- Why is this video so important to Bob? Well, Bob has been diagnosed with ataxia which greatly affects his balance and he has tried many
different ways to improve it. - Bob is gonna actually offer his opinion, and I would say his expert opinion, as a veteran therapist and someone with ataxia, and rate these activities from 0 to 10 and they're
gonna be worth some, oh, and we even have numbers. It's gonna be official. - Now the ataxia has also
affected Bob's speech so he's not gonna talk too
much during this video. - So the first thing Bob tried
was working with his diet to improve his balance and walking. Now he's following Dr. Wahls who's a physician and she has MS. She actually improved her condition from being in a wheelchair to being able to walk with a cane again, just through her diet. - Right. - Now the goal of this diet
was to help her cerebellum, which is your coordination center, produce new mitochondria, which are the powerhouse of each cell, which could possibly
help bring back balance and walking. So Bob tried this.
- Correct. - Now the diet is pretty restrictive for the average person. It includes eating things
such as meat and vegetables. You have to cut out dairy,
gluten, and sugar as well. So it's not meant for everyone, but Bob thought he would give it a try. Now he did not see a lot
of improvement personally with his balance, but he does think it would be good for people that have MS, or possibly some type of head
injury issue they've had. - It'll help by some stomach. - And it also helped Bob
with his stomach issues that he was experiencing as well. - But for my ataxia, I would rank it 1 out of 10. - 1 out of 10. So, let's see what we got next. - Yeah. - All right, the second thing that Bob tried was strengthening. Now strengthening is
supposedly related to balance significantly in some people's book. So he tried that, exercises from the hips and below. Mike, more details please. (all laughing) - Now the point of doing
these strengthening exercises is to help Bob get off of a chair, or on the floor, if he happens to fall. So the focus is gonna be
on the hips and knees. Now the first exercise Bob recommends, and he found very helpful, is called the split squat. It is kind of a lunge variation and it's really good for
practicing kneeling down to the floor and getting up. The next exercise Bob recommends is doing some sort of
hip abduction exercise. That means bringing
your hip out to the side to help strengthen the abductors, which help with walking. And the last thing he
did were some hip circles while laying on his back just to get some mobility
moving in his legs. - Rank the strengthening
exercises a 3 out of 10. - The third thing that Bob tried was standard balance activities. These are activities that, as therapists, we've used over the years and it'll be very clear in just a second. Mike? - So the first thing Bob liked to do is called tandem walking. So he would hold onto a railing at home, or you can do it with a
cane, or assisted device, and you're gonna simply go
heel to toe while walking. Try to keep your balance. This is very challenging for some to make sure to hold onto something for your balance. Also, Bob did some sidestepping, which is simply stepping sideways. Again, he holds onto a rail for balance. Now the third activity Bob also does, you just stay stationary. make sure to have a walker or chair, something in front of you, and you're supposed to bring
your feet close together, like this. You'll notice most people, if they have poor balance, their wider base of support. Simply standing with a narrow base for a duration of time, maybe 15, 30 seconds, will be enough of a
balance challenge for them. - So Bob, what is your
ranking for these activities? - I'd rank a 3 outta 10. - 3 over 10, all right. I was expecting a little higher on that. (Bob chuckles) Now the fourth thing that Bob worked with was his vestibular system. Now that's within your ear. Common symptoms that happened with Bob, as well as other people, is when you turn your head
things start to get dizzy and obviously, bad for balance. Now these exercises, that Bob is demonstrating right now, is what he did. We did a whole video on this, but Mike can you explain a little more about
this before Bob hits me? - So Bob is doing the
more advanced versions while he he's trying to track his thumb with head movements right now. This was probably the most
challenging variation. If you're just beginning, you don't even have to have your thumb up, and you can just practice
turning your head side to side, or up and down. Now Bob is tracking his thumb
going up and down as well. Different people may have different issues going side to side, or up and down. So focus on which ones you need work on. - At first, I would get dizzy when practicing it, but after a while, you adapt and improve. It's definitely worthwhile. I rank it a 4 out 10. - Alright, 4 out of 10. This is one that people with vertigo would also use as well.
- Yeah, I agree. - Alright, the fifth thing that Bob tried was some high tech device. Actually it's called the
stochastic resonance device. Now that's a lot of words, but it all boils down
to a device like this. It's Velcro, wraps around
the leg in this position, and here, this little device here, works with your phone through an app, and it actually does vibration which has a specific vibration
that you go through your app on your phone, you work with it. It stimulates the nerves
which actually helps the muscle contraction and coordination. Now this has been
successful with some people that we'll get more into. It can be used, Bob uses it here. It also can be used on the ankle. For the arms, it's just
below the elbow here. And actually, for voice
and speech as well. You wrap it around your neck as well?
- Yeah, I do. - Okay, and the vibration
device is right here. Very interesting. It's very new. Does not work with anybody. But Mike, can you talk
a little more about it? - Now, before Bob started using this he did a six minute walk test. It is a common practice
in physical therapy. Basically, you see how far
you can walk in six minutes. This includes your rest time, as well, is included in these six minutes. Anyway, Bob tested this out, and after wearing this for three months he found he could walk 100 yards further, as well as stumbling less, and he was able to pick up his feet more. - I would give it a 6 out of 10. - Oh. - I really like it. - Good deal. Are we gonna talk about how to get one? - Yeah, we will. - Alright, first of all, we're gonna show you two
very successful cases that use this device. First is on a 78 year old woman, and the next one is a 87 year old woman. Mike, you wanna give a little more detail? - So this is Linda, a 78 year old who has left knee pain and has had some increased falls recently. As you can see, in the left picture she's
not wearing the device. In the middle, she has the device. On the right, she has been
wearing it for two hours and you can see the significant change in her walking pattern. - Alright, our next patient is Olga. She's 87 year old female who had spinal decompression surgery, as well as mini strokes, and a few other complications, really causing her walking problems. - She has used a walker
for over three years and has not been able to use a
cane safely within this time. After wearing the device on
both ankles for two minutes, she was able to stand
up and walk using a cane approximately 60 feet
without any assistance. - That's big progress. Alright, now this stochastic
device that Bob is using, he gave a a good rating. We have absolutely zero
affiliation with this company but we do have a link to it. It's rather expensive. It's about $1,500. If you use this link they will offer 5% off and free shipping. So you can decide if you'd
like to go with that route. - And if you'd like to
check out more videos on how to improve your balance you can click on the
video link right here. ♪ Bob and Brad ♪ ♪ The two most famous ♪ ♪ Physical therapists on the internet ♪
