This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in July of 2023. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/iVHnZrLw5rM Mike: Do you ever wonder what sleeping position is the best or worst? Brad: Well, according to the Mayo Clinic you're going to find many different ways to sleep and they narrowed it down to what's going to help you get the best night's sleep. Mike: There are three main sleeping positions: lying on your back, your side, or your stomach. So we're going to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each position. Brad: That's right, and we're going to show you nice little tips on how these positions can be more comfortable. So as we stated, everyone has their own favorite preferences on how to sleep. However, many people think that sleeping on your back is the best position because it takes pressure off the joints. However, Mike, what does Mayo tell us? Mike: According to Mayo Clinic, sleeping on your back is problematic if you're a person who suffers from sleep apnea. Do you want to explain why this is, Brad? Brad: It has to do with the position and gravity of your tongue in your throat. Your tongue blocks your airway and promotes snoring. Snoring causes less oxygen to get into your system. Therefore, sleep apnea machines, the CPAPs, take care of that problem. Mike: Now we realize that with some people, the only way they can fall asleep is on their back. So we're going to show a proper positioning way that may help you sleep better and not have any negative issues. Brad: Yep. Let's go at it. All right, for those of you who really like to sleep on your back, I actually am one of those. I always start on my back. It's the most comfortable. We're going to show you some nice tricks and tips to make sure everything goes well. Mike, go ahead. Mike: So for the first thing, you want to make sure you don't have too many pillows or too thick of a pillow. As you can see below, my head is actually kind of flexed down in my neck. It's going to put pressure on it. I'm going to wake up with a neck ache. Mike: So make sure you just have one pillow or a flatter pillow and your neck is more in a neutral position like it is now. Mike: It's going to be much more comfortable when waking up. Now, another good thing is to put a pillow underneath your knees, or you can use a leg wedge if you happen to have one. Now this is just going to take some stress off the knees. If you're in a locked-out position all night you can get little aches and pains in your legs. This prevents that and it also relieves a little tension in your back, keeping in a slightly flexed position. Mike: Now, if you have shoulder pain and you like sleeping on your back, you could take a pillow and position it under your arm, supporting the entire arm the whole night. It'll open up that shoulder joint and take some pressure off there. You could even have pillows on both sides if you have shoulder pain on both sides. So you're going to be a big pillow person when you sleep. Brad: Absolutely. I agree. I've experienced this myself. I use the leg wedge if I have a backache, and usually a couple of hours into the night, I simply kick it off the bed and go without it. We realize you don't sleep in one position all night long. So these are nice tips and tricks to know as things go on. Okay, let's talk about being prone or lying on your stomach. Now this is a position that Bob and I have talked about over the years, and usually, we say try to avoid this. You can do it, but the key is to try to keep your spine in a neutral alignment so there's less stress throughout the spine. To start out with this, we have the spine. If you're lying on your stomach and you have two pillows like Mike has. Now if you look at his neck, it's actually extended up this way, and we don't want to have that kind of sustained end-range posture while sleeping. So two pillows with that is not good. And there are variations on this of course. Brad: The other thing is when you sleep on your stomach, oftentimes, people put their head like Mike is, looking to his right. If you look at the spine, it twists one way, puts that end range, and all the facet joints in the spine are locked up and jammed. That can cause pain if you're that way for long periods of time. Brad: So ideally, you would want to rotate your head right and left every 20 minutes or so. Hopefully, in your sleep, your body reminds you to do that. As far as the lower back, the next big thing is there's an arch in the lumbar spine. That's normal, but it can be overly arched, and then the back extends and that also can jam the facet joints (the little joints between each vertebra). Brad: But people sleep on their stomachs and are very happy to sleep that way. Mike is one of them. Talk about how you sleep without any pain when you wake up, Mike. Mike: So lying flat on my stomach is very uncomfortable for me. So typically when I wake up on my stomach, I often have a throw pillow on the side my head is turned to. It kind of supports my head a little bit. And you can see my right leg on this side is actually propped up. So it's not like I'm sleeping straight on my stomach. I'm actually kind of on my side and my stomach at the same time. This will help limit the amount of neck rotation I have to one side if I'm positioned more like this, and it just makes it a little more comfortable for me personally. Mike: Now if you're having some back pain with this, you can put a larger pillow underneath your pelvis. So you just kind of go mid-body where your trunk is, and then you can get a little bit of support there and get some more neutral spine and less arch. Brad: And that might be a little too low for some people. That's actually under his thighs. Some people might like it under the belly, right under the lumbar area. If that’s the case, you probably want to have just one pillow to keep that neck and a neutral spine. You'll know it. It's a position where you should feel very comfortable lying there for a period of time and not feel like you have to move because of discomfort or pain. Your body's telling you, if it hurts after you're there 5-10 minutes or you fall asleep prior to that and you're going to sleep there for a few hours, that's when you're going to create some pain. It’s those sustained uncomfortable positions that you don't really realize at night until you wake up in pain. Brad: Now according to the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Somers has a whole host of evidence showing that side sleeping is actually the best for you in regards to digestion. Now, there are problems with side sleeping. I cannot side sleep for very long because I get shoulder and knee pain, but there are easy options to take care of it. Mike: The first one we are going to look at is the head, neck, and shoulder area here. Right now my shoulder has to rotate out. If I was directly on my shoulder, this would be very uncomfortable. So what you can do is get another pillow first for your head, because oftentimes with your shoulders like this, you want two pillows to take some pressure off the shoulder, and I can lie a little more normal. I never lie directly on my shoulder. That’s just not how I side sleep. Typically I am slightly angled. Brad: Let’s show the trick if you actually pull the shoulder out. Often you can actually position your body more angled. This position kind of twists your back but it takes pressure off the shoulder. It's kind of a give-and-take situation. Brad: So the next thing is Bob's famous canal sleeping where we form a canal for the shoulder. Mike: You can do that with a pillow. You're going to put it between where your shoulder would rest. It's going to be on your rib cage. So now you can have a nice canal in here if you're comfortable sleeping like this. I, like many people, toss and turn so I can't lie like this very long, but Bob finds it very beneficial. Brad: That's right, and you can use a throw pillow. I think Bob uses a throw pillow instead of a larger one. But either way, you do what works for you. So obviously, you're going to need a lot of pillows if you're a side sleeper and you're not comfortable. Mike: Now if your shoulder is problematic on the side that is facing the ceiling, you can get a large pillow and you prop it up and get a good support, opening up that shoulder, relaxing it. This is most optimal if you have shoulder pain and are sleeping on your side. Mike: Now, this isn't the only position to look at. Say you're having hip or knee pain while you're sleeping on your side. A simple solution is a pillow. This can help with the knee. If you feel like your ankles are rubbing too much, you can get a longer pillow, and position it in there. You want to get a nice neutral position. Oftentimes, when you're on your side, it's putting some strain on the outside of your hip and outside of your knee. This nice neutral position will prevent that from happening. Brad: There you go. So that pretty much covers you from head to toe for side sleeping if you have some discomfort in some of the areas. I was in a hotel this weekend and I knew as soon as I touched the bed, I wasn't going to be comfortable. Luckily, they had lots of pillows on the bed. I slept much better as a result of doing tricks just like this. All right, now we also want to talk about side sleepers. What's better, sleeping on your right side or your left side, or does it matter at all? And yes, we do want to look at what the Mayo Clinic doctors say. Mike: They suggest sleeping on the left side is optimal because with the right side, you have more internal organs which can get compressed and lead to poor blood flow when you're sleeping. However, we realize if you have aches or pains sleeping on one side, you're going to sleep on which side feels the best. Brad: I think the other thing is that it makes more circulation in the trunk, which is important. But go for your left. If you can't sleep on your left, go to the right. Mike: Yes, pick what makes you happy and fall asleep. Brad: I know I sleep where I want to, mostly on my back and then my right side and then I have to go back to my back because it makes my back feel better. And it's a personal thing. 