Commonly Asked Questions about Inversion Therapy
What is Inversion Therapy?
Inversion Therapy is simply hanging upside down to get rid of pain in your spine. There are also many other benefits. Inversion therapy is an ancient technique. It is a fun and simple yet extremely effective way to stretch and decompress the human body, specifically the spine and discs. Gravity causes compression to the body when you are sitting or standing.
It also causes fatigue, spinal distortion and eventually pain and suffering. The only time that gravity does not compress your body is when you are lying down . Hanging upside down will decompress the effects of gravity. It’s that simple. Nothing else will reverse the effects of gravity like Inversion Therapy.
What are the benefits from Inversion Therapy?
It corrects disc herniations of both the neck and low back. It helps prevent disc degeneration. It reduces compression fatigue, distortion and pain to the spine and back muscles. Back pain is the second leading cause of disability in the workplace. Inversion Therapy is excellent in relieving pain even after having had certain spinal surgeries.
Most patients report that their back muscles stretch and loosen up. Some find an immediate sense of well being. Many patients have reported almost instant back pain relief after only one session.
Other health and wellness benefits are: Circulation is improved especially to the head and face, relief of muscular tension in the neck and back, improves lymphatic circulation, and improves function of the glands and organs due to the hydrostatic/decongestioning effect of inversion. Improved brain functions like memory, coordination and balance have also been reported.
There are anti-aging benefits as well. Many years ago Richard Gere popularized Inversion by doing abdominal crunches while hanging upside down, in the movie American Gigolo.
Recently in the news, Rosie O’Donnell reported she does it for depression. Celebrities like Jack Canfield from the hit movie The Secret and Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul also do Inversion Therapy. The Army Rangers do it as part of their conditioning program.
Thousands of chiropractors, patients and ordinary people across the country hang upside down. I’ve been hanging for eighteen years and no longer suffer with a burning sensation or pain in my neck or low back. I would often get cricks in my neck and low back. I no longer suffer with any of that.
There are thousands of patients that would have continued to suffer with pain or may have ended up worse after a spinal surgery but did not. Inversion Therapy can help you too if you’re willing to try something different!
Can anyone use Inversion Therapy?
Inversion Therapy is safe that practically anyone from 4 -74? years of age can easily do this. There are a few conditions that may prevent one from hanging upside down.
Obvious contraindications are if you just had abdominal or chest surgery or have a recent rib or collarbone fracture.
I’ve had patients hang with a cast on their arm. Persons with extremely high blood pressure or glaucoma may not be suitable. Every person is different and needs to be evaluated as such. If you have a contraindication you may want to only use a mild angle on inversion (20-30 degrees) and see how you feel.
If you are not sure whether you can use Inversion Therapy contact me since most doctors are not familiar with Inversion Therapy. They may even discourage you from trying something that could help you tremendously.
I will be glad to discuss your particular health condition with you. Just leave me a comment with your contact info or email me directly at drcmgonzalez50@yahoo.com.
Happy Hanging!
PS- Let me just tell you that there is no HYPE here. I truly want to help you and teach you to help yourself get rid of your back pain, prevent A LOT of unnecessary doctor visits, save you tons of money and time. If you follow ALL my recommendations you WILL IMPROVE. Go out and buy yourself an Teeter Inversion Machine and start hanging. Several of my co-workers and many of my patients, many of whom were scheduled for spinal surgery were able to prevent that spinal surgery by hanging upside down as I instructed them. Now they hang upside down every day. All it takes is 1-3 minutes in the afternoon and the same at night. You can also adjust the angle of most inversion tables and start off easy. You might want to start inverting at 30 degrees for a week or two and then gradually increase the angle to maybe 45 degrees and then eventually all the way or you can keep it at the angle that is comfortable for you.
If you have a disc herniation you may need to hang at least 4-6 times a day. My e-book, HANGING OUT FOR THE HEALTH OF IT, will be available soon. There is tons of detailed information about inversion therapy, nutrition, wellness and much more. I might even have a contest and give away free copies of my book. Stay tuned and visit this site often as I’m adding new content weekly.
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Whats the difference between anti aging and anti wrinkle creams and which ones actually work?
Great article Dr. G. tons of great information in there.
Anti-aging or anti-wrinkle creams are advertised to do basically the same thing….to help keep your skin looking young…. less wrinkles, less sagging etc. I do know that most creams, lotions, make up contain petroleum based chemicals.
A good friend of mine recently told me her mother gave her some creams from a well known company. You know…. one of the expensive brands you can by at the mall. So she commented that in a matter of a couple of weeks she could notice the dryness under her eyes. Sometimes we equate high quality with a high price. Not always true.
If you want to keep you skin looking good…. eat healthy, get a little sunshine as often as you can, take good natural whole food vitamins, hang upside down daily, don’t smoke or drink alcohol excessively and use a quality cream for your face.
Glad you found this article helpful. Now put some of this information to use and don’t let it go in one eye and out the other.
Get yourself an Inversion machine and start hanging everyday. You will feel better and prevent a lot of back issues from ever starting. And who would not want to reap all the other benefits listed above.
Attention Fellow Skiers
I am going to Mt Pinos Ski .
Still crowded?
the midwest has some places that ,
frequented every weekend, like Snow Creek Ski and West Virginia Snow Ski
Happy Skiing!
Dear Happy Skiing,
There is nothing better than getting down from the slopes after a great day of awesome skiing and hanging upside down for a couple of minutes followed by 15-20 minutes in a HOT Tub! Incredible!!
I put my Inversion machine in the back of my Avalanche and put it into the cabin when we’re down from the slopes.
Hi Dr. Gonzalez,
Nice article and video. I have scoliosis and purchased an inversion table about 2 months ago. It really seems to be helping with back pain. I use it 10 minutes twice a day. In your video you should exercises to do while inverting. However, I have a full size inversion table because I wanted to be able to hang completely inverted. Can I do these same exercises on my inversion table?
Dear LB- Thank you for posting your comment…. glad you liked this article and video. You really can’t do the back extension exercise I demonstrated on my video, but you can do abdominal crunches preferably with the knees bent.
I will be posting more videos next week… 1. using an inversion table like you have and demonstrate some exercises you can do. 2. In a different video I’ll be demonstrating exercises you can do on the floor specific for herniated/bulging discs and low back pain.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
Glad you like this info…. I love inversion, being healthy, full of energy!!!
Hello Dr Carlos,
I’ve wanted to invert for a very long time but was absolutely positive I wouldn’t be able to. Thank You!
I hope you will keep updating your content constantly as you have one dedicated reader here.
Enjoyed reading
the report – most informative thanks