You might be new to the term “inversion therapy.” We will discuss here the advantages, disadvantages, benefits and any possible harm of this technique for turning your body upside down.
History shows that people have been inverting their body for thousands of years going back to the Greeks. Standing upright has gravity pulling us downwards with a price to pay such as sagging skin and height loss as we age with pain. Spinal discs become compressed over time causing lower back pain. Even chiropractors use methods to decompress discs, but you will not be standing up to do it. Being upside down has positive outcomes for the body.
[h3line h3-text=”1. What Inversion Therapy is“]
Regular use of an inversion table will lengthen your spine reducing muscle action. Being free from the force of gravity always pulling you down does help relieve muscle spasms and compression of the discs in your spine. Doctors, chiropractors, and physical therapists know of this and use inversion to help their patients recommending inversion tables for their home use. With regular use of the table, symptoms of disc hernias and spinal stenosis will be greatly reduced. When you are comfortable and in the privacy of your home, you will find relief from pain along with increased relaxation.
Since many inversion tables, chairs, and other items are available in the marketplace, it’s a good idea to read many reviews to understand fully what is best for your needs. We will do our best to provide honest evaluations at this site to help you in your selection process.
[h3line h3-text=”2. Benefits of Inversion“]
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The table is a robust and durable platform constructed of metal. You will lie on a cushioned pad typically covered with leather with straps that fasten at your ankles and waist. When you tilt, you will stretch your spinal area and make it stronger as well. When gravity is not pulling you down, you can reverse the gravitational pull by putting your body in another attitude.
Other functions for the table are abdominal strengthening, using it as an exercise table achieved with specific inversion tables that will be discussed here.
Many people suffer from spinal related pain. Maybe we were not meant to walk upright. We suffer from pain in our necks, and mostly in our mid- and lower back. Then we have sciatica nerve pain, bulging discs, and other conditions as we age.
What do we do? We can make the pharmaceutical companies richer by getting pain pills from the doctor, but that is not truly effective. We need a strong spine, and healthy strong muscles to support us. Pain medications have side effects, are addictive, and you will have to take more of it as your body gets used to it. What a never-ending cycle costing you tons of money and continual pain anyway.
Inversion therapy makes a real and dramatic change in your body. You will experience pain relief saving you money on useless pills. It takes a few minutes to do each day and provides overall better health. The benefits are many.
- Better joint health with less pain
- Increased flexibility
- Increased core strength
- Better circulation
- Increased heart function
- Reduce varicose veins
- Reduce stress
- Strengthen ligaments and tendons
- Better immune system
- Maintain height
When you are inverted 60-degrees, your spinal discs receive more water, your muscles can relax, and this helps the spine to realign to reduce pressure pushing down on your discs. This will reduce and perhaps totally remove chronic back pain.
When you have daily stress, you have a tendency to carry that in your neck, shoulders, and your entire back. The pressure is released when the pressure is removed by using inversion. You will immediately feel better.
The cushions between the spine discs must have lubricants and water supplied by the blood stream. When decompression occurs, the juices can flow for less pain and better overall feeling. Those cushions between the discs are your natural shock absorbers that will benefit you to alleviate pain. Additionally, your joints will receive the same benefits.
You can use the table to build up core/ab muscles while increasing your back health. There is no need for invasive back surgery, rods down your spine, and other medieval type methods to eliminate pain that do not work. Traction is painful using mechanical methods to do this and is not used in inversion. Inversion is similar to hanging from the monkey bars when you were a kid. You were invigorated when you got off and when you arrived at home your mom thought you had been drinking coffee with your energy level so high. Inversion tables do the same thing. The weight off your body reversed takes away compression on your back and joints. It’s a soft and gentle method and it works!
Blood will go back via veins to the heart from your legs especially. With your improved circulation, you will have better brain function, better circulation, and chemicals are sent from your brain to relax your heart and slow your heart rate. This gives you overall better heart function and health.
