics as well. So it's a nice exercise for more than just the neck. Mike: And the last thing we are going to talk about is actually a habit change. This isn't so much of an exercise. It's called 'Lifting The Ribcage.' Brad: So in this situation, seated in a firm chair works best. What we're going to do is take one hand, place it on the chest, right on the sternum here, and the other hand below on the abdomen. And then what we're going to do is relax the arms. You're going to think about bringing the ribcage up and in this direction, and we're going to do that, feel that go up. And at the same time, you'll feel the muscles here in the abdomen contract slightly. Now, it's really important you relax and allow the shoulders to be relaxed and the arms to be relaxed. We're not tensing up the shoulders, relaxing it there, and just simply bringing the shoulder, or the ribcage up, thinking about bringing this hand up. These muscles will contract, and you get a nice posture. Perfect posture like this is important for the shoulder blade to be in the proper position as well as the spine taking stress off the neck and back that way as well. Mike: When you have good posture like this, what it's going to do is alleviate the pressure on the shoulders, like Brad talked about. But commonly, most people, when they think about correcting their posture, just immediately bring their shoulders back, and squeeze their shoulder blades together. I'm going to get tired of doing this after a minute, and I'm going to go back to my bad posture. So it's more about just imagining lifting that ribcage up, just that slight tilt, and staying in this relaxed position. Brad: That's right. So in regards to how often you do that exercise, monitor your posture, or in my case, like at home, my wife will say, while I'm at the computer, "You're slouching!" That's a good time to test it, and get yourself back into position. So you may do it three to five times a day or more, but as you do it more and more, you'll start to have that memory, and your posture will improve without you thinking about it. It's a repetition thing, and it's going to help you out. It's also great for breathing. It's just, when you have posture improvement, everything gets better. You look better, and that's important. Mike: So the "Top 3 Fix" book is written by our very own Bob Schrupp, as well as Rick Olderman , who is a physical therapist with years of practice in these methods. Brad: And, again, this book has everything from neck pain, neck hump, knee pain, ankle pain, low back pain, all the way across the board, as well as it offers videos showing, and Mike and I are in most of them, showing you how to do the exercises as prescribed per body part. Actually, the exercises we just went through on neck pain are covered here. We went right out of the book. So you're a step ahead there. Mike: The book has a good detailed explanation of everything with pictures as well. So you may not have to watch the videos, but they're there for good reference. Brad: And I'm actually in one of the pictures. They were kind of hard up for a model. Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun  (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.

We highly recommend you see your physician to get properly diagnosed. Sciatica can be a serious disabling condition and you don’t want to be misdiagnosed. If you are diagnosed with sciatica, go to our Sciatica program . We have a program devoted entirely to sciatica. However, we do provide two seated self-tests you can perform. That way you can be armed with knowledge when you meet your health care provider. Test One (Herniated or Bulging Disc) Seated straight leg raise for a herniated disc. In a seated position lift your right leg with the knee straight. With the leg in the air bend your right foot toward you while simultaneously flexing your neck. If you have a herniated disc, you often will feel increased pain or symptoms down the leg with this test. Repeat with left leg. Test Two (Herniated or Bulging Disc) Sit in a chair without any arms. Grab the underside of the chair with both arms and pull up. Slouch forward and extend your neck back. Note pain in your back and leg(s). Now flex your neck forward (while still slouched and pulling up on the underside). If you have more pain flexing the neck forward it is likely caused by a herniated or bulging disc. Check out the full Back Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/back-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeALuM1muR8&t=256s Mike: If you're struggling with chronic low back pain, then this is for you. Brad: So we're going to show you three different options to exercise that's going to help manage and get this pain where you want it, and that is gone. And it's going to depend on your back pain, and what kind of symptoms you have. Mike: And then we'll be discussing the importance of heat use with back pain. Now the first exercise or stretch we're going to show is for someone that has too much arch. So if you look at Sam's low back here, it is arching too much. We're going to show you a simple test to see if this is your problem. Brad: And then we're going to follow up with a stretch to help get this pain to go away. Mike: So all these exercises and tests we got are from Rick Olderman , a physical therapist we work with often, and they can be found in his back pain program. Brad: So the test is simple. You simply lie on your back with your legs straight out. You can use a pillow if you want. And you're going to lie there for about a minute and assess how your back feels. If the longer you lie there, your back is irritated or a little uncomfortable, take note of that. Then after a minute, bring both knees up with your feet on the table or the bed. You can do this on the floor as well. And if that relieves the back pain, and it feels better lying with your knees up, then your legs down, then this next exercise will benefit you and your back pain. So, are you ready Mike? Mike: I'm ready. Brad: Okay. Now this stretch that Mike is going to demonstrate, you may kind of wonder why he's doing this stretch the way it is, and what oftentimes is the problem is tight hip flexors. Now the hip flexors actually connect obviously the hip area, to the low back, right where my fingers are spanning. Brad: Now when those muscles get tight, that actually pulls the lower back into that extreme arch, causing that pain. So if we can stretch those muscles out, and get them to relax, that takes the pressure off the lower back, the arch is more normalized, pain is reduced, and you have success. Ready, Mike? Mike: So in order to do this stretch, you're going to need to sit on a firm surface, maybe a countertop or table if you have a strong one. If you can't get up there, you can use the bed, but just don't slide off the edge if you have a soft edge. Now what I'm going to do is lie on my back, and bring both knees up to my chest. The closer my butt is to the edge, the more stretch I'm going to feel, the less stretch I'm going to feel if I'm up on the table more. So what you're going to do is lower one leg down, and I'm going to bend my knee, try to get a 90-degree bend. If you're tight kind of like me, you probably can't bend as far. And then make sure to bring the opposite knee up to your chest. You'll see here once I pull it up, you could see my hip flexor tightness here. Try to hold this for 30 seconds. Relax, and breathe throughout. Brad: Wait, wait, wait, Mike. Let's, let's just, I want to just interject a little information. So we're working on the left hip flexor. It's deep muscle being stretched. Now pull your knee towards your chest on the right side. Watch this knee rise. This knee is rising as a result of a tight hip flexor. Brad: So keep note of that. You can do both sides, and you'll compare one to the other. When you flex the knee, you're stretching another muscle that also can be responsible for that tight, or that arched back. That's called the rectus femoris. Two different muscles. You will feel them stretch when you do this. Mike: It's also important to keep your legs straight in line. Don't let it fall out to the side. Brad: Good point. Mike: After 30 seconds, switch and go to the other side. You may notice one side is tighter than the other. You can do two to three sets of 32-second holds. Maybe do an extra set on the tighter side. Brad: Good. Now, if by chance any of these create sharp pain, it's not for you. There may be some other components involved, but these should feel good while you're doing them as well as afterward. Do not get too aggressive the first time you do it. Alright, now this next stretch, will address people with stenosis, lumbar spinal stenosis, or spondylolisthesis. That's a mouthful. Now, both of these, extension of the back, if you stand up and maybe you're washing windows overhead, or doing anything overhead, your back will consistently hurt. This stretch will make it feel better quickly. It's all in the back. I should know. I have spondylolisthesis as well as stenosis, and I'm grateful for these stretches. Okay, now another typical symptom, or way to relieve this, let's say you're walking or standing for any length of time, your back is painful, and when you simply sit down, the pain goes down very quickly, that's another good sign the stretch is going to be helpful. You do it either on the floor with carpet is more comfortable, you can do it on the bed, and that works as well. I like the floor better, but some people are unable to do that. We'll show you two options. Mike: So in Rick's books and programs, it's called "Rocking on All Fours." You may know it as a prayer stretch, or the child's pose in yoga. So what I'm going to do is be on all fours like this. Personally, I like to bring my feet together when I do this. I'm going to sit on my butt towards my heel, and I'm going to keep my arms in the same place they were when I started. If you don't feel much of a stretch, you could certainly crawl your fingers forward. You're going to hold this for three to four breaths, 30 seconds, whatever feels good for you. And then you're going to come back up. Mike: Now say you have one side that's more problematic than the other. Like say you have back pain on one side, you can certainly stretch and reach over. So if I had pain on the left side of my back, this can help open up that area more if you have stenosis. Brad: Good. Alright, now, if you do not feel comfortable getting on your knees, maybe you have a knee replacement or whatever it may be, we'll show you how to do it in the seated position. Alright, same