If spasms in your lower back cause pain, missed work, lower quality of life and general misery, inversion therapy might be a solution. Inversion tables safely hang you comfortably upside down to stretch the spine and relieve back pain. This is a form of spinal traction that you can do yourself instead of visiting the chiropractor -- although you should get permission from a doctor before using an inversion table as there are risks for some people.
Benefits
Weak, tense muscles spasm if you do not take steps to relax the muscles. Muscle spasms are one cause of sciatica, which is descriptive of pain that radiates down one leg or both starting from the lower back. Using an inversion table to reduce muscle spasms in the lower back not only improves blood flow to the back, reduces sciatica pain and relaxes the muscles, it also helps realign the spine.
Partial Inversion
Hanging completely upside down and perpendicular to the floor is full inversion, but partial inversion also stretches the spine to relieve tension with less discomfort. The makers of the Body Flex inversion tables recommend a 50 to 60 degree inversion for stretching and complete decompression of the spine, though a full 90 degree inversion provides greater stretching benefits. You should try up to 60 degree inversion and go farther if the muscle spasms do not improve. This does not mean you should start at 60 degrees. Even a 20 to 30 degree inversion past parallel to the floor provides some stretching and allows you to adjust to being upside down.
Oscillation
Oscillation is a type of exercise on the inversion table to cause more blood and lymph to circulate to and out of your lower back area. Lymph removes waste from your body. Instead of merely hanging straight at a certain angle, the oscillation exercise involves the movement implied by its name. Lie on the table and use your arms to tilt yourself back on the inversion table and then back forward in a smooth, repetitive motion like a wave cresting and falling. Oscillation relaxes your lower back and nourishes the spinal discs with blood flow.
Warnings
Inversion therapy is not for everybody. Contraindications for usage include unhealed fractures, glaucoma, surgically implanted supporters, ear infection, obesity, pregnancy, hernia and high blood pressure. Using a table if you have one of these conditions is dangerous. Certainly inverting under these circumstances is ultimately not going to help your lower back spasms -- talk to your doctor about other solutions such as medications, traction, back exercises or massage.
References
- SportsInjuryClinic.net: What is Inversion Therapy
- SportsInjuryClinic.net: What is Sciatica
- BigBackPain.com: Back Pain Treatment
- Body Flex IT 9800 Owner's Manual; Body Flex Sports, Inc.
