Inversion Therapy Details

Inversion therapy, or the act of hanging upside down by your feet for medicinal purposes, is gaining increasing interest in recent years. Hanging upside down can be accomplished in several ways, but in order to achieve the medicinal value hanging upside down cannot be accomplished by standing on your hands, standing on your head or, hanging from your knees. Instead you must use an inversion table, inversion chair, or even gravity boots.

When your body is dangled in such a manner, the joints in your body are loaded in a manner exactly opposite of normal – in other words, when you’re in a standing position. This is desirable especially for people with back pain. Your spine is made up of discs. In between each disc there is a jelly like substance. Through the effects of gravity or even constant pounding from activities such as running, the jelly substance starts to become squished and can protrude from between the discs, hitting the surrounding nerves, this can obviously result in considerable pain. Inverting oneself allows the joints to stretch back out, sucking the jelly back where it belongs.

Muscle tightness is another component of back pain. Inversion therapy can actually help in this area as well. Hanging upside down allows muscles to stretch in ways that would be very difficult, if not impossible to achieve otherwise. This loosening can relieve back pain as well.

Proponents of inversion therapy claim that it not only reduces back pain, but also increases flexibility, helps with good posture, and aids in circulation – both cardiovascular and lymphatic.

Back pain, flexibility, and posture have already pretty much been covered. Let’s explore circulation a little bit. It’s believed that the position of hanging upside down allows the heart to more easily pump blood to the brain. I can only assume that this is a good thing, allowing more brain activity. The increased circulation in the lymphatic system is especially appealing to athletes. Proponents believe that inversion allows the lymphatic system to get rid of waste more quickly, which results in a quicker recovery time for athletes.

The basis of the argument against inversion therapy is that it does nothing. At one time some opponents believed it could cause a stroke if the participant had a heart problem, but this was later disproved. As far as my research has shown there have been no major injuries as a result of inversion therapy, and inversion therapy in its present manifestation has been in existence a good 15 years. The only side effect being strained neck muscles from hanging upside down too long or too soon. However, if you have a chronic medical condition, or are pregnant it is a good idea to first consult a medical professional.

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