stretch, seated position. If you have a chair with rollers on it, or wheels that roll nicely, you take that chair up to a countertop or a table, hands on the table, and you're going to push the chair slowly out. And right now I'm stretching very much almost identical to the, in the low back as Mike was doing. There we go. And I can tell you, this feels very good. I'm going to hang out for a little bit. Brad: If I want to stretch the right side more, my right hand goes over the top of my left, and I can clearly feel the right side of my lower back stretch more. You're going to hold it for two or three breaths. Come back up. Do this while you relax. Repeat it a few times in a row. Brad: If you do not have wheels on your chair, the option is, that it's hard to move a chair without wheels. So you're going to keep it stationary. Simply take a towel, put it on top of the tabletop or the cover top, hands on the towel, and we're going to move our hands versus the chair and slide forward. Same thing. We get the same stretch and hold it. Come back up again, hand over, or hand over this way. Do that if it feels better, then that's how it works. Simple as that. Mike, any things I missed? Mike: No, let's go on to the next stretch. Brad: That's right, the next one. Mike: So the next stretch we're going to show is if you have one-sided back pain, or possibly even a herniated disc. We're going to say I'm having one-sided back pain on my left side here. What I'm going to do is go up to a door frame. Brad's going to show an alternative option if you can't reach up high. You could also use a pull-up bar if you happen to have one at home or at the gym. So I'm going to face the palm away from my body, grasp the top of the door frame, and then I'm going to slowly lean into the side going into the doorframe itself. This will help open up the lateral aspect of your vertebrae, decompressing that pinched nerve you may be having. You can hold this for 30 seconds and then come out. Brad: That's right. Now I want to emphasize, that we're giving three options. You're going to try all three. You may not use all three, may you only use one or two of them. They must have good results, and make your back feel better while you're doing it, as well as after. For example, I do not do the hip flexor stretch, the first one. I use the second two because they really make my back feel better. I do not use the door frame like that. I actually take the Booyah Stik . You don't need a Booyah Stik. Anything like a sturdy broom handle piece of doweling will do. And this is exactly how I do it. I put it on the stool, and I stretch. Hold on tight. And look at my side, wrinkled clothing. As I lean in, you can see how the clothing pulls. Your muscles and tissue on that side do the same thing. And I feel it inside my abdominal area, stretching those muscles. And you can do both sides. I do this for maintenance. Even when my back is not bothering me, so I have a good flexible back, and things are in check. Brad: So now we go out to go on to the next part of the video, which involves heat, how should you do it, and what's the best form of heat with those back muscles, et cetera? Mike, anything I missed? Mike: I'm ready for a nap. Brad: Okay, the next thing we want to talk about is positioning your body to relieve the pain. It's a very important part of low back pain problems. And the first thing we're gonna talk about is when you're lying down on your back, oftentimes, more times than not, if you put two pillows, sometimes three pillows underneath your legs in this area so the knees elevate and it flexes the hip slightly, it takes the pressure off the low back, giving very quick relief. This is something I've worked with many patients as well as myself, and it works very well. Brad: There is an option to this, if this works well, there is a leg wedge. And both Bob and I, and Mike have used this with many patients, and you put it under the knees, and typically, almost always, they put a big smile on their face and boy does that feel good. You don't need it. Pillows do work quite well. It works a little bit better in my opinion. Brad: Now let's look at the seated position. So if you're sitting in a chair, particularly if you have a soft recliner or cushion chair that is rounded. That can really raise havoc on your back if you sit there for a long period of time watching a movie, reading a book, whatever. Simply put a pillow the long way and put that behind your back, and it'll feel good. Brad: Now if you have a firm upright chair, that works very well. Also, sometimes depending, on if you've got an old chair that's really sunk in there, you may have to double it up just to fill in that big hole from the wear and tear on that chair. You need to find an option that feels very good, and it'll make your back relax. Then you know you have the right position and the pillow positioning. Brad: So, the next thing we're going to talk about is the use of heat with your lower back. Mike: Now you can use a couple of different options of heat for heating up your lower back. You can typically take a normal hot pack . This is one you simply put in the microwave, warm it up, and put it on your lower back. Mike: You're going to want something in between your skin and this. So if you have clothes