With improved circulation, capillaries will not break showing ugly purple lines known as varicose veins. Swollen ankles will be a thing of the past with better circulation. You can improve vascular insufficiency with walking and inversion.
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[h3line h3-text=”3. Inversion Tables“]
Inversion therapy involves you being upside down or at an inverted angle while hanging by your legs, ankles, or feet. The process reduces stress on your back, stimulates circulation, and provides other benefits. You will be safe in the positions, and the therapy is aggressive to lessen gravity’s effects. It’s important for you to know that you do not need to be completely turned or tilted upside down on an inversion table. You can select the angle of degrees that you want for your purpose.
[h3line h3-text=”4. Inversion Chairs“]
The chairs are an offshoot from the inversion table. While many people used the tables for toning their abs, they found they were relieved from back pain as well. There are many types of inversion chairs available now. They vary largely in specific functionality and features. One common characteristic is that they all start in the seated position. This helps those of you with chronic and acute back pain where it’s so painful to bend down to attach the ankle strap on the inversion tables. When your mobility is limited, you will find starting sitting on a chair is much easier and without as much pain. Ankle pain can be greater using an inversion table rather than an inversion chair. Chairs use minimal ankle restraints for holding your weight that might be better for you than a table due to your pain levels and specific location of pain.
Inversion chairs provide benefits over that of inversion tables for those of you who have severe back pain and where your ankles are painful using the straps on the tables. If this is you, a chair is better than a table for your pain levels.
Inversion chairs typically do not lock therefore you will not be able to do difficult exercises other that stretching and twisting. You will not achieve a full range of sit-ups.
[h3line h3-text=”5. Inversion Tables vs Inversion Chairs“]
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To determine what’s best for your pain, and if the pain were significant, an inversion table would provide better pain relief. If you were just beginning to experience back pain, then an inversion chair would be the best option because it is more comfortable and might improve your beginning symptoms.
Inversion chairs let you put your head below your feet while you are sitting rather than lying down on a table. Chairs put less pressure on your leg joints and stabilize your blood pressure. Conversely, chairs are not as successful or as valuable as tables offering 70% of the amount of gravity effects as a table. It’s up to you to choose what is best for your pain needs.
[h3line h3-text=”6. Gravity Boots“]
Gravity boots support your ankles and are made to let you hang upside down. They are a very common fitness tool today in the USA. The main purpose of gravity boots is that they provide benefits from back pain and headaches for getting more oxygen flowing to the brain. Inversion therapy with gravity boots allows you to hang by your ankles to stretch and relax all of you. When you have overdone your workouts or high impact jogging, cycling, or weight training, you will no doubt have sore aching muscles. You will probably experience compression of your muscles felt as fatigue or spinal column compression and spasms. With gravity boots or inversion tables, gravity will stretch and relax your whole body by letting you hang by your ankles. Gravity inversion boots will relieve back and neck pain quickly. When you use gravity boots in the comfort of your home, you will have the low cost way for decompressing your spine, realigning it, at the same time stretching your neck and back muscles for remarkable reprieve from pain. They are lightweight and effective.
[h3line h3-text=”7. Maintain Height“]
As we age, we can lose 2- to 4-inches in height and no one wants that. Height will be maintained when the compression on your spine’s discs is removed. With the regular use of an inversion table or gravity boots, you can keep your height for your entire life.
Winding-up
Millions of people today can prevent chronic illnesses and diseases with lifestyle changes, better nutrition, exercise, and plenty of water. Inversion table therapy, inversion chairs, and gravity inversion boots are natural methods using no drugs and are available to take care of pain for better health.
Always consult with your doctor for any medical conditions. Some people might have increased eye pressure or be prone to strokes hanging upside down. If you have circulation problems check with your healthcare provider before hanging upside down. Much stress and pressure is put upon the bones and this is not for everyone. Always start out slowly for about 5 minutes at about 15-degrees and feel your body in a new way.