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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 June of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWvSNIbnYv4 Brad: Do you like to walk but you're limited by knee pain? Particularly if you're going up steps, it kind of hurts. It’s probably arthritis or it could be something else. Mike: But we have five easy exercises to help fix this knee pain. Brad: Alright. If you're in your fifties or older and you've been gradually getting more knee pain with walking, it's probably arthritis, you're thinking. There are exercises you can do to improve the situation and sometimes even actually make it go away. Mike: And often as we age, if you have knee pain, it can lead to weight gain, which is less fun yet, and it can lead to feeling depressed. So we want to help alleviate this knee pain to get you moving better and feeling better. Brad: That's right. So we've picked out our best five exercises to work with the knee, get the range better, get it feeling better, get that synovial fluid in there where it needs to so it feels as you want, and get active again. Mike: So first, we're going to talk about the knee mechanics and then we're going to talk about different standing and walking habits you may be having causing this knee pain. Brad: I wanted to have Sam give us a hand here or perhaps a knee to show a little arthritic education. Now, in the knee joint, the arthritis that often occurs is between the femur and the tibia. You have these two surfaces, they should be shiny and smooth with that nice pristine cartilage. However, after time, with age, it may be a mechanical thing. If you're a little bow-legged or outward, you’ve got knock knee, then one side gets more worn out than the other. So that's where that's going to happen. Brad: But there's one spot that a lot of people aren't aware of, is the kneecap or the patella. Now Sam's patella is kind of screwed on there. It has more mobility than this, but it's underneath here. That can also be arthritic and that is a good source of pain going up and down stairs. So we'll show you some stretches that'll help work with that joint as well. Brad: Alright, for the first exercise, we're going to look at the knee extension. In other words, getting the knee straight. What can happen over time is the knee doesn't fully extend because of arthritic changes. What we need to do is work through that. A good way to assess it, Mike’s going to demonstrate how you may do it on a bed or a couch. I'm going to show you how to do it on a chair with a stool. Let's say my right knee is my sore knee, and Mike's sore knee is the left one. Put your two knees up together and straighten them out and you'll see that the sore knee may not fully extend. Like the one below, you can see fully extends all the way down. It feels good. That's normal, nice, and straight. The right one goes down and we have an inch or more difference, and you can just tell, it's not going down like the other one. Then we need to work on that. Brad: We'll show you a couple of options because you don't want to get after it too aggressively. You can get really sore. Bob always tells his story about one of his patients who got after it too aggressively. When he came back, he was a little upset, so Bob had to calm him down. They backed off and they got him going again, so just a little caution with that. All right, so what you'll do is bring the leg straight out. Now, if you have a stool with wheels, it works really well. If you're doing it on the bed, Mike will show that. Using the stool I straighten and stretch. If you get sharp pain, you're going too hard. If you've got just a little pain, work it. Do five or 10 repetitions, and if each time it feels like it's going a little better, you're doing good. Mike: So if you're on the bed, you're going to be in a long sitting position. If my knee is stuck in a flexed position, I'm going to focus on trying to push the back of my knee into the bed. If this is problematic or you can't do it as well, you can put a pillow under your heel to get a little more height there. And then sometimes you can start pushing down. Now you may not be able to get all the way to the mat, just do what's comfortable and what doesn't feel painful. Oftentimes when your knee is bent like this, your hamstrings are going to be tight, so you're going to feel a little pull in there. Don't be too aggressive, you can get a hamstring strain. Then you're starting from ground zero all over again. So just take it easy, go nice, slow, and controlled. Hold it down for a few seconds, and then relax. Brad: That's right. So this is not going to straighten out in the first one or two days. As a matter of fact, the first day, I would only do it once, and see how sore you are the next day. If it feels fine, then you can start to push a little more, up to 10 repetitions, no more than 10. And then you may want to do it twice a day. Go the next day, and see how it feels. You may go up to three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. But that's as much as you want to go after it. And then you may take a week or two weeks before you actually get it where it needs to go. It's possible that there's enough arthritic damage in there that it may not come back. That's just what you have to find out. Now, I did talk about the patella or the kneecap. That's the next thing to assess. And the key to this, is I'm not going to put a stretch on the knee, we're not concerned about that. We do want it as straight as it comfortably can be. Then you're going to completely relax the quads because if your quadriceps are not relaxed, your kneecap will not move. This is because they're directly connected to each other. Now I'm completely relaxed in the quads and if your quads are relaxed, you can do it just with your fingertips. You can use this method with your thumbs and just go back five or 10 times. You might find that one way is painful. The other way feels okay. Do not push into the painful range too far. Just a little bit, work it again in the same manner. And you can go forward and backward. You can do some angles in there. The whole idea is to see how mobile it is, compare it to your other knee cap and they should be about the same. And that can work out. That's one of those things that sometimes is a little faster to mobilize than the whole knee with extension. Mike, any additions? Mike: You will know if your knee is not relaxed, because if I'm tightening up right now, that kneecap is not moving. So you have to get it to relax and then you will start to see the movement. And just do what is pain-free. If it's hurting every time, don't push more into it. Just do a nice slow, controlled pain-free motion. Brad: Well, we went into detail a fair amount with that, but it's important that you get it right and you don't have a situation where you're really in pain the next day and then you say bad words about Mike and I. We don't want that. Okay, let's go to number two. This is a pretty straightforward and simple one. It's just being aware of your standing habits in regard to your knee position. Now what happens is some people, they'll stand with their knees fully extended; we call that end range, all the way till it stops going. People often stand like that at full extension for a long time. That, after time, can really beat up the knee and when you walk, it can cause problems. So all you want to do is look at your knee and go full extension. And if you're there and you say, "Well, that's the way I stand all the time," simply a little flexion in the knee and hold it like that and you may find out a whole other story about when you're standing for long periods of time. You can stand longer with less pain. Mike, why don't you talk about how that feels. Mike: So this is going to make your muscles engage more and take pressure off your actual joint. So if you're having knee pain, this is going to put pressure on your joints, your hip joint, your knee joint, and your ankle. This is going to allow the quads to activate and the glutes to activate more, taking pressure off of that joint. And this is how muscles are supposed to function. It is easier to stand like this because you're basically stacking your bones on top of each other, keeping in place disengaging muscles, but you want to make those muscles work because you're going to have less pain there. Brad: Right, and just another little tip. This is one that I know Bob talked about with one of his patients, that works so well. We're going to call this soft knee. So it's a soft knee when there's a slight bend in it, but actually, stagger your feet. Go ahead and stagger. So that's an option for you, just stand. If you have a job that you're working, you may put your staggered left foot in front, and after so many minutes, stagger the other direction and then maybe a squared-off stance and just vary that position. Taking pressure, putting it on one knee, a bit more on the other, and it helps rest that knee a little bit. It's a good little strategy. Mike: And it's important to stagger front to back. You don't want to lean on one side, because you're probably going to lock that knee out again. Brad: Right. That's another thing some people do, they just put all their weight on one knee, maybe from a habit, from an injury. Mike: Well, you do it all on one leg, when it's tired then you switch to the other leg. I used to do it. Then I learned better. Brad: Okay, the next one is how to walk. Change your walking mechanics to eliminate or actually reduce the impact on those knees. We call it walking with soft knees. Mike, why don't you explain it in detail? Mike: So most people commonly walk with a heel strike landing on your heel first. This is going to put the forces from the ground into your ankle, then your knee, hip, back, et cetera. It works its way up. If you're having knee pain, you're taking that shock directly into your joints. So what we recommend is walking with soft knees. It's very similar to standing. In order to do this, you're going to stand and land more on your forefoot. You can see here my heel is still elevated. I'm kind of exaggerating, you don't have to walk exactly like this, but this is how you will begin. When you do this, this activates your glutes more to fire again, as well as your quads. So you're going to be using your muscles versus putting all that pressure on your joints. It's going to lighten the load and impact forces on that arthritic knee. So when you walk, you can see I'm doing a large distance heel strike. This is a no-no. In order to walk on your forefoot, I'm not going to step this far forward. I'm going to start taking smaller steps. As I'm here, I can feel my glute start to activate. If you want to do this at home, probably not outside, you can put your hands on your buttocks. With a heel strike, I don't feel anything on my right side. Now I'm putting my forefoot down, as I step through, I feel my butt muscles start to engage and activate. So you might look a little silly walking around town like this, but if you want to do it in your own home, start practicing forefoot or soft knee walking. Did I forget anything? Brad: Bob used to walk around like that in the neighborhood when he was practicing. Mike: He probably still does. Brad: They're used to it. Mike: So it's a little harder to do this if you have standard shoes as well because you're going to have an elevated heel. I have flat shoes on. If you want to start this and you don't have any, you can try walking barefoot in your house if you feel safe doing that. That's just where you can start and slowly build into it. It feels a little different, but over time, you get acclimated. Brad: That's right. And if you feel relief from pain when you're doing that forefoot walking, it's even more motivation to continue. It does take a while, I have to admit. Mike: Yeah, you've been walking the same way for however old you are. So, it takes a while. Brad: Right. Now we're going to talk about negotiating up and down steps. If you have knee pain, a lot of times people have more pain going down steps than up. But it varies from person to person and knee to knee actually. So I'm going to talk about changing your mechanics of walking. If we look at my feet, and this is how I normally walk up, my toes normally point out a little bit. That's normal for me. Brad: Let's say I'm having pain in my right knee with that. I'm going to try two different options. The first one is to rotate my foot