Useful Tips
Why Choose Inversion Therapy for your Bad Back?
March 26th, 2007
Very simply, inversion therapy puts gravity to work for you by placing your body in line with the downward force of gravity. Inversion elongates the spine, increasing the space between the vertebrae, which relieves the pressure on discs, ligaments and nerve roots. Less pressure means less back pain.
Your Power Center
Your spine, your back and your abdominal muscles combine to create the Power Center that carries you through life. Your flexibility and stamina depend on the strength of these muscles. Back pain signals that our muscles aren™t up to the task.
A Strong Torso
With a simple program of ˜inversion™ or natural traction you™ll rebuild a strong, flexible and supple torso “ supporting your body's structure and internal organs. And it prevents back pain!
The Harsh Forces of Gravity
Your spine and surrounding muscles must withstand stress, shock and the unrelenting pressures of gravity. Over our lifetime most of us lose 3-5cms in height due to this constant compression on our spinal column.
When vertebrae are pushed together it causes the disc between them to herniate or ˜bulge™. That's when you experience the first signs of pain. Added pressure on the compressed spine result in nerves between the discs being squashed by that gravitational force and that's when nagging back pain sets in, restricting your movement and compromising lifestyle.
Inversion can also help to encourage good posture. When inverted, your body is in line with gravity. Your spine wants to naturally go to its proper form (a gentle "s" curve). A regular program of inversion can help you to maintain proper posture and keep your body in balance.
Inversion therapy has been used to relieve back pain as early as 400 BC when Hippocrates strung up a patient with ropes and pulleys and allowed gravity to do its work.
Among recent studies indicating that inversion has wide-ranging benefits for those suffering back pain, Sheffield (1964) found that 175 back pain sufferers were unable to work due to the severity of their back ailment. After only eight inversion treatments, 155 sufferers were able to return to their full time jobs. In particular, the study found that stretching the paraspinal vertebral muscles and ligaments, through inversion, led to significant improvements with the following conditions: spondylolisthesis, herniated discs, lumbar osteoarthritis with sciatica, and coccygodynia.
Nosse (1987) similarly found that muscle pain declined by 35% within the first 10 seconds of inversion, which correlated to inversion therapy by increasing the length of the spine. Several studies have also indicated that gravity assisted traction, unlike mechanical traction, is the only means to achieve intervertebral separation. (Ballantyne et al. 1986: Gianakopoulas et al. 1985: Kane et al 1985.)
Source: Editor - Felicity Wood
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