If you think that inversion therapy can only be used for back pain, you couldn’t be further from the truth.
The fact is, inversion therapy delivers many more little-known yet incredible benefits.
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Inversion tables are primarily used to relieve and heal back and neck problems (and very effectively, as you’ll see below).
But they can be used for other quite surprising purposes, most of which no one knows about.
Overview
- 10 Little-Known Benefits of Inversion Therapy
- 1. Glowing Skin
- 2. Improved Brain Function
- 3. Improved Work Capacity
- 4. Injury Prevention
- 5. Reduced Stress and Depression
- 6. Reduced Age-Related Shrinking
- 7. Reduced Varicose Veins
- 8. Inversion Therapy Has Been Used Since 3000 B.C
- 9. Healthy People Can Invert for 3 Days Straight
- 10. Preventing Back Surgeries
- One Important Warning
10 Little-Known Benefits of Inversion Therapy
1. Glowing Skin
Gorgeous actress Eva Mendez regularly uses her inversion table (at a shallow angle) to keep her beautiful complexion.
She actually swears by it and says that inverting at a shallow angle for 20 minutes at a time does wonders for her skin.
When you hang upside down and blood rushes to your face, it brings a surge of nutrients to your skin and hydrates it. The result is plumped and glowing skin.
Other celebrities known to use inversion tables are Ozzy Osbourne, Bradley Cooper, Martha Stewart, Matt Lauer, Regis Philbin, David Duchovny, and Rosie O’Donnell.
2. Improved Brain Function
Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown inverts every single day to help increase his mental clarity and fight writer’s block.
When you invert, even at a slight angle, blood rushes to the brain and brings an extra spurt of oxygen and nutrients to it.
This increases clarity and stimulates brain functioning.
Even a few minutes of inverting every day can increase brain functioning several times over!
3. Improved Work Capacity
Just a few years ago, Volvo management (the car manufacturer) announced to their employees that if they don’t use an inversion table every day (at work!), they would have to pay for most of their health benefits.
The first year after this announcement, the hours of missed work within Volvo dropped by 55%.
By the way, the employees didn’t even fully invert.
They only inverted a tiny 15-degree of incline.
4. Injury Prevention
Did you know that Part of the recovery program in the army is using inversion tables and inverting from various objects like pull-up bars?
Inversion therapy helps soldiers decompress their training-worn spine, mobilize their joints and increase circulation in their muscles and ligaments, which keeps them flexible, agile, and much more resistant to injuries. 👉 See the full story HERE.
👉 Inversion therapy is one of the best ways to heal a lower back injury – naturally.
5. Reduced Stress and Depression
Do you remember how much fun it was to hang upside down when you were a kid?
There’s a good reason for that.
Hanging upside down brings immediate stress relief.
Inversion leads to a rush of endorphins, the “good mood” hormone, to your brain – which brings immediate relaxation and can even relieve depression caused by reduced circulation.
6. Reduced Age-Related Shrinking
Did you know?
Most people will lose from 1/2″ – 2″ (1-5 cm) in height during their lifetime due to thinning discs.
Inversion tables take the gravitational pressure off your spine, allowing it to rebuild itself and maintain its strength.
It actually slows down the “shrinking” process and prevents that commonly seen “hump” many elderly folks have.
7. Reduced Varicose Veins
When inverting, you are helping your heart to clear the blood from your feet, legs, and lower body.
This allows the blood in your limbs to circulate more easily, which may help to drain blood from varicose veins. This can help to reduce the symptoms of varicose veins, such as swelling, pain, and fatigue.
Also, hanging upside down can help to stretch the muscles and tendons in the legs and back, which can also help to reduce pressure on the veins
Inversion allows your body to work with gravity to ease the circulation process.
8. Inversion Therapy Has Been Used Since 3000 B.C
Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine”, created his own type of inversion therapy by hoisting his patients on a ladder with a series of ropes and pulleys to harness gravity in an effort to stretch his patients and relieve their ailments.
It’s been used since 3,000 B.C. to re-balance the body, help increase circulation, stimulate the brain, enhance glandular system functioning, and relieve pressure on the abdominal organs.
9. Healthy People Can Invert for 3 Days Straight
Stunt master David Blaine proved in 2008 that if you are healthy, you can hang upside down for 3 full days (a total of 60 hours) without any kind of side effects.
When he came down his eyes were fine, his blood pressure was fine and his lungs were better than fine.
But, there are a few people who may not be able to use inversion therapy. If you have eye problems and have gone through back surgery – consult your doctor before you start.
10. Preventing Back Surgeries
It’s been scientifically proven that inversion therapy can allow you to cancel your back surgery, no matter what your doctor believes.
One study, done at New Castle University found that 70.5% of patients who performed inversion therapy were able to cancel their scheduled back surgeries.
Another study consisting of 175 patients with crippling back pain (people who could not work) found that after 8 sessions of inversion therapy, 88.6% were able to return to their full-time job.
One Important Warning
You’ve just seen why bringing an inversion table to your home is one of the best health decisions you will ever make, but you can’t just go and buy an inversion table without knowing this fact:
All of these benefits can turn into dangers if you buy the cheapest inversion table you can find. Cheap comes at a very high price.
When you buy a high- quality inversion table, made out of high-carbon steel, there is virtually no risk.
Conclusion
The constant pull of gravity is the most powerful force your body will deal with during your lifetime.
Inversion therapy, used sensibly, can reverse and heal the compression of your body caused by gravity.
It’s extremely beneficial, and no more dangerous than many other fitness activities.
And who knew it has all of these added benefits? I didn’t.
To your health and happiness,
Meital
References
Mendelow AD, Gregson BA, Mitchell P, Schofield I, Prasad M, Wynne-Jones G, Kamat A, Patterson M, Rowell L, Hargreaves G. Lumbar disc disease: the effect of inversion on clinical symptoms and a comparison of the rate of surgery after inversion therapy with the rate of surgery in neurosurgery controls. J Phys Ther Sci. 2021 Nov;33(11):801-808.
Mr. Sudhir Dinkar Nalawade , Prof. M. M. Jadhav, 2019, A Study of Inversion Traction Therapy: for Lower Back Pain Problems, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY (IJERT) Volume 08, Issue 06 (June 2019)
I have recently been diagnosed with neuropathy. Will this device help?
It can help, yes, but I would recommend red/infrared light therapy more for this condition – you can see more here – https://www.infrared-light-therapy.com/infrared-light-therapy-neuropathy/
If one has heart disease and takes warfarin, digoxin, and metropolol, is using this machine an option?
I bought a Teeter years ago, and was so glad I did!
A handful of years ago I edited a TV program on my laptop, and got in a habit of doing it at night sitting up in bed. I did that for 2-3 months until one day my back was in such pain I nearly could not stand! I had to roll out of bed, and hitting a bump while driving made want to yell!! (I did a time or two!)
I dug out my table slowly, as the table is heavy and my back wasn’t very happy about moving it, and within a week or two I went from the worst pain I had ever known to not being able to tell it ever happened!
I was thanking God for having bought my Teeter table, and I never ever used my laptop in bed again!
Thank you for this wonderful article. I did not know that Dan Brown inverts every single day to remove his writer’s block. Really appreciate it.
Many of us just don’t realze that “the constant pull of gravity is the most powerful force youmaycan reverse and heal the compression of your body caused by gravity.” My father suffers from paralyzing spinal stenosis so when I read this post it made me wonder if my dad could have benefitted from inversion therapy earlier in his life and possibly avoided the debilitating effects of his condition. Thank you so much for sharing this post on the Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural hop! I appreciate it!