out a little bit and see how the pain responds to that mechanics. And if it feels better, then you're going to change your mechanics to walking like a duck going up and down the steps. As long as it's less painful, you're aligning the joints so that the cartilage is actually lining up in a more healthy manner. Brad: You can also try pointing in a little bit. Now for me, that's awkward because I'm a natural retroverted hip. So if I go this way, I really feel awkward and it probably would not do anything for my knee pain if I had it. But you can try it. Brad: Some people's bodies are different. So outward and inward and then see how that works. If your knee pain is really severe, it doesn't matter which way you point your foot, then the next option is, to go ahead Mike, you show him this one. Mike: So what you're going to do is lead up the stairs with your good leg. So say my left leg is bothering me, I'm going to lead with the right and then I'm just going to step to. I'm just going to do one step at a time, use the rail as you need, leading with the good leg. Now on the way down, you're going to actually lead with the bad leg, because as you see, as I'm going down, my good leg is supporting my weight here as I'm going down, the right leg is doing the work. So make sure to use the rail. Once you get here, bring this foot down. Bad foot down, bad foot down. So, you remember this by thinking good people go up to heaven and then the bad people go to the underworld, because I won't say the other word. So up with the good and down with the bad is the trick here. Brad: And if you get a knee replacement or a hip replacement, they'll tell you exactly the same thing. So you'll be ready for that if it does get to that point. So, very good. The idea is that you go up with the good, down with the bad, until that knee settles down, and then get back to your normal gait going up and down the stairs. Alright, let's go to the last and final trick. Now this option is absolutely the easiest and the fastest way to get rid of knee pain when you're walking. The only thing is it's the least desirable by most people. So if my right knee hurts, and every time I put weight on it you start limping and you try to grin and bear it and act like it doesn't hurt. Well if you're going to unload it, you simply take a cane, and it'll really take a lot of weight off of that painful joint and allow you to walk much smoother. You just have to adjust the cane properly and walk properly and it really will help, I guarantee you, even though you may not like it. So get a nice, fancy cane that makes you feel cool. It does help, I've had people do it. So if the right is my sore knee, what I'm going to do is use the cane in the other hand. A lot of people get that wrong because they watch that Dr. House. Yeah, that guy on TV, he walks with the cane on the wrong side. Painful knee on right, cane on the left. If you drop your hand down with good posture, the handle should go right about at the crease. Brad: It doesn't have to be exact, but if it was up here, I would change the height. Typically canes are adjustable. If you have a wooden cane, you can always cut it off and make it shorter but you can't cut it off and make it longer. So you need to make sure it's the right length and you are able to adjust it. So here we are, when my right foot goes forward the cane goes forward and we walk through, and you simply put weight through your arm. It takes weight off of the sore knee and because you have a wide base, it really helps your balance and you're much more stable. So it's a win-win situation for pain, your stability, and your ability to walk. And the idea is that typically arthritis comes and goes, it kind of gets worse and better. Brad: You're going to use this on those bad days and do the exercises, do the range of motion exercises, one or two of them that you'll find help. And then you don't need the cane all the time just on those bad days is the goal. Anyway, I would say, don't let that knee pain get you all hung up. Try all these. Some of them won't work for you, some will, and do the ones that work. Mike: Let us know in the comments below what works for your knee pain. 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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.

The answer to the question, “Should you rest a hip that is painful?”, depends on your diagnosis or the type of injury you have. With a hip fracture or hip muscle complete tear, the answer is an unequivocal yes. You may need surgery and if not, you will need to protect the hip and let it heal. With a hip muscle strain, a mild hip muscle tear, hip arthritis, hip bursitis, or hip tendonitis, the answer is no (with conditions). The conditions may be as follows: 1. Your hip movements should be controlled. We should limit our movements to pain-free motions. 2. Weight bearing may need to be reduced. We may have you avoid hills and stairs. We might suggest using a cane, a crutch, a walking stick, or a walker for a while. 3. Exercises and stretches will be gradually progressed. Over the next several videos we will provide details on how to perform and progress an exercise program. 4. Certain activities may be avoided at first. We will provide a dos and don’ts list. 5. Number condition to follow - do nothing to increase your pain. Always keep this golden rule in mind! Check out the full Hip Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets for each video on our website here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/hip-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in December of 2022. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuBtAYbFTGc Brad: All right, Bob. You and I know as well as trainers and all kinds of fitness people that the strength of your low back is very important. It's great for posture, for lifting, for preventing back pain. Bob: Strong, like back. Brad: Strong like bull and your back is good. But there's one technique that has been very popular over the decades. You and I have both taught it. Trainers teach it. And we need to stop doing it. We're going to tell you exactly what it is and what you can do instead to replace it in a safe way. Okay, the exercise we've been referring to is the Superman. So this really works the erector spinae group which is an important muscle group for back strength. However, we've got the book here by Dr. Stuart McGill. He’s done an incredible amount of research. Bob: He's an expert. Brad: He is an expert and he says this is one thing you should not do. Actually, they've done studies on it and there can be 1,300 pounds of compression force through the spine. It's not good. There's a lot better ways to do it. So let's go through the proper way to do back strengthening as opposed to the Superman. On all fours, or quadruped position, what you're going to do is get your back in a neutral position. Brad: That's where you want to be. You're going to tighten up the core muscles, and then point your hand forward. Hold the position for 5-10 seconds. Now do the opposite leg, and do not lift it too high. When you get too high, then you also get too much compression. This is a good balance technique as well. Brad: After you feel more comfortable with it, hold the position for 10 seconds. Then go down and, without stopping, you'll brush your hand through the bottom and then come back up without resting. Again, do that when you're ready. It takes some practice. Make sure you do both sides four to five times. You can work your way up to 10 repetitions. It's definitely going to work your core and back muscles, as well as give you a much better strengthening experience. Bob: I feel "strong like back." Brad: Bob feels strong. There's absolutely no more to talk about. Dr. Stuart McGill has spoken. We naturally listen. 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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 May of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=570l0GkOP_c&t=83s Mike: Are you over 50 and looking for ways to help alleviate back pain, headache, neck pain, or even shoulder discomfort? Brad: Well, look no further because we actually have three stretches. Now, they're yoga stretches, but we have put a little twist on them into a therapist's world, and we're going to show you they will work, and they are stretches everyone can do. Mike: So, when it comes to yoga poses, especially for people over the age of 50, it is important to choose wisely which poses you do, because some will be very beneficial and some may be problematic for you. Brad: Right. And I think this is very true, particularly if you have no experience with yoga in the past. That's why we're going to sift through these and give you the best yoga exercises, and do them the way we feel is the best, so you're safe and you get the benefits of being pain free. Mike: So, we're going to go through three different gentle stretches you can do. We're going to do the main version of them, and we're also going to do a modified version in case you can't get down on your hands and knees as easily as us. Brad: That's right. Now, I think they're getting pretty anxious to see them. We've already cleared ourselves from the yoga group that are experts, and we're just going to show them the way we think they're going to work well. Mike: The first pose is the child's pose, so you're going to start in an all-fours position. Now, if you have sensitive feet, or your shins are kind of sensitive, you could certainly put a pillow under there if you need it. You do not have to use one if you do not want to. Now, for the knee positions, if you go wider, it's a little easier for me and my feet in. Just go to what position feels comfortable for your legs. And now I'm going to push down through my palms, and as I'm pushing down, I'm going to sit my buttock towards my heels. Go down as far as you can comfortably. Once you're down, you're going to hold his position for five breaths or so, and then you can come back up. Brad, do you want to describe what this is doing? Brad: Yeah. So, let's go through this again. As he's coming back, we're actually stretching the lat muscles here, the side muscles here, and the shoulder blades are actually rotating forward, which is very healthy for the shoulder blades. It unlocks the shoulders and gets a good stretch. Now, his head position is important. We want to keep your head in a neutral position. We'll also get a nice stretch in the back as well as in the hips. Make sure you're breathing and relaxing while you do this. It's absolutely critical for a healthy stretch. Mike: Now, say if you have one side that is tighter than the other we'll say my left side is, when you're going down, you can reach over to the other hand and then bend down, and I'm going to get more of a stretch on this side. Again, you can hold it for so many breaths, or 30 seconds. Whatever feels good for you. Brad: Now actually, when I do this one, I don't know if one side's tighter than the other, but it feels so good to do one side than the other. I just stretch both of them for extra stretching and relaxation purposes. That's your choice. Okay, we are going to show you a second option for this stretch. If you're uncomfortable on your hands and knees, like Mike just demonstrated, in a chair with a table in front of you is an excellent way