- And I'm Brad of Bob and Brad.

And together we are the two most famous physical therapists

on the internet

- In our opinion. - In our opinion of course.

Did we ever say that before?

- Yeah, I think so.

Today I'm gonna tell you what has happened to me.

♪ Bob and Brad ♪

♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪

♪ On the internet ♪

- So Brad, about four years ago,

I was running on the treadmill and-

- Something you've done for years.

- Yeah. In the winter.

And I was losing my balance,

and I thought it was because I was getting old, as I am,

but over time it got worse.

So I saw a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic,

and they did an MRI

and they showed involvement of my cerebellum.

And you would know what that is.

It's a part of the brain

that involves balance and coordination.

- Right. So the back of the brain, right by the brain stem.

And neurological problems are very difficult to diagnose.

It takes years sometimes

to get it all put together with symptoms that, you know.

It's not like a broken arm or something like that.

- Right. They have trouble.

I mean, to be honest. - Right.

The experts at Mayo are challenged with it.

- So he said what I have is slow moving.

- Okay. - He thought I had it

probably for six or seven years already.

- All right.

- And he said I don't have MS.

- Multiple sclerosis.

- ALS. - Lou Gehrig's disease

- All right. There we go.

Or Parkinson's disease

- Which is a big load off - Right. It was helpful.

- your shoulders and in everyone's shoulders.

- It's a form of ataxia.

- Right. Yeah.

And if you're a therapist,

that's something we were aware of.

- We've treated before. - Right. Yep.

- So what causes?

It could be caused by eating gluten, believe it or not.

- That gluten is just a bad thing.

- Which would be the best scenario,

Because if its gluten things won't get worse.

- Sure.

- I am currently gluten free of course.

But the ataxia could also be genetic.

- Sure.

- You know, from my mom or dad.

- Is that something that they've dealt with or...

- No. - Okay.

Has the gluten free been a problems for you

as far as not eating it?

- No, it's been better for me.

- Oh, good. - Yeah.

- I should probably start it.

- So the ataxia affects my balance.

- Sure.

- It has a slight effect on my upper extremity coordination.

But most irritating, it affects my language,

you know, as people have noticed.

- You've had bad language all your adult life, but...

- It's worse. - No, seriously.

And this is something our viewers have noticed over the year

with comments asking if you're intoxicated or

- Had a stroke

- Had a stroke, things like that which...

- Well, at the time, I had surgery in my mouth,

- Right. - and I had six cysts removed

- Yep. - that were not cancerous,

but it also affected my ability.

So I'm a mess.

I mean, I'm trying to...

- You had to give that a number of months

to help determine if the removal...

- If this was that. Right. - Right.

- I thought for sure, 'cause it was completely coordinated.

- Yeah, you got these bumps in your lip

and it just... - And I start talking funny.

- Right.

- But my daughter is a speech language pathologist,

believe it or not. - Yep.

- And she's gonna help me work on this.

- Right. - So hopefully I get...

You know, at least I get more understandable.

- Right. Yeah.

When you understand a problem, it helps you relax.

You can work with it better. - Right.

- And that's what we always

work with our patients. - Good point, Brad

- Understand, work with it, improve.

- Yeah.

The ataxia, Brad, is genetic.

It could get worse.

I mean, my balance could get worse, my coordination,

my speech, believe it or not.

I wanted to let you know

it has not affected my thinking or my strength.

I mean, I still am stupid.

(both chuckles)

- Strong like bull. - And strong like bull.

- And you're still six and a half foot tall.

- Yeah. That doesn't help with balance, let me tell you.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- I got small feet.

- Right, Yeah.

Tall people are more linked to less balance.

They got more balance problems, naturally.

- So the talk this past weekend with my daughters,

I got two of them,

and they both recommend that I continue to do videos, Brad.

They think that, you know, we can start with a blurb

at the start of video.

- So, and we're looking at

"Bob has been diagnosed with ataxia.

It affects his balance, his speech.

It does not affect his thinking,

and we should appreciate your understanding

or we would hope you appreciate our understanding

and support."

And you know, so far the people we have told and myself,

I think, this is the thing to do, Bob.

As therapists, we have problems.

- Right. - We don't run away from it.

You face it. - You kind of work through it.

- Yep, and so we're gonna help you, Bob,

and we hope everyone else understands that does as well.

Oh, I concur!

- Ah, yeah, you concur. - I forgot about that.

- Your favorite line.

- I've been concurring ever since that Brad Pitt...

- From 10 years ago. - That one movie.

- Right.

- I can't remember the name of it.

- Okay, folks, I'm trying to keep things in perspective.

I know that many of you,

I don't have to look very far to find people

that are suffering way worse than me.

- Right.

- So if you are religious, you can send prayers,

but I want to have you send them for our followers

who are suffering out there.

- Right, there's thousands of people who comment

and we've worked with thousands of people.

- Right. - We understand difficulties

and challenges with all kinds of physical.

- Really terrible. Yeah. - Yeah. Right.

- If you're not religious,

just send your positive vibes, right?

- Right, yep. (buzzing)

- There you go.

I'm starting to feel it already, Bob,

and I'm supposed to go that way with you.

So I'll get it to you later.

- All right. Thanks.

Okay, I just wanted to finish by saying:

Brad, my greatest pleasure in life

has been serving all of you.

And hopefully...

I mean, I'm sure you think the same, Brad,

right? - Yeah.

- And so hopefully I'll be able to do this for a while.

I want you to take care, and I love you all.

- Bob is the man.

He started this program and we've got a hundred million.

Is that a hundred billion?

We've got a lot of people

we've wanna reach out to. - I think we got 300 million.

- Yeah, and help out.

- We'll stick with it.

- Bob is here and he's our leader.

He's steering the boat here for us

and we're just... - Right off the road.

- No way, man. - Off the river.

- We're going right up there gullet

to having all kinds of excitement for everyone.

- All right. Thanks. - Take care.

(upbeat tone)