11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Power Inversion Table Helps Back Pain, January 18, 2008
This review is from: Teeter Hang Ups Power II Inversion Table (White Finish) (Sports)
Back pain is a very common and complex problem. In majority of people it is difficult to pinpoint the origin of pain: muscle, disc, vertebra, spur, joint, ligaments etc. With advancing age more people get back pain and it is thought that human bipedal upright posture puts tremendous weight and pressure on elastic, cushion like discs and causes their degeneration, resulting in inelastic spine with loss of shock absorption capacity and back pain.
Unfortunately, there are very few modalities which work long term for back pain. Exercise & Yoga and Acupuncture are the two proven modalities for long term back pain relief and prevention. Pain medications work but have long term risks and costs. Surgery for chronic back pain is very controversial - probably helps surgeon more than the patient.
That is where inversion tables come in. Theoretically, in upside down posture, the body weight stretches the spine in other direction and decompress the discs and slows down the damage caused by weight and compression. It is a form of traction. Medical literature has less than a handful studies indicating the benefits of inversion. But we don't know whether the studies have not been done or they were negative and not published in journals. The journals only publish positive studies, not the negative ones. Studies also show that blood pressure increases by about 15-20 mm in inverted position so inversion should not used, for risk of stroke, if the blood pressure is high to begin with.
Since theory was appealing, and I am already doing back exercises and Yoga, (
Back Care Basics: A Doctor's Gentle Yoga Program for Back and Neck Pain Relief) which work to an extent, I decided to try inversion table based on anecdotal recommendation from friends. The inversion tables can be power (motorized) or manual. The manual inversion tables are cheaper but putting ankle strap is difficult and the angle of inversion is difficult to adjust. Power inversion tables are more expensive but the angle of inversion is more flexible and can be adjusted to your comfort level and the ones with power ankle clamps are easier to get into and out of.
Teeter Power Inversion Tables are sturdy and models are II to VI. Power ankle clamps are in IV and above. I bought Teeter Hang Ups Power V Inversion Table from Costco.com, which has power ankle clamps and have used it for 4 months so far. [...]
Teeter Hang Ups Power V table is sturdy and in general mechanics of the machine work well. Despite power ankle clamps, you still have to be very careful getting in and out of the inversion table, I have already scraped my legs once. The longer you are on the table in inverted position the more the inversion angle, more likely you are to get ankle discomfort.
Does it help the back pain? After 4 months of use, I think it does but it took some experimentation and trial and error. I started using 10 minutes twice a day and gradually increased the angle of inversion. 10 minutes duration is based on one study which showed that disc pressure does not lower any further after 10 minutes of inversion. I also found out to use it after and not before treadmill, otherwise it increases back pain. The effect on back pain relief is not as good as with exercise & Yoga, but it adds to the benefit from back exercises. In my experiences, adding inversion to back exercises has provided me equivalent relief to Acupuncture.
Therefore, based on 4 months of use and some research, my conclusions are that inversion does help back pain, but increase inversion angle gradually and go for the power inversion table, Teeter Hang Ups Power inversion tables are good and get one with motorized ankle clamps, [...]
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