to do it more comfortably. Mike: So, we have a towel here because it'll slide a little easier on a tabletop than my hands will. So, what you're going to do is push forward with your hands as I'm bringing my butt back in the chair. So, I'm still getting that good stretch in my upper body. Obviously, your hips and knees aren't going to get as much of a stretch with this one. Brad: Your head's too low, Mike. Mike: My head's too low. Brad: Right there. Perfect. Mike: Okay, I'll bring it up a little bit. So, I'm pushing through my palms to get a nice lat stretch. Again, if you want to bring one side over to the other, you can hold this for five breaths or so, and then come back up and relax. And do this stretch periodically throughout the day. Brad: Right. Very good. This is a nice option. Mike: The next pose is called the cat/camel, or cat/cow, whatever one you like to pick. It's fine by me. Just don't call me a cow. Okay, so you're going to get on all fours again, and what you're going to do is it's going to move your spine a bit. So, as I push my back up, my head goes down like this. This is called the cat pose. Going to hold this for about three seconds, and then I'm going to reverse, bring my back down, my tummy towards the mat, and lift my head up. This is called the cow or camel pose. So, Brad, do you want to show what it's doing to my spine? Brad: Right. So, as the arches up into that cat, or the hump, look. This is what's happening to the spine. Everything is flexing, opening up the facet joints, which is very helpful. And relax as you do this. The head goes down so we do get the cervical or the neck part of the spine. Now do the other direction. And this is to be done slowly, not quickly. And you don't have to push up as hard as you can in either direction. And we need to get the arch, or we call this extension. So relax, and breathe. Again, don't push up really hard. Just go until it feels comfortable to the end, and then go the opposite direction. Breathing. Breathing. Are you breathing, Mike? Mike: I am breathing, believe it or not. I'm a nose breather, though. So, it is recommended to do seven to eight repetitions in each direction. Hold each for three seconds. And this is brought to you by Dr. Stuart McGill, who is a spinal expert. Brad: That's right. Okay. A modified version for people who aren't comfortable going on their hands and knees. Go up to a countertop, a higher bed may work, and you're going to put your hands here. Bring your feet back about two feet back, shoulder width apart, so you have a good stable base so you can relax with this. And then you round the back up, your head goes down, hold, breathe. And then go back. Any input, Mike, do you have for this? Mike: This is going to not hit your legs as much, or your buttock region, but it's a good variation. You're still getting that spinal flexion-extension range of motion, which is the emphasis of this exercise. And just take it slow and gentle. If it hurts, don't do it. Brad: That's right. I talked about breathing, but how you breathe. So, when I go into extension, I breathe out or exhale. When I come forward, I breathe in, inhale. So, you actually get a pattern of breathing that goes with the motion of your body, and that takes a little practice. Work with it. You'll know exactly what I mean. Mike: The last pose is the downward dog, which is known as. Now, this is pretty challenging for people as they age. We'll show you what it is originally, but we're going to show you a version you could do standing while using a chair. So, in order to perform this, you have to push through your hands, and you're going to kind of lift your buttock towards the sky. So, it's going to stretch my hamstrings a lot, my calf muscles, and the more you push with your shoulders, you're going to get a good stretch there as well. Brad: What about your back? Are you rounded or do you arch it? Mike: You want to kind of keep it flat. You don't want to be too rounded, or too extended. Just kind of a nice flat back. And your hamstrings will let you know when it's tight enough. But we're going to show you a variation that's going to be a little safer and a little easier. So, for the variation, you'd probably want to use a countertop. If you have a very sturdy chair, unlike this one, you can use a chair. Just make sure it doesn't tip back on you. So, what you're going to do is push down through your palms as you walk your feet backward. Now you're going to get to a point if you can tolerate where I'm going to have a nice flat back here, and I really feel this in my hamstrings. Do you want to tell them what I'm stretching out here, Brad? Brad: Right. So, the hamstrings, it's from the ischial tuberosity or the butt here, and they actually cross the knees. So, if you keep your knees straight, you're going to get a more aggressive hamstringing stretch. If your heels are flat on the floor like Mike's are, that is going to accelerate or make the calf muscles stretch more. So, if it's too tight, you can bend your knees and bring your heels off a little bit. So, again, the goal is to get straight and down, but you may not start out with it, and that's okay. How long are you going to hold the stretch for, Mike? Mike: I'm going to breathe here for eight different breaths and then come back up. You can walk your feet forward. Now, this is also getting a nice pec stretch as I'm going down, too, and it's rotating my shoulder blades up in the correct position. So, it's a good shoulder stretch as well. Just make sure you feel safe with this. You don't want to feel unsteady. And you don't have to go back as far as I do, just do what you feel comfortable with. Brad: Yeah, start out as a beginner. You may just go that far. Shoes or something that grips to the floor are important. You don't want to have socks on a shiny floor so your feet potentially slip. A solid base is important. Mike: Just make sure you have a flat back. Some people may only be able to get to this position. Brad: Then that's okay, then. Actually, I would expect some of these older people, that's where they're going to start, and that's a great place. All right. So, we showed three stretches. Try all three of them. You may not want to do all three if they don't feel comfortable. Only do them if they feel like good stretches. Don't be too aggressive, and enjoy it. I'm sure you're going to find at least one that's going to make your life better. Mike: And we talked about Stuart McGill a little bit. If you want to check out more information about him, Bob did a podcast with him quite a while ago. And Bob, what else do you have to say to them? Bob: Cut. 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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.

A hip muscle strain occurs when one of the muscles supporting the hip becomes stretched beyond its limit. This excessive stretching may cause a “muscle strain”, a “muscle tear’, or a “muscle pull”. All three descriptions refer to damage to a muscle or its attaching tendon. The injury to the hip muscle or muscle tendon may be graded according to the severity: 1st degree - the hip muscle may be sore but there was only mild over-stretching of a muscle. 2nd degree - mild swelling and bruising but possible severe muscle pain and tenderness. Moderate over-stretching of a hip muscle with some tearing of the fibers. 3rd degree - severe pain and swelling. Muscle or tendon is torn all the way through. Muscle is either ripped into two separate pieces or sheared away from the tendon. This can cause a complete loss of function and may require surgery. Anyone can strain their hip muscles from just daily tasks, but more often they occur during a sports event. A hip strain can occur suddenly during a sports event, or with sudden lifting. The strain can also occur gradually over time due to repetitive motion (such as stair climbing or hiking). You have a higher chance of experiencing a hip strain if: A. You have had a prior hip strain or tear. B. You have muscle tightness. C. You fail to warm up before an athletic or work event. D. You attempt to do too much too soon with exercise or work. Signs and Symptoms of a Hip Muscle Strain or Tear 1. Swelling and bruising (discoloration) 2. Muscle spasms 3. Previous hip strain or tear 4. You can feel point tenderness. 5. Might feel an indentation or bump in the muscle. 6. Pain when that muscle is used. 7. Weakness when that muscle is used. 8. Hearing a “pop” sound when the muscle or tendon is injured. X-rays may be ordered to make certain a bone fracture did not occur with a strain or tear. Do You Have a Muscle Strain or Tear? Five Self-Tests You Can Perform. These tests are not to be used to help you self-diagnose or assess yourself. We highly recommend you see your physician for a professional diagnosis. 1. Test your hip flexors. Sit in a chair. Raise your right knee (like marching) and hold it up. Push down on your thigh and try to continue to hold the right knee in the air. Pain and/or weakness may be noted with a strain or tear. Compare to the left side. 2. Test your hip abductors. Sit in a chair. Spread both knees apart. Using both hands attempt to push both knees together while resisting with the muscles of your leg. Pain and/or weakness may be noted on the leg with a hip strain or tear. 3. Test your hip adductors. Sit in a chair. Squeeze both knees together. Attempt to pull your knees apart while resisting with the hip and thigh muscles. Pain and/or weakness may be noted on the leg with a hip strain or tear. 4. Test your hip extensors. Sit in a chair. Clasp your hands under your right thigh near your knee joint. Attempt to pull the knee up while resisting with the muscles of your leg. Pain and/or weakness may be noted with a strain or tear. Compare to the left side. 5. Use your fingers to feel for point tenderness in the muscles surrounding your hips and in your thigh muscles. Check out the full Hip Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets for each video on our website here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/hip-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atnOOB8ozUc&t=261s . Brad: Oh wow! If you're over 50, I'm personally 60 and I'm realizing that my muscle mass is actually decreasing. It's a process called sarcopenia. It happens to everyone. Mike: After age 65, research has shown that you can lose up to 3% of your muscle mass per year. Brad: We are going to show you five exercises that are going to help prevent this and actually reverse it. And this is proven by research. Mike: Studies have consistently shown that resistance training into your seventies and eighties can help retain your muscle mass. Brad: So, resistance training includes using bands, weights, and anything that provides resistance, volume, and intensity of these exercises is absolutely key to growing your muscle size. Mike: So, in other words, it's how many repetitions you do and how much weight or resistance you are using with each exercise. Brad: We're going to show you some excellent exercises for this. And not only that, the formula, so you know how many reps to do and how much per week, et cetera. Okay. It's very critical that you know, like I mentioned how many repetitions and the volume, et cetera. So, on the screen, we're putting the magic formula. This is per research, so it is accurate. Mike: So, for