About 20 years ago I was suffering from nearly incapacitating pain in my lower back. Drugs seemed to be of little benefit for more than temporary relief. After consutation with a couple of orthopods who seemed to know what they were doing surgery was ruled out. Some friends suggested I try inversion.

I tried two kinds. One was a set of boot like thingies that hooked over a rod. The other was an actual table that could be slanted at a variety of angles. Both brought immediate relief to the back but resulted in too much blood to my head if I used the devices long enough for lasting benefit. In short; no matter how I used the machines they provided no more than short term benefit at best and the extra blood pressure to the head was a real risk. To me the risk of bursting an unknown weakness in a blood vessel for such minimal gain wasn't worth it.

My Physical Therapist showed me some exercises which I started and which did provide long term relief. No problems since then as long as I remember the exercises.

From ads on TV I gather chiropracters now have a stretching device that does not require a person to be inverted. I suppose that would eliminate the blood rushing to the head problem. Some locals claim great things from the device.

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