on like a T-shirt or sweatshirt, that should be fine. Otherwise, you can certainly put a towel or pillowcase around this. Now Brad has another option that's going to penetrate a little bit deeper into the muscle tissue, helping you relax that back more, Brad: Right. So if you're going, if you have an electric hot pad, they work very well, they feel good and warm. But a standard electric heating pad only goes about skin deep, a couple of millimeters. If you want to get real deep heat that increases circulation into the muscles and the joints. What you'll need is a Far Infrared heating pad . This is radiant heat. It's been around for a long time. And they'll, this will actually go into the tissues, 2.36 inches according to the studies that they've done with it. It's very deep, and it's really going to help circulation. They work very well. And now when you use a hot pack, whether it's the Far Infrared, the hot pack, or the standard electric, how you position yourself is critical. You need to be very comfortable like in the way we had. So if you lie down with a wedge, and it feels good, or pillows, that's the position you're going to use while you're using a hot pack. Brad: In a seated position, if you have pillows behind your back, and it feels very good, put the same configuration with the pillows, and then the hot pack over the top of it so that you have that positioned properly so the muscles are relaxed, and then the heat goes on top to actually enhance that. And then after you heat up the muscles for a while, you can do the stretches, which can allow the stretches to be more effective. You're more pliable, things feel better, things move better. Okay, Mike, Mike: The hot pack, just a forewarning, will feel a lot warmer when you have your full body weight on it versus just resting upon you. So just keep that in mind before using them. Brad: Right. So one thing about Far Infrared, is they only heat in one direction. In other words, if you put it down with this side up, it's not going to heat. You have to go with them, they call these panels up against the body, and that does heat up in the right direction. So that's just a little forewarning. Mike: So when it comes to Far Infrared, we typically work with the company, Thermotex . They've been trusted and we've used them for many years. Now this is the platinum model, which works nicely because you can use it on many different body parts. Not only low back pain, you can use it on legs, shoulders, and arms. It's very versatile and great for home use. Mike: Now this is the pro model , Brad's trying to get them to rebrand it, "The Big Kahuna." But as you can see, it's more for the professional, someone that maybe has a physical therapy clinic, chiropractors. I mean you can use it at home. I certainly did. Brad: Right. You know the cost is a little higher, but if you want full body heat, the way this works is you can lie on it in a flat position. It also works well sitting in a chair. It has six panels on the bottom, three here, one large one at the low back, and then two other panels up for the upper or mid back. And you can simply sit on it. It does have two different heating options or selections, which that one does not. Gives it a little more flexibility for people. They just came out with this as far as we know. Mike: If you want to check out more videos on back pain, specifically sciatica, you can check out " Only 1 In 5000 Know This About Treating Sciatica ." Visit us on our other social media platforms : YouTube , Website , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest , LinkedIn , TikTok , Wimkin , Mewe , Minds , Vero , SteemIt , Peakd , Rumble ,  Snapchat , Clapper , Threads   Bob and Brad also have a Podcast where we share your favorite episodes as well as interviews with health-related experts. For this week’s Giveaway visit :  https://bobandbrad.com/giveaways Bob and Brad’s Products Pain Management: C2 Massage Gun (US) C2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Therapy C2 Plus Massage Gun with Heat Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Q2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Knee Glide   Eye Massager   EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager White EyeOasis 2 Eye Massager Black EyeOasis 2 Plus Eye Massager with Remote T2 Massage Gun   T2 Pro Massage Gun with Heat and Cold Head Air 2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head X6 Pro Massage with Heat-Cold and Metal Head D5 Pro Massage Gun Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream   Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager   Weighted Heating Pad Fitness: Resistance Bands​   Pull Up System Pull Up Bands   Wall Anchor​ Grip and Forearm Strengthener   Hanging Handles​ Hand Grip Strengthener Kit   Stress Balls   Stretching: Booyah Stik   Stretch Strap Bob & Brad Amazon Store   and other products Bob and Brad Love Check out our shirts, mugs, bags, and more in our Bob and Brad merchandise shop ​ Medical Disclaimer All information, content, and material on this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. Affiliate Disclaimer: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We are highly selective in our products and try our best to keep things fair and balanced to help you make the best choice for you.