beginners, you're going to start with doing eight to 12 repetitions per set. You can start with eight and progress up to 12, as it becomes easier. You're going to do all the exercises, there are five of them, for a total of one set each. And you're going to do this two times per week. Brad: Right. As you get on with this, you're going to have some sore muscles probably if you've been sedentary, that's okay. That's why we only do it two times per week. You'll get used to this and you're going to want a little bit more to build those muscles. So, you're going to progress up again, eight to 12 repetitions and then you're going to rest between sets for a minute or so. Then you're going to do three sets. So, if you're going to do curls and we'll show you this as we get into the video three sets of each, and the rest time is really important. And then you progress to two to three times per week. So, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Have a day in between so your muscles can rebuild, and your body can relax. All right, we're going to show you five exercises. Mike is going to demonstrate, and we'll talk about them so it's clear how to do them properly. And then we're going to show you five more exercises that are an advanced set. So, after you feel comfortable with the first set of exercises and you want more advanced, then we'll go through the more advanced exercises. It'll be an option. Mike: So, the first exercise is a simple sit-to-stand. It mimics a squat, but in a safe way, especially if you are weak. So, slide your butt to the edge of the chair and you're just going to stand up and then try to control your sit on the way back down. You can certainly use your hands to start if you need the help. If you feel it's too easy, and you want to get more leg strengthening you can cross your arms over your chest and do the same thing. Go up and control it on the way down. And for even more advancement, if your shoulders are okay, you can put your hands behind your head and do the same exact thing. Brad: Now, if you do have balance problems and you don't feel steady and you have a walker, put the walker in front of you so you have something to hold onto. If you have a walking stick or a cane, simply use that for balance. Be very safe. You should feel very comfortable, particularly with this exercise. No falls. Okay, let's go to number two. The next exercise is the old traditional curls. To start you may not need any weight at all. You may just do this open-handed for 10 to 12 reps. If you need some weight, simply grab some dumbbells. You do not have to go purchase dumbbells. You can simply use a can of soup. Mike here has a can of stress balls, like tennis balls and that works well. Good posture. Breathe while you do these. Again, you can do one arm at a time, like Mike. If you have two cans of soup, do two at a time. If you happen to have some resistance bands, it's an excellent option. Go underneath your feet like Mike is doing. Mike: Don't lift your feet up or it'll shoot you in the legs. Brad: Yep. So be careful. Shoes on is always the best when you're doing that type of band. Let's go to the next one, Mike. Mike: And the third exercise is shoulder horizontal abduction. So, you're going to grab a band of sorts. I'm doing it the easy way. Brad is going to do it the harder way by folding up the band. And you're going to pull apart and bring the band to your chest and then bring it back. You do nice, slow, and controlled. We don't want to play the accordion here. Brad: Again, this is also a good posture exercise. Think about bringing the shoulders back, and chest out. If you don't happen to have bands, you can do this without a weight, it'll be helpful. You won't get the muscle mass building that the bands have, but it's going to be helpful. We'll go to the next one which will also help your hands and wrists. The next one is hand and wrist strength as well as getting those wrists bigger. And you're going to use squish balls. Now Mike has two of them here. The red one is from a dollar store, just squishy in it. The blue one is one of our Stress Balls, like a soft tennis ball. You can simply take a rolled-up towel like this squeeze and twist it like you're ringing it out. Now you may wonder why we are working the hands because you don't care about the muscles in your hands. But it's very critical as you age, as your hands get weaker, your function actually drops, and you'll become less mobile, functional, and safe with everything you grab. So, this is probably one of the most important exercises of the five. Squeeze! Mike: I've already done a hundred reps. Brad: You've done a hundred? Sorry, I really felt I had to talk about that one. Mike: And the last exercise we're going to do is plantar flex and dorsiflex. So just rocking back and forth on your toes. What do you have to add to this? Brad: On this one in particular, if your balance is off, you need to use support. I'm using the mop. I'm going to hold it here for balance and I'm fine. If that's not solid enough, Mike is going to talk about two better positions. Mike: You can use a solid chair. If your chair is rocking, you can certainly do the exercise at a countertop or hold onto the kitchen sink and you're going to strengthen your calves and the front of your ankle muscles. Brad: This is very critical for your balance and walking. And you're going to get that muscle mass built up. Now if you found that all of these are too easy for you, our next set of five is challenging and the advanced mode. For the advanced mode, you will need some resistance bands. We also have some wall anchors that come in very handy. You'll see why. Again, this is advanced and you're assuming you're going to want to do this. Mike is going to also the Booyah Stik there. Again, a boomer mop handle works really well for some support. Okay, let's get on with the first squats. Go ahead, Mike. Mike: So, the first one is squats. So just hold onto something for support. If you feel unbalanced and you're just going to simply squat down, go to where you feel safe, and then come back up. If you only feel safe doing partial range, that's fine. You can certainly have a chair behind you as well. Brad: Now if you want a little more resistance, simply use the bands. You can hold on to the bands and squat. The higher you go, the more resistance there is. Again, eight to 10 repetitions. If you do have some wall anchors those come in handy. We can simply hook the band on the low anchor then you don't have to stand on it. Then squat down. It actually supports you. You don't fall forward because it's pulling you back. It helps your balance as well. Mike: So, the next progression for the bicep curls is simply to use a heavier-duty band. So, I have a black band here, it's rated at 50 pounds of force, and you can just do the curls standing or seated if you need to. If you don't feel balanced. To make this even more difficult, I could spread my legs out wider, putting more resistance and tension on it. Or you can even add more bands. But Brad has a different option over there. Brad: Right. So, I'm going to use the wall anchor. And this is a big benefit. You attach the band to the anchor there very simply, and I'm going to do my curls here. Now, if I want to make it more difficult, I simply take a step farther away and you could vary your resistance much easier this way as opposed to standing on it. So that's a nice option. And if you really feel you really want to get those biceps you can double it up and just do one at a time. This is Bob's favorite, strong like bull! Mike: I will add, make sure the band is loose when you step off it. I broke a ceiling tile at a gym once because I didn't do that. Brad: Oh wow. All right, the next group of exercises is very easy to do. And by the way, if you don't have any wall anchors, at the end of the video I'm going to show you something else that you can use at home as an alternative. So, you can do this seated, I'll be standing, and Mike is seated. And you'll put it in the middle anchor. And we're simply going to pull elbows back and shoulders back. This is a nice one for those shoulders. The shoulder blades as well as the arms. With this, change the resistance band or simply move back farther to add resistance. That is a big advantage of using bands when you have them attached to the wall with the anchor or whatever. Brad: All right, now the next one you can do one of these or all three of them or two of them, but the next one is bringing your arm out to the side. We call them reverse flies. You'll probably find that you need to move in a little bit closer because your arms are not as strong when you do the reverse flies. Mike: I feel like we're synchronized exercising here. Brad: Yeah, there you go. And what's the third one, Mike? Mike: The last one is going to be the chest press. So, in a chair, you’ll want to be facing away from the wall and you might want to lower anchor but I'm just going to deal with this one for now. Brad: It'll work and with standing you simply turn around and it's very easy. Mike: And you're just going to press forward. Kind of like you're doing a pushup, but it's a chest press. It's a little easy for me considering this is a yellow band. But press forward. Brad: We believe you're strong like bull. Mike: You might want to switch bands because the reverse fly, the last one we did is a lot harder than this one. Brad: All right, and we've got one more position to work. Mike: The last exercise is another combination of two exercises into one. So first we're going to do some seated triceps extensions. So, keep your elbow at your side as you press down. Do not bring your full arm up. That's a totally different exercise. Keep your elbows nice and stationary and just press down. Then we're going to get into a lat pull-down. For this, you're going to go out to the side and then pull down towards the side of your hips and you're going to work the lat muscle as Brad is showing. And he once again gave me the baby band. Brad: Now if you do have some anchors, one of the beauties of them is, I just leave mine hang up there and then I have another one at the middle section. So, you don't have to keep changing them. It's very efficient and works very well. When you do purchase resistance bands, they come in a set of four or five, you get either three or four anchors. So, once it's all setup, it becomes very efficient. It becomes part of your household. People will wonder, what are you doing with these in your house? And we'll say,” Haha that's our Bob and Brad wall anchor set.” Okay, let's show you how you can do it if you don't have anchors. If you don't have wall anchors, it's very simple. You can use a doorknob, open the door, and put the band around the doorknob. You can use an arm rail if you have a stairway, simply go around the post and that will work. Not as well, but it works adequately. The other thing is, Bob used to use his bedpost. He's got one of those big California king beds anchored down, which works very well. You can use whatever works one way or another, the bands can be very beneficial. Mike: Our sets typically come with a door lock. So, you just put this in the door and then shut the door and it'll stay put. You can put it up high, down low, or in between. Brad: Just make sure nobody walks through the door from the other side when you're doing the exercises. Mike: You might want to lock it. Brad: That's a good idea. All right. Once again, the three or four Bs: Mike: Be helpful. Brad: Be careful. Mike: Be happy. Brad: And be helpful. There you go. Take care and enjoy your exercise. 