Ty,

I have not seen any long-term studies on the effectiveness of inversion tables, and have had mixed reports from my patient's that have used them.

Honestly, I think the effectiveness would depend on what is wrong with your back and the severity of the problem.

I believe that you will be able to get a certain degree of decompression forces while using the table which could reduce some pain related to disc bulging or facet joint compression. There are some things to consider with the use of this therapy:

1. It would not be advised if you have blood pressure or any cardiovascular problems due to the changes that occur from being inverted.

2. When you invert, the distraction forces will initially result in the muscles contracting to create a compressive force, which if you have an acute muscle strain or spasm, could result in increased symptoms.

3. After the initial muscle contraction, if the static position is held long enough, the muscles will relax and allow the distraction forces to stretch the tissues. If the amount of distraction force is too great, this could result in irritation of the ligaments or joint capsule. Therefore, it is recommended that you get a table that you can invert to several different positions. Start with the least and gradually work-up as your tolerance allows.

4. I usually recommend that you gradually come back up to the full weight-bearing position as well. This will reduce the risk of the back tightening up as your body-weight and gravity is returned to those structures.

My office has one of the true decompression machines and the protocol is 30 minutes long, with a 1 minute hold at the maximum decompression force (starts at 50% body weight) and then cycles down to half of that for 30 sec. This cycle continues for the 30 minute treatment time. There are several other factors invovled with these machines, but the cycling creates the pumping mechanism that helps promote healing. The machines do not statically hold the maximum tension throughout the treatment time. So I would suggest that if you use an inversion table that you try to cycle the amount of inversion as well.

I can tell you that we have had excellent results using the decompression table in our office. We typically only use the table on patients whose condition has been unresponsive to other forms of treatment. However, these tables are different than inversion tables.

Hope that helps to answer your question.

Take care,

Ryan

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Dr. Ryan Smith