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Inversion Tables

An Inversion table can help you to stretch and relax the back, and to heal back or joint problems.

Inversion table therapy dates back to 400 B.C. when Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, put together an inversion system for a patient. Since the early 1980s, Inversion therapy has been widely accepted as a tool for healing back pain.

Back stress can accumulate in work, hobbies, exercise or athletics. An Inversion table will help to relieve you pain from these excursions. Inversion therapy can even be used for children because it can slow or reverse the effects of Scoliosis. This is especially helpful if you use the therapy before bones harden in children, which usually occurs between the ages of 12 and 14.

Benefits of Inversion Tables

There are many known benefits for using Inversion table therapy. The inversion table can help relieve back pain, reduces stress, stimulates circulation, improves posture, stretches and strengthens muscles, and promotes flexibility and proper alignment. The inversion table can also help to reduce the effects of aging caused by gravity. Overall, the inversion table and the inversion therapy associcated with it can offer a great deal health benefits to almost everyone. Even people suffering from the rigors of an extreme work out may benefit from using an inversion table. There are many different types of tables you can choose from with various prices as well.

Frequently Asked Questions About Inversion Tables and Inversion Therapy

1. Does inversion cause strokes / popped blood vessels?

A medical study published in 1983 by Dr. Goldman and colleagues showed that patients using an inversion table experienced an increase in blood pressure and internal eye pressure. The media widely reported the study, warning that stroke was a potential result of inversion.
Two years following the inversion table study, Dr. Goldman reversed his original position, stating, "New research shows that you are at no more of a stroke risk hanging upside down than if you are exercising right side up." More in-depth research found that the body actually has mechanisms that prevent damage from hanging upside down. In fact, while oscillating (inverting with movement), some of the patients' blood pressure actually dropped a few points. (*Note: these studies were based on patients in generally good health. Make sure you review contraindications prior to inverting.)

2. Is the inverting bad for you if you have heart disease or high blood pressure?

It is true that people should not invert if they have uncontrolled high blood pressure. However, inversion can cause a state of relaxation that results in a drop in heart rate and blood pressure (sometimes even lower than at a resting state). Some doctors have used inversion tables as a treatment for high blood pressure. If you have concerns, you should check with your doctor before inverting.

3. Will inversion therapy help with a bulged disc?

When using an inversion table, the natural pull of gravity allows a separation of your vertebrae, which lessens the pressure on the discs in between each vertebra. The action of increasing the space margins between the vertebrae can actually create a mild suction in the disc, which may help encourage the bulged disc return to its proper place.

The main benefits are realized by increased circulation and waste elimination to injured discs. In the opinion of many medical professionals, several sessions of intermittent traction are the best way to help the body dissolve a bulged disc.

The length of healing time will vary with different people. However, it has been our experience that you should hang three or more times every day for short sessions at an angle most comfortable for you. Do not over-do it-this is not a "no pain, no gain situation."

4. Will using an inversion table help with headaches or migraines?

Some people have found that inverting on a regular basis can actually help reduce the frequency of migraine occurrences. However, there are no medical studies to specifically back this claim. Do NOT invert if you are in the middle of experiencing a migraine, as it could potentially worsen your headache.

5. Will inversion therapy help with draining blood from the lower limbs?

When inverted, you are helping your heart move venous blood from your legs and torso to the heart and lungs to be purified. Inversion also helps to move fresh, oxygen rich blood from your heart and lungs to your upper body and brain.

When a muscle contracts, this squeezes capillaries and slows removal of wastes from the muscle. Sustained muscle contraction due to stress or cramping causes wastes to accumulate in the tissue and this produces pain. What inversion does for muscles is two-fold: first, it stretches and relaxes them; second, gravity helps the lymph system to clear out the pain-producing toxins trapped in the tensed muscles.

By stimulating circulation, inversion has been known to relieve varicose veins. Varicose veins are caused when blood pools in the veins due to weakened one-way valves. The downward pull of gravity causes blood to slip back, and over time the vein will distend and become painful. When inverting, the pressure is relieved and the heart is able to clear the blood from the lower body.

6. If someone has a fused vertebrae, is it safe for them to use an inversion table?

There are many types of fusion surgeries. Some post fusion patients are helped by inversion. Any fusion patient should consult with a licensed physician before inverting.