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 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Back and Neck Massager Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture 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 Wellness: Hand Warmer 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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 November of 2022. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/VyF4-sGyPBc Brad: All right, we are going to show you the easiest way to unlock your wrists, decrease pain, and strengthen them so you can be more functional with opening those jars of soup, et cetera. Okay, so first of all, to unlock the wrist when your wrists feel like they're kind of locked up and they need to get cracked, or they're tight. This is the routine you're going to start out with. Bob will show the side profile. I'll show you the front. Gentle, gentle fist. Nothing tight. You can leave your fingers loose if you'd like and go up and down like you're waving. Up and down. Do that five to 10 times. You may feel them start to crack a little bit with this. Brad: And then, circles, you can do it with fists or with open fingers, it doesn't matter. About five rotations one way, five rotations the other way. More if you'd like to, depends on how it's feeling. Brad: And now this next one, this is an important one but you have to be very careful and do it properly. You should not experience any pain with this. It should feel good. Bob: And don't pull your hand off. Brad: Yeah, don't pull your hand off. This is called decompression or a little traction. Okay. This is the wrist that we're going to decompress and unlock. So what works well with this is to do it in a seated position with a pillow and you're going to set that on your lap and you can rest your arm on there so it's completely relaxed. I'm going to take the other hand and grab the hand above the wrist and support it. This arm is going to stay relaxed. Bob: So you're above the two wrist bones. Brad: Yep. Above those two bones. The wrist joint where the crease is, is where we're grabbing, above. The left hand is going to pull and get a little traction. Now, if you watch real closely you should see the joint expand. I'm pulling it apart slightly. Okay. If you get any sharp pain with this, you stop. It's not the right thing to do for you. Should feel good. Bob: Immediately. Brad: Yep. If it feels good, you can continue. And then once you pull out, you maintain the traction, the pullout pressure. Now watch what I do here. I'm going to rotate just my forearm. The hand maintains the hand position. Bob: So the forearms do the work. Brad: Yeah. And that really mobilizes and loosens up that wrist. You know, we have eight bones and three joints in that wrist and a lot more up in the carpals in the hand part. Bob: This is a great technique. Brad: Yep. It feels better already, Bob. Bob: Yeah, it looks better. Brad: Now we need to show you how to strengthen it after you do this and get it loose. Now we're going to start strengthening it. And I did say in the title there's no cost for this, so you know hopefully you can go into your kitchen, grab a can of soup, 12 ounces, 16 ounces. Bob: Jar of soup. Brad: Jar of soup. I'm really getting it good there. A bottle of water works well. If you happen to have a weight, a dumbbell, you can use that. So you're going to take that and you're going to put it over your thigh, or if you're at a table, I'm going to use the bench here and just work wrist flexion, we call it. And up and down like this. And after 10 to 15 repetitions you should start to feel the muscles get tired. If they're not tired, get a bigger can of soup. Get a bigger dumbbell. Bob: Bigger jar of soup. Brad: Bigger jar of soup. Okay, then flip your wrist over so your palm is down, and go ahead and do that direction. This direction almost always is weaker than this. You'll find if you can do 15 of the flexion you can probably only do 10 of extension. Bob: You’ll struggle more. Brad: Yep. Bob: Next, start in neutral. Brad: Neutral, yep. So you have your thumb up, you're going to go sideways. If your thumb was up it's like you're doing a baby hitchhiker. Same thing, 10 to 15 repetitions and that'll do you wonders. Now, if you did have a can of soup what you're going to do then is take it, open it up and eat it. You need some nutrients for the work you've done. Oh, just kidding. Bob: And no pain by the way. Brad: Right. No pain with all these. It should feel a little fatigued, but it shouldn't be irritated after you're done and sore. It may be the first time you do this so that means you went too hard. Give it a couple days off and then go back to it. Bob: And do it less times. Brad: Now, the next thing you're going to do is hopefully you have a hammer for putting the nails in the wall to hang up the pictures of the grandkids and everything, or taking them down. Anyways, take a hammer and you're going to grab it by the handle and this works different muscles. This is called supination or rotation. Bob: Supination, pronation. Brad: So let it go back and forth. But be careful if you grab it toward the end of the handle, if you don't realize that your wrist is weak and it goes too far or you have too big of a hammer, this could twist and hurt your wrist. So I would start out grabbing close to the head of the hammer. If it's too easy, simply raise it up. It'll get harder. Bob: So what about a sledgehammer? Brad: Sledgehammer? Yes. When you work up to a sledgehammer you've got Popeye wrists, good strong ones. But again, 5-10. If you want to go to 15 repetitions it's up to you, depending on what you tolerate. Again, no pain, just fatigue is all we want to feel. Now this one, you can go forward and backwards. And that works some other muscles. Brad: That's not so important. If you need to open up that jar of jam, supination/pronation is going to really help you with that as well as our next exercise. Part of strengthening the wrist that is really critical for the wrist as well as function, like opening that jar of mayonnaise or miracle whip if you like that, is you have to work your grip. This works the finger grip as well as the wrist at the same time. The best way to do it is get yourself a ball that's squishy. Now, Bob's got one that's really soft and squishy. Bob: Really easy. Brad: And this one is a little more firm. I would not use anything like, you know, a golf ball's too hard. Tennis balls are typically too hard. You need something softer. Bob: Our stress balls work well. Brad: Yeah, you need something squishy. And you simply grab on the ball and you can do this while you're watching TV or just relaxing and squish the ball until you get fatigued. Again, there should be no pain, make sure you get the thumb. Sometimes people only do the fingers but make sure you get the thumb. You can do the thumb by itself. You can actually do the fingers individually. If one of your fingers is real tight like Bob's. What is it? Bob: Dupuytren's contracture. Brad: Dupuytren's on one of those fingers so it's too stiff to exercise. You work the other ones and that's one of the beauties of having a nice squishy ball and they're nice to work with. That's good for tactile stimulation. Bob: I agree. Brad: Yeah. Bob concurs. It's a therapy thing. So anyway, seriously, a nice soft ball can really do well. You do all those things and this is going to make a significant difference on your strength, the pain in your wrist, and make your wrist and grip worthy. Bob: You can choke a chicken. Brad: (Laughs) Choke a chicken, thanks Bob. Okay, thank you very much for watching and work on those wrists on a daily basis. Be careful. 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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.

Dry eyes are a prevalent condition that occurs when the eyes do not produce enough tears or the quality of tears is inadequate. This condition can be uncomfortable and even frustrating, but there are natural solutions that can help alleviate symptoms and improve eye health. In this article, we will explore the causes of dry eyes and discuss effective natural remedies to provide relief. The Importance of Understanding Dry Eyes: Dry eyes affect a significant portion of the global population, making it essential to understand the condition and its underlying causes. By gaining insight into why dry eyes occur, individuals can take proactive steps to manage and prevent discomfort. Causes of Dry Eyes: Dry eyes can result from various factors, including environmental conditions, lifestyle habits, and underlying health issues. Some common causes include: Insufficient Tear Production: The eyes may not produce enough tears due to aging, hormonal changes, or medical conditions. Poor Tear Quality: Even if tears are produced, they may lack the proper composition to keep the eyes lubricated. Environmental Factors: Spending prolonged periods in front of screens, exposure to air conditioning or fans, and low humidity can contribute to dry eyes. Natural Solutions for Dry Eyes: Here are some effective natural solutions to help manage and alleviate dry eye symptoms: Stay Hydrated: Adequate water intake is essential for overall eye health. Staying hydrated ensures that your body can produce tears effectively. Blink Regularly: Particularly important for those who work on screens for extended periods, regular blinking helps distribute tears across the eyes. Avoid Direct Air: Shield your eyes from direct blasts of air, such as those from air conditioners or fans, as they can accelerate tear evaporation. Use Humidifiers: Adding moisture to your environment can prevent excessive evaporation of tears and maintain a comfortable humidity level. Clean Your Eyelids: Regular eyelid hygiene is crucial to prevent blockage of oil glands. Over-the-counter eyelid scrubs and warm washcloths can help keep your eyelids clean. Bob and Brad Oasis 2 Eye Massager: For those seeking a natural remedy without the need for medications or eye drops, the Bob and Brad Oasis 2 Eye Massager is an excellent option. This device uses gentle vibrations and warmth to stimulate oil gland production in the eyelids. It effectively unclogs oil glands, improves tear film quality, and relaxes the muscles around the eyes, reducing eye strain and fatigue. Final Takeaway: Taking care of your eyes should be a top priority, as they are irreplaceable. By understanding the causes and solutions for dry eyes, individuals can make informed decisions about their eye health and explore natural remedies that offer relief. Dry eyes can be a frustrating and uncomfortable condition, but it's possible to manage and alleviate symptoms naturally. From staying hydrated to using innovative solutions like the Bob and Brad Oasis 2 Eye Massager, there are plenty of natural approaches to explore. Remember to consult with an optometrist or eye care professional before trying any new treatments to ensure the best possible care for your eyes. Your vision is precious, so take the necessary steps to keep it healthy and comfortable.

