You spend most of your life letting gravity compress your spine. But sometimes inversion, turning upside down, may be especially beneficial if you have compression stress in your back. MayoClinic.com physicians say inversion's symptomatic relief is real but only temporary and advises caution for heart and blood pressure patients. Sports Injury Clinic reports highly beneficial inversion effects but also warns of some potentially dangerous side effects and suggests safe modifications of inversion methods.
Pain Relief
Chronic mild to moderate back pain due to spinal compression, back strain or sprains can be relieved, at least temporarily, by inversion, as shown in YouTube demonstrations. The effect of gravity during inversion is to gently decompress your disks and trapped nerves. Inversion is a mild form of spinal traction. Dr. Lawrence Teeter, inventor of the Teeter Inversion Table, notes that pain relief has been the only effect he has seen in his 25-year practice using inversion. He claims the negative side effects are never seen with proper use of the technique.
Pressure Increases
The effects of inversion have been studied since it was first developed in 1983 as Gravity Boots were sold to millions of people. Researchers at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine documented that after three minutes in the upside-down position, blood and intraocular pressures spiked in healthy volunteers, as reported in "The Western Journal of Medicine." Even extreme, upright physical exertion could not duplicate the effect. MayoClinic.com physicians warn heart or blood pressure patients to avoid full inversion.
Separating Effects
Fitness experts at Evolution Health recommend partial inversion to separate the beneficial and harmful effects. Your initial experience should begin at a supine, head-down angle of only 20 to 30 degrees. You may notice a "full" sensation in your head and a flushed complexion, but at this mild angle the effects are not related to elevated blood pressure. After a few weeks these effects subside and you can advance your tilt to 60 degrees head-down where virtually all beneficial effects of inversion occur. Your spine elongates enough to entirely decompress your disks and nerves. Oscillating inversion, 30 seconds at 60 degrees head-down alternating with 30 seconds upright, also produces the positive effects and minimizes the negative side effects. Full, 180 degree head-down inversion is not needed.
Side Effects
Even the safest forms of inversion can cause bone and joint injury if a person with osteoporosis changes body positions too quickly or extremely, according to representatives of the manufacturer of Teeter Inversion Tables. The effects of full inversion may cause a dangerous spike in intraocular pressure, most dangerous to glaucoma patients. The effect of gravity on a hiatal hernia during inversion may cause undesirable changes in internal organ locations. The blood pressure effects of full inversion require caution in patients with hypertension or known to be at risk for TIA or stroke.. The effects of inversion during different stages of pregnancy have not been studied, requiring caution.
