"assisted inversion boards" (back pains)

[brandonn]

so I've had a fucked up back for over a year and a half now and do not have health care, nor can i afford to regularly visit a chiropractor (hell i can barely manage to keep gas in my car to drive to and from community college)

so my moms boyfriend brought his old inversion board over
he said it helped him
it looks like this

http://www.sz-wholesale.com/uploadFiles/060105144851s.jpg

i am very wary of this as its literally just a thing you strap in and hang upside down for a few minutes to "decompress your spine"

i have no idea if it works
i do know that my lower back hurts right after wards (maybe this is the pressure being taken OFF of the nerves in the spinal chord??) and sometimes feels a little better afterwards

of course with something like this you have to use it like 3 times a day (which sucks as i'm rarely home anyways)


anywho
do any of you know anything about these things? am i wasting my time? the literal only reason i want my back to be better is because it has brought my tricking career to a dead hault. and because i would like to be able to walk at age 30.
thanks in advance

[anfeyd]

I hung upside down on monkey bars when I hurt my back. Rianu also used inversion methods for his back. It depends on your injury really.

[Kirkor]

ha ha we have this at my house...I never really had back problems and it has not helped my dad at all, but it has helped to several of my dad's friends. I'm sure it works, but I don't think it magically heals everything, just helps over time.

[Yuri]

you can hang from a bar and get similar results for much cheaper, however if you have the inversion table you may as well use it.
you should do some kind of spinal decompression daily. i also use a ma roller for my back, hurts like a mother but feels amazing afterwards
http://www.themaroller.com/

inversion table is also good for upside down situps

[chicanerous]

You can also wear inversion boots!!!

[compleks]

Ashtar is going to have a field day with this thread.

I would give it a shot. Try it for a few weeks and see how things feel. Your spine will naturally decompress during sleep, so this isn't going to be a miricle cure or anything, but it might offer some relief.

If I were you, and my back was as bad as you made out, I would be getting professional help. Get a job in order to pay for physio if you have to. Not having money is a shitty excuse when it comes to your health.

[Nick B]

my mom had one and it helped my back alot actually.

[Ashtar]

By looking at it, it looks like Teeter Hangups. Make sure to use the safety straps which limit the angle of inversion so that you're not doing it fully all the way, and time yourself so that you consistantly progress in time and do not make larger jumps. It may or may not solve back pain, but it does seem like a good health tool to me. Back pain can be caused by things besides nerve compression I think.

you can hang from a bar and get similar results for much cheaperThis is true sort of, however you won't be decompressing your upper (neck) spine, or getting the non-decompressive benefits of inversion (like blood flow stuff, though this can be a drawback as often as it is beneficial)

You can also wear inversion boots!!!
These are cheaper, and have more potential for leg-decompression and hip flexor training in the long run, since you might some day do them 1-legged which is not a safe option on the tables since that could cause it to tip over sideways. On the other hand, the tables usually have a 300lb weight limit, the bars usually have 250lb weight limit. The table is a safer initial option since you can do it gradually and easily right yourself, you should build strength with inverted situps on the table before doing the boots like Richard Gere or Michael Keaton. Even safer than the table would be the DEX apparatus.