♪ Bob and Brad ♪ ♪ The two most famous
physical therapists ♪ ♪ On the internet. ♪ - Hi folks. I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist. - Brad Heineck, physical therapist - Together we are the most
famous physical therapists on the internet. - In our opinion, of course, Bob. - So today, Brad, we're gonna show the family and friends out there, how to massage knots
away from your shoulders, upper back and traps. Basically up in this area here. Where they're very common. - Right, a very common place
to have tension, knots, things that make you uncomfortable. - So knots are also
known as trigger points and they are very common,
like we said, in this area. So I saw where trigger point was defined as a grumpy little spot. - Technical, huh? - Yup in taut band of muscles. So a tight band of muscles and the tissue that hurts
when you press upon it. And maybe even reproduces
the symptoms of pain that you're having. It might even spread out and cause it. So there's a lot of speculation
about what causes knots and what knots are and
they really don't know but we certainly think poor
posture plays a large role. - Sure. Mm-hm. - So therefore our recommendations
are gonna be both massage and also to correct and
mobilize your posture. - Sure. Right. - So you can use the following devices. You can use a tennis
ball, a lacrosse ball. You can use a massage cane and you could also use
a massage gun, Brad. Do you want to show a few of those? - Yup. I've got a few here. - And a hand held massager. - Yeah. This one actually works. We'll talk about this one in this application.
- Yeah. How that works. So the goal of trigger point massage is to apply a continuous
pressure right to the knot. - Mm-hm. - And it should be a pleasant pain. If it's too much, on a scale of one to 10, if it's more than a five
that's probably too much and you're not going to do it right now. - If you say, oh, that it hurts but it kinda feels like it hurts so good. That's typically a good sign. You can continue to work
with it to let it release. - Yeah. So you're gonna get right on it. You're gonna do short strokes on it. One direction. You choose the direction. What seems to feel best for you, but stick to that direction. - 'Cause there's typically one right where my finger is there. And for me to get back
there I have to push here - Right push your elbow, yeah. - and then I can do that
directional massage, like Bob was talking about. I can go forward and backwards. Right to left. - Like about 12 strokes. During that time you want to see the pain levels drop down. If they don't, you might
not be in the right spot or it may not be helping. This is something you can
do throughout the day. You can do it three,
four or five times a day. But 12 strokes is enough. Then you can go to another area. If you find that it's helpful. That's why it's nice to have a tool, Brad. - Yeah and you're actually
gonna push pretty hard on those 12 strokes. - Yes. - You're gonna get right into the muscle and get deep and work that. - Now we do have on another
video of the rules of massage and you may wanna watch that because we don't want you
to massaging over a pulse. I wouldn't want to put a tool right up on where the skull meets the neck. There's the vertebral artery there and who knows what you could do. - Yeah. You just want to
stay away from the pulses where the blood flow is. - So, one thing, Brad, just to
mobilize posture a little bit and very common to have that head forward rounded out and upper back posture. - Yup. - So we recommend is
you take a lacrosse ball or tennis ball and you're
going to hit six spots. So Brad, if you were to lie down, you would lie down on a ball. Putting one right here and
letting it work a little bit. Right here. We're going right down the spine. Right between the shoulder blades: one, two, three four, five, six. You can do it against a wall
or you can do it on the floor. You can't really do it on the bed. But you're gonna work that area. And did you want to try one, Brad? - Yeah. So again, just to make sure it's clear, you don't go directly on the spine. It's to the right or to the
left in that muscle spot. - [Bob] And you're not worried
about trigger point here. What you're trying to do
is stretch the spine out so you can correct your posture again. And the wall works nice 'cause I'm working that muscle and I'm gonna squeeze
back and get my head back. Sometimes just feeling it
allows you some feedback. So, you know, if your head
is forward and it's stuck you may not be able to touch your head and with that up like this. It's chin tucked in and work it that way. - Now we know this video is about massage but we felt it was important
that you might get stuck. If you don't address that issue you don't correct that posture. - Right, because you
loosen it up with the ball. And if you have poor posture, - It comes right back.
- it's gonna come back and a lot of other
potential problems as well. - So I'm gonna show now
Brad, the massage cane. There's a whole host
of these out there too but what's nice about these. You can really get some leverage on this. So if I'm gonna hit a commonly found knot like in the upper trapezius, I can grab the handle like this and I can really push in there and I can do that massage across there. - Right. - Just like, I don't
know if you can see that, I'm getting some movement there. It's just a short stroke. - Yup. - And that actually feels good. - Oh yeah. - Like you said, it hurts so good. - This takes away. Reaching and pushing, like
I had mentioned before, you don't have all of that discomfort of trying to get around the corner with, you wish you had maybe
three elbows to get there. But so this takes care of that. - The massage guns are nice in that they're even easier on your hands but you might need a partner
if you trying to get that area. - Yeah. So that's where
this particular style is a big game changer, because you can, - You can hit the spot. - And I can actually do it with both hands and work over that. Yeah. And you know, these just feel good. I mean, that's why these things
are just have really taken off in the last few years because they work (laughing)
and it's not near so hard. - The massage guns are more
powerful than this one. - Right. - So if you have a massage
gun or you get a massage gun again, you might need a
little assistance with, if you wanna hit the upper traps. - Yup. Family member,
someone around the house or maybe someone walking down the street, see if they'll help you out a little bit. (Bob laughing) - But it'll certainly,
you can use this, you know almost anywhere else on your body. - Absolutely. - That's why they come in
really handy from that. So really that's it. You're gonna work those trigger points several times a day. Get them down to the point where
the pain is no longer there and then you gotta maintain posture and hopefully they won't
come back then again. - I don't know if we
mentioned it here, Bob. But you know if you are using
one of these on this trap, and you start to go up on the neck. Stay away from the neck don't
go on the spine of the neck. It's just too aggressive. And it's gonna, it's not
comfortable for one thing. - It's gonna rattle ya. It's
gonna rattle your bones. - It makes the whole 'cause your eyes start to shake 'cause it makes it look like
there's a big earthquake and it's not comfortable. Just stay away from the neck. - Yup. - So all right. - This video by the way is a part of a series
of videos on massage. So if you want to see the whole series, go to bobandbrad.com. go to the giveaway or not the giveaway, the programs section And you'll find a program on massage. You'll also find one on sciatica and you'll find one on
plantar fasciitis and TENS. - Yup. - So check it out. Watch the videos that pertain to you. Do you don't need to watch them all, 'cause there's quite a few. And Brad, what do you want to add? - Yep. Look at 'em. You're gonna see a place that says what does that say again? - Oh, it's a PDF. - PDF. Yeah. You click on that and
it'll print out a review and what the whole video is about. So you can go back and
look at the printout to remember things from the video. The whole thing is absolutely free. We don't even ask for an email. So it's just a great deal for you. Yeah. If you have senior
moments like Brad and I you can have that visual reminder of what to do. - That's exactly right. - All right. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)
