This is Dr. David Middaugh from El Paso Manual Physical Therapy.

Some of our patients ask us if an inversion table is right for them.

Usually, they’re dealing with back pain or neck pain and they are thinking that this would help their disks…

This is an inversion table we have here in the clinic.

It hangs you upside down. You put your feet in at the bottom and then lean back.

And this is what it feels like when you go back in an inversion table…. Ahhh!

I’m so tall my head hits the ground.

From my view point right here, my feet are hooked up in the contraption.

I’ve made a rookie mistake, but now I’ve adjusted the table for my height and hopefully you can tell I’m upside down.

If you’ve got a true spinal disc problem, this can certainly help to unload your back.

It will help your disc heal….but here is the downside, no pun intended.

I’m not going to last very long here…

You can probably see the veins bulging in my head, and all my sinuses are filled up while hanging here.

It may be hard for you to get on one of these on a consistent basis so it may not be a good long-term treatment to keep doing.

We help patients with finding better ways to unload your discs, but this maybe a great solution if you want to avoid taking pain medication and want a natural solution.

Inversion tables like this one are relatively cheap you can find one for $100-$200 and they tend to last a really long time.

They’re usually pretty well built, so you can use them again and again.

But hanging out here for more than a few minutes is really hard.

The blood rushes to your head, your eyes feel like they’re going to pop out of your skull, and your ankles feel like they’re about to be yanked out my legs because I’ve been here for some time.

Let’ see if I can get outta here now….

My opinion is that there are way easier ways to treat your back problem, especially if you have a disc issue. We offer natural, more effective solutions.

Let me show you one of our most common ways we help patients to treat their lumbar/low back problem.

This is especially helpful if you sit all day.

If you have a job where you have to sit for long periods of times, chances are you need this.

If you think about your lower abs, below your belly button, getting those to fire and suck in tends to unload your discs.

Now the trick is you have to fire up those lower abs all day long especially in those postures or positions where you get pain.

Here’s a link to a video we send our clients that shows you how to do this.

So we literally tell our clients they need to have their abs turned on 8 or 10 hours a day or however long it is that you need them.

It’s not enough to just go do 100 sit ups or an ab workout of some sort because that’s only firing your abs for that period of time.

…And it isn’t enough to be on an inversion table for a few minutes at a time because it’s only helping your discs during that time.

A much better long term solution is firing your abs at a low level all day long because you can get all day long treatment.

Also, consider if you’ve been told you have a disc problem that has been checked out through an MRI.

>>>> That disc might not be the cause of your pain.

You might have a facet joint (one of the joints in your spine) that’s stuck OR you might have a muscular problem or nerve problem as well.

So using an inversion table might not be the best thing for you.

You need to make sure you get the right guidance about how to use it and when to use it.

We pride ourselves on being experts at treating back pain, if you have any questions regarding it please contact us we’d love to help you out.

Thanks for tuning in.

This is Dr. David with El Paso Manual Physical Therapy have a wonderful day!