Hip pain can occur at any age due to a sporting injury or a fall. But as we age hip pain may begin to emerge for no apparent reason. We saw one statistic stating that 10 percent of 40 to 50-year-old people reported having hip pain. That number increased to 25 percent with 65-year-old people. The typical scenario we see is as follows. A 50, 60, or 70-year-old person begins having some hip pain. It is not going away. They see their doctor who orders some type of imaging test (Xrays, MRI, CAT scan). The test reveals they have significant degeneration or osteoarthritis in the hip. The patient now understands why they are having so much pain. So, they try medications, injections, and maybe even surgery to get rid of the hip pain. However, meanwhile, no one has told them the truth. 1. The truth is that what they are seeing on the imaging tests may just be the result of normal aging and wear/tear. It may not be the cause of their pain. Their non-painful hip may look worse. Studies have shown time and time again that imaging studies may show significant deterioration and arthritis in a joint belonging to a person with absolutely no pain. So, what is causing your hip pain? More than likely it is your daily habits and stresses on your hip. In addition, your hip may be tight and weak. Change your habits and stressors. Improve your hip motion and strength. Do both and your hip pain may dramatically improve. Either way, what have you got to lose? The exercises and habits will be helpful to your hip even if you do require surgery. Some additional lies and myths we hear or see on a regular basis: 2. “My hip arthritis is going to continue to degenerate, and my pain is just going to get progressively worse”. Not necessarily true. We have seen several studies that demonstrate your pain may remain the same or even improve over a period of time – despite X-rays showing continued deterioration of the joint. Bob’s wife is a great example. She had a flareup of her knee joint to the extent that she required crutches. That was over two years ago. She is now back to running (at age 56). 3. “I wore out my hip due to years of doing (fill in the blank) – running, hiking, roofing, etc.” Not true; active people tend to have better joints than inactive or sedentary people. Sedentary people are also more likely to be overweight which places increased stress on their joints. 4. “I don’t want to make my arthritis worse, so I am going to rest my hip.” Resting the hip (beyond a day or two) can make your arthritis worse. Joints love movement. Most people are not active enough to gain the motion or maintain the strength they need in their hips. The exception to this is when the hip arthritis has advanced so far that the hip is nearly immobile. 5. “My mom had arthritis and she suffered with it for years. The same is going to happen to me.” Again, not necessarily. Some types of arthritis are inherent, but it is amazing how the body can adapt if you change your daily harmful hip habits and improve your hip strength and range of motion. 6. “I am going to eventually need a hip replacement so I might as well do it now.” This may be true IF your hip pain does not improve through exercises and improving daily habits. It may also be true IF you are concerned you will not be able to medically tolerate hip surgery in the future. However, if your pain does improve and you are healthy, it is to your advantage to hold off on joint replacement surgery if your quality of life is not suffering. **Speak to your doctor about a trial of physical therapy before considering hip surgery. Check out the full Hip Pain Relief Program series of videos along with downloadable guide sheets for each video on our website here: https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/hip-pain-relief-program

This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcVxpPuOsfk&t=21s Mike: Stop the pain in your butt with these three simple exercises. Brad: And learn how to fix piriformis syndrome. Mike: The piriformis is a small muscle located in the buttock, and it generally crosses over the sciatic nerve. The problem is the piriformis muscle can become irritated, and press down on that nerve, resulting in pain. Brad: That's right. The question is, why does it get irritated? Well, the answer is obvious, at least to me. Actually, it's because the large gluteus maximus muscle is not doing its job. It becomes weak or is not activated. It's called gluteal amnesia, and that muscle gets weaker, and doesn't do its job, the piriformis muscle tries to compensate for that. It overworks, pinching the sciatic nerve, causing pain in the buttock, as well as all the way down the leg like sciatica. Mike: So how do we fix this problem? Well, it's pretty simple. You just have to get your gluteus max to start firing properly again. Brad: That's right. We're going to show you three exercises to jumpstart that glute max and get it moving so that it works and lets that piriformis relax. The first exercise is glute pumps. It can be done in two different positions. Mike's going to show it in the quadruped position, I'm going to show it in a standing position. Go ahead, Mike. Mike: So get down on all fours. You're going to rest on your forearms and bring your leg up. You're not going to go too high or too low, just kind of in the middle. Find a neutral ground, and you're just going to pump up with little oscillations. We're not going to go up super high. And if you're able to keep your balance, you can put your hand on your butt to make sure it's firing. If it's not firing well, you can kind of turn your leg inward and do the same thing. And just little pumps, do 10 of them up to 30 reps. Brad: How many sets? Mike: You can do up to 30 reps, however many sets it takes you. Brad: Sure. Alright, the other option is standing. You'll go up to a table or a countertop, it's nice to put your forearms down so you get the right angle to isolate that glute max. And then the same idea that Mike mentioned, we're going to go up, do a little external rotation, bring the foot over, and do your pumps, and just kind of work it like this, counting away. Yeah, I feel that glute max working. It does help, even though it's a little weird, it does help to actually feel that glute max working, that tactile information gets it firing a little more. Let's go onto the second one. Mike: So the second step to get your glutes firing more, when you're walking, is to take shorter strides, or how far do you put your foot in front of the other. So we have a little tip here, where we're taking some popcorn kernels and taping it to the heel of your foot. Brad: I think it's important. It's not only shorter strides, but the reason the popcorn is on the heel is because you want to walk with soft knees, and the weight is on the forefoot, as opposed to the heel strike, that turns the glute off. When you go on your forefoot with a slight knee bend, it initiates the gluteus maximus to fire. Go ahead, Mike. Mike: If I try to walk with the popcorn on my heels, it's not very comfortable. It's like stepping on Legos if you've ever done that. So it's going to make you naturally land on the front of your foot, not put pressure on your heels. In order to do that, you're going to have to shorten your stride length and walk on your forefoot. Brad: Now, we don't expect you to do this all day long, of course. simply take out 10, to 20 minutes at home, do this every time you get up. You don't have to think about your pattern, because the popcorn under there is going to remind you. So it really works out well. Easy training technique. Mike: And this actually goes into the third recommendation, which Brad kind of recommended already, is when you step, you're going to step with a soft knee. I'm not going to lock my knees. So if you land on your heel, you're going to lock your knees into extension, putting more stress on your joints here, and not engaging your butt muscles. To engage your butt muscles, you're going to stay on your toes, just like we talked about before. Brad: One little addendum there, is you can actually, after you put the popcorn tape on the heel, you can put your sock over the top of it, slide your foot into the shoe, and it works very well, also. It depends on the cushion in your shoe, you won't feel the popcorn as much, but simply put more in, and you'll get a feel for it. Mike: So if you're still having piriformis pain, and you're starting to get your butt firing properly, and you want to get it to calm down, a good thing to do is massage it. Some free things you can use are a lacrosse ball, a softball, a baseball, or a tennis ball, which is a little softer. The others are a little harder. You just kind of put it on your buttock muscle. You kind of have to get to a position to put some pressure on it. I've even done it in a figure four, and that really digs in there. But Brad has an alternative if you have a massage gun or want to buy one, you can try it that way too, right? Brad: That's right. So with the massage gun, you simply are going to use the round head, or probably the airhead, whatever you want. The round head I like, and I'll show you why. You lay on your side, and typically flex your hip to get to the piriformis muscle. It connects from the side of the hip, all the way up to the sacrum. But you'll find it. You just get on there, and don't get too aggressive, and you start massaging around. You'll feel a tender spot, and that is where that muscle is tightened up, and you need to release that knot. And you work over it for about 30 seconds or so, and you should start to feel it to release. If it's really tender, and it hurts, you simply go away from it and work around it. And after time you can zero in more on it, and work it. So you can go straight in, but it gets a little aggressive, so sideways with the massage gun works a little bit better, not so aggressive. Typically, you'll be there for a couple of minutes before you get it worked out. What do you say? Mike: I say cut. So Brad, what are the four Bs again? Brad: Be careful, be healthy, and behave. Be helpful. Something. There you go. That's enough, let's go. Bye. 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) Fit Glide Q2 Mini Massage Gun (US) Knee Glide Eye Massager T2 Massage Gun Foot Massager X6 Massage Gun with Stainless Steel Head Leg Massager Holy Cowabunga Cream Uni Massage Gun D6 Pro Massage Gun Back Massager Posture Pad Lite Foot Massager EZBack Massager 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​ The Bob and Brad Community is a place to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others regarding physical therapy and health topics. 