Gravity is responsible for muscles, bones, and joints to act to compress the spine as time goes by and this can cause back pain and other chronic problems. Inversion therapy requires a person to be in positions where the feet are above the head and can help to reverse the effect that gravity has on the body. Inversion tables are equipment that can help you to do this safely without injury.

Inversion therapy has been said to decompress the spine and act like physical manipulation or gentle massage that can act to relieve the symptoms of back pain. During this therapy, your body is turned upside down thereby increasing the space between the vertebrae and relieving the pressure at the nerve roots. An inversion table with heat and massage is a device that has a flat surface that can support the body, and which can be tilted to the required angles as required by its user. It also contains straps and supports that allow you to be firmly held in position while you change the angle of the table to help gravity to exercise its therapeutic benefits on the spine and various parts of the body. It is your bodyweight that is used to give the needed therapy by the effect that gravity has when you are not in a normal position of having your head higher than your legs.

An inversion table can be tilted to an angle of up to 90 degrees so that you are virtually doing a handstand. You need to strap yourself firmly into place. Most tables will have straps that fit over your body at various places so that you remain immobile while on the table. Legs will have separate supports that allow you to hook into so that your body and legs remain the same plane. It has handles on either side of the table that you can hold on to, and which can help you to change the angle of the table while you remain strapped in.

In a normal position when it is not being used, the table will be near to the vertical position, and you need to stand against it with your back to the table and strap yourself in while hooking your feet into the leg support. You can then slowly start inverting the table to the angle that you want by pushing on the handles. That will make your head lower than your feet. Start with low angles like 25 degrees till you get used to being inverted, as these positions will cause the blood to rush to your head. Stay there for a couple of minutes, before you increase the angle. Continue increasing the angle in stages. It is recommended that you allow your body to get used to various angles for a week at a time before you increase the angle. Increase angle by ten to twenty degrees each week, till you are comfortable with any degree between 60 and 90 degrees.

Every position on an inversion table should be ideally held for periods between one and five minutes and definitely, should never exceed fifteen minutes. Inversion tables can be used one to three times a day for relief of back pain through back stretching.