History of Inversion Therapy
While the commercialization of inversion tables is relatively new, the concept of inversion therapy has been around for thousands of years. Hippocrates, born around 460 B.C. and sometimes referred to as the “father of medicine”, is said to be responsible for the idea of inversion therapy.
One of his inventions, the Hippocratic Bench, was a device used to set broken bones and straighten spinal columns through the stretching of the skeletal system. This was achieved by the patient laying on the bench, and having ropes tied around their hands, feet, arms, legs, and other parts of their body where needed. The ropes were connected to winches on either end of the bench. The winches would then pull the ropes toward the ends of the bench, in essence stretching the person and straightening their spine.
The idea was good, but it poses one major question: how can you use just the right amount of tension without causing harm? It really does sound kind of dangerous. In fact, this type of mechanism was later used as a form of torture. The winches would pull all of the ropes, and sometimes never stop!
Lucky for us, we are now in the 21st century. People are a lot smarter than they used to be, and we now have some great, safe inventions for relieving our back pain and improving our quality of life. Say hello to the inversion table!
The inversion table safely works toward straightening the spine by using the natural force of gravity. By securing your ankles and inverting yourself, your own body weight is used to put tension on your spine. The tension is completely adjustable by choosing a different angle of inversion. Even at full inversion, your spine will never encounter more strain than what your own body weight could produce. This provides a safe way to relieve back pain and straighten the spinal column.
Learn all about Inversion Tables at myInversionTable.com