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 May of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSsPuxdmZHU&t=59s BRAD: How are you doing, Mike? MIKE: I'm alive. BRAD: All right. Now Mike and I, and Bob have spent decades, literally, doing low-impact exercises with seniors to improve their strength, their heart health, and osteoporosis, and it just works out well. Now we're going to talk about this during this video, and things are going to be explained very well. Mike, do you have something to say? MIKE: We are going to show you five exercises that you can do. You can follow along, or watch and do them later, and they're going to help you stay active, make you a little stronger, and help reduce any pain or stiffness. BRAD: That's right. They are our five favorites, I would say. All right, a little introduction to these exercises, a mindset of what I would like you to think about before you get into them. I want you to do all five of the exercises, but if any of them create any joint pain, any pain at all, that exercise should be eliminated. Overall, you're going to go through five of them, pick out two or three of them that you like the best, and seem like they're best for you, and those are the ones you're going to want to do. You can alternate them day to day, or one week do one, the other week do another. MIKE: In the exercises, there are going to be two different arm exercises, so make sure to pick one of those for sure. We're also going to show a variation, so a simpler or harder version, depending upon how well you can move. BRAD: That's right, we want to fit everybody in so that there are options for everyone involved. MIKE: Let's get to it. BRAD: All right, the first one, a very traditional exercise, is marching in place. Now you're going to swing your arms and your knees. The higher you bring your knees, the more tired, or more aggressive it is. Same with your arms. If you want to start out small, fine. If you want to start out big, that's even better. It's up to you. Mike, can you talk about how long we're going to do this? MIKE: We're going to try to do this for a minute. You can work up to two minutes. This is more time-based exercise. I am doing the seated version, which is easier. You don't have the balance component. If you feel unsteady, Brad's is going to be a little more challenging. BRAD: Yes. Boy, this is nice. I like, this exercise. Think about your breathing and being relaxed while you exercise, it makes a tremendous difference in how you enjoy the exercise and the efficiency of things. MIKE: I can't swing my arms as much. I feel goofy. BRAD: Well, be careful with the armrests, or you'll bump your elbow. Alright, the second exercise is sidestepping left and right. This is an important exercise because it works the lateral muscles, which are incredibly, incredibly important for your stability and balance. You may need a stick or a cane, just to make sure you're safe. That's strictly up to you. And you go back and forth, 5 or 10 times. Mike, do you want to elaborate more on this exercise? MIKE: The first thing to notice is you do not have to do them in red pants. The second thing is to go one to two minutes for time duration. You can hold on to a cane or stick for support like Brad was doing. You can also do these on a countertop or a firm railing. The third exercise is some type of squat variation. I'm going to be showing the easier version first. So you're going to start in a chair, and you're going to stand up, and then slowly sit down. If you need to use your armrest for support, go ahead. If you feel strong enough, you can cross your arms on your shoulders like this. Just make sure you have good control as you're going up and sitting back. Brad, do you want to talk about the variation? BRAD: Yes. If you would like to have it a little more aggressive and work your balance more, be careful with this. Actually, go up behind a chair and hold that, and we're going to do squats. Now I'm going to back up away from the chair. Use something to hold onto, a chair, cupboard, whatever, cane, or stick, and then we're going to start out with shallow squats. Okay, we're going to go down, and whatever's comfortable, if you feel like you get down so far and you get knee pain, or you feel wobbly, stop, go to the chair. We must stay safe with this. A hand on a countertop, a chair, and the stick can be a really good way to work these. Again, go down as far as you feel comfortable. We talked about time. You can do these for a set time if you'd like. If you want to just do 10 repetitions to start out with and build up, that is also a great technique. This is one of those strengthening techniques that's really going to help you out with your balance, getting out of chairs, into chairs, and negotiating up and down steps, so it's an important one. MIKE: Yes, it's a very functional exercise. The next exercise is going to be a wall pushup for beginners, and Brad will show the more advanced version next. This is going to be an upper body arm strengthening exercise. So you're going to bring your upper body towards the wall, and then push back out. The further your feet are away from the wall, the more challenging it will be. Since you're not fighting against gravity, this is a little bit easier exercise to do. And again, we're going to do repetitions with this. Start with however many you can do, and progress from there. BRAD: That's right. Now, if you have a history of doing push-ups, and you want to go right to the floor and do the typical GI pushups, go ahead, do that. We're talking about people who aren't at that level and want a good option. If you have handrails and a stairway, this is a really nice way you can progress, and it's a little bit more challenging than the wall. Good, solid rails, of course. Bring your feet out as far as you feel comfortable. The farther out, the more difficult it will be. So start out safe, and work those. If your handrails are too far apart, it's not an option, because it's going to stress your shoulders and give you shoulder pain. So make sure you feel very comfortable with this. Again, do the same repetitions. When I do push-ups, I like to do a goal of 10. 10 is a nice number to work towards. BRAD: Going to a countertop is a really good situation. A good, solid countertop. This is not solid, so Mike is sitting on this, this is a little bit lower than most countertops, so it'll be higher. And just bring your feet over. And again, we just do the pushups here. Unfortunately, the wall is too close, I really am not demonstrating the way I would normally do it, plus Sam's in the way, but you get the idea of how we're going to do it. Same repetitions. Mike, anything to finish up on this one? MIKE: When you start going into the variations Brad was showing, it's going to engage your core a little more, and there's more gravity, so it's going to be more challenging. BRAD: That's right. It's a win-win. Okay, the next one, another arm and shoulder exercise. Very important, the first thing you must do, we can do it seated or standing, but good posture. So get the shoulders back, the head up, and everything in line, as we want with good posture. Then we're going to bring our arms out in front. We can go palms down, palms together, that's not really important. Out to the side, nice and wide. Squeeze the shoulder blades together in front, and then overhead. You can do this with both hands together or open. If you happen to have one shoulder or one arm that is weaker than the other arm, grab it. Let the strong arm assist the weak one, it can be a good stretch. And then we're just going to repeat these. Again, we can go for time on this. If you want to count, you can count. Mike, what do you have to say about if this is too easy? MIKE: If this is too easy, you can try grabbing a resistance band of sorts. It doesn't matter which type you have at home, or you can even use dumbbells. But with the resistance bands, you're going to grab somewhere in the middle and start with the easier band, typically lighter colors are easier. Do the same motion, pull apart, the band will touch your chest, and then you're going lift overhead. You don't have to have it tight when you're overhead. So just apart and then overhead. This is going to really work your shoulders. BRAD: Yeah, this is great for your range of motion as well as a strengthening exercise. Mike did mention you can use dumbbells, and that's going to work different muscle groups, because the resistance is vertical, down with gravity. And you're going to find these become much more difficult. Yeah, okay, Mike, should we tell them about the advanced method for getting both directions? MIKE: Sure. BRAD: Sure. Most people will not do this, but there will be a few of the overachievers. Use the band and a dumbbell, so we get resistance going out, and we get resistance going up. Again, do not try this unless you can do them very easily with just the bands, or without, it is just another option. What do you say, Mike? MIKE: We have one more exercise for you to show, it's a bonus tip. BRAD: My shoulders are feeling really good after that. I like it. MIKE: Good, you need the work. So the bonus tip is just simply walking. It is an important exercise to do, it is low impact, it has a lot of different health benefits, and it's important to start on a nice, flat road or maybe sidewalk to begin. If you've already been walking a bunch, you could try different terrains, and unevenness, making it a little more challenging, but walking is very beneficial. BRAD: Right. I think one of the big benefits of walking, besides the exercise, is simply doing it outside, particularly in nice weather. It's such a relaxing activity, it lets your mind free, and it's just one of those additional things that make life much better. So, walk away. Oh, I know. I wanted to mention, that I've had people that walk out too far, and then they can't come back. Say they walk a mile out, and they get halfway back, and they realize, I should have limited my walk to one mile, and now I've got a half mile of drudgery and knee pain because they overdid it. It's just an example. So if you have blocks, walk around the block, so you can do 10 laps versus 20, and you get tired at 11 laps, then you're right there by your house, and you can sit down. Or a park where there are plenty of benches to rest at. MIKE: Or a treadmill. BRAD: There you go. But that's not outside. No. You could take your treadmill out into the yard, and get a long extension cord. Maybe a 200-footer, and then the neighbors will talk, and life will be exciting throughout the neighborhood. So yeah, that's a good option. Alright, that concludes the exercises. Look at all of them, pick out the ones you want. And remember, feel strong, be balanced, and keep moving. MIKE: And let us know in the comments section what low-impact exercises you prefer to do because maybe we'll make a video about those. BRAD: Yeah, that's right. Always something new out there. There are people out there with much better ideas than we have. 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