Inversion for back pain

[nitram]

3 hours ago, BirdieDoc said:

Something I've always wondered about is the difference between inversion vs hanging for low back pain. Inversion works by off loading the weight above the joints and allowing muscles to stretch... Why not just hang? Same principal of offloading the low back without the blood to the brain. 

 

Not to be funny but I can't hang. Hanging (for me) is an "all or nothing" experience and I can't tolerate it for a second. The difference is the body contact with inversion subtracts some of the body weight from the equation. My inversion is around 45-50*. It's the most I can tolerate, at least initially. I've not found a viable increase in "therapy" with the resultant increase in inversion angle. The decompression from hanging is too sudden and causes more spasms than I originally incur. 

[BirdieDoc]

9 hours ago, nitram said:

 

Not to be funny but I can't hang. Hanging (for me) is an "all or nothing" experience and I can't tolerate it for a second. The difference is the body contact with inversion subtracts some of the body weight from the equation. My inversion is around 45-50*. It's the most I can tolerate, at least initially. I've not found a viable increase in "therapy" with the resultant increase in inversion angle. The decompression from hanging is too sudden and causes more spasms than I originally incur. 

Gotcha. Thanks for the input. I hang and feel immediate relief but it is a lot at once. 

[SwingBlues]

I have not had sciatica in my life until recently and as I posted here earlier, I use the inversion table to try and relieve it.

 

Through all this, I have been seeing my chiro and acupuncturist to relieve the pain. The pain was slowly growing and growing and getting to a point where I could not sit in the car and drive until I figured out to put a towel on my bad side of the hip to tilt my hip.

 

To me, this was really odd as I am fine standing up and doing things but as soon as I sat down like in the car or just a chair to have dinner. BOOM.

 

I thought it was psoas group and tried to work on that muscle group. Yesterday, it got so back I had to invert a lot and it was only temporary.

 

When I am in real pain, I tried to figure out what was my source. I have a good bod and yeah, I am getting older but I don't think my vertebrates are screwed. I got a new golf swing going since September, my Todd Graves One Plane but that is suppose to help my back, not hurt it. I do not feel any pain swing the driver on the range or in golfing on the course.

 

Yesterday night, I REALLY thought about where my pain was. Where I was tight and it was all my Ls area. I also noted that it was relatively recent. Then a light bulb switched on...

 

My company went to a remote work model around March. And since I was working home now, I purchased an office stool end of September. It was a typical and nice office stool from Amazon. I had a kneeling chair but my knees could not take the hours and my old office chair has had the gong so I thought the stool would make a nice progression.

 

I kept thinking it was either that or the golf swing. Both happened in September. I started thinking how my lower back was feeling on that stool for hours and hours and hours. It was tight but as my fine chiro doctor said: Men don't feel stiffness unless it is real bad. It was getting real bad.

 

So this morning, I removed the stool and put in my wife's office chair. Immediately I felt a difference in my lower back. In the afternoon I went on the inversion table to see what would happen and one my Cs popped. I had not felt that in a long time. Then I found this to try and stretch my hip and lower back area this evening...

 

 

 

OMFG (yes with the F) - I felt my lower back release like it never has with this exercise! Before this I was doing all the Yoga moves for the psoas and hips but this one was MAGIC!

 

Now as I am typing this, I still feel a little stiffness but no pain as I sit in my wife's regular old office chair. Not the stool - THAT IS OUTTA HERE!

 

FWIW, I hope this may help someone here. I was in near tears to consider more chiro for my back but I think I got my solution. Yes. 👍

 

[vernon]

16 hours ago, SwingBlues said:

I have not had sciatica in my life until recently and as I posted here earlier, I use the inversion table to try and relieve it.

 

Through all this, I have been seeing my chiro and acupuncturist to relieve the pain. The pain was slowly growing and growing and getting to a point where I could not sit in the car and drive until I figured out to put a towel on my bad side of the hip to tilt my hip.

 

To me, this was really odd as I am fine standing up and doing things but as soon as I sat down like in the car or just a chair to have dinner. BOOM.

 

I thought it was psoas group and tried to work on that muscle group. Yesterday, it got so back I had to invert a lot and it was only temporary.

 

When I am in real pain, I tried to figure out what was my source. I have a good bod and yeah, I am getting older but I don't think my vertebrates are screwed. I got a new golf swing going since September, my Todd Graves One Plane but that is suppose to help my back, not hurt it. I do not feel any pain swing the driver on the range or in golfing on the course.

 

Yesterday night, I REALLY thought about where my pain was. Where I was tight and it was all my Ls area. I also noted that it was relatively recent. Then a light bulb switched on...

 

My company went to a remote work model around March. And since I was working home now, I purchased an office stool end of September. It was a typical and nice office stool from Amazon. I had a kneeling chair but my knees could not take the hours and my old office chair has had the gong so I thought the stool would make a nice progression.

 

I kept thinking it was either that or the golf swing. Both happened in September. I started thinking how my lower back was feeling on that stool for hours and hours and hours. It was tight but as my fine chiro doctor said: Men don't feel stiffness unless it is real bad. It was getting real bad.

 

So this morning, I removed the stool and put in my wife's office chair. Immediately I felt a difference in my lower back. In the afternoon I went on the inversion table to see what would happen and one my Cs popped. I had not felt that in a long time. Then I found this to try and stretch my hip and lower back area this evening...

 

 

 

OMFG (yes with the F) - I felt my lower back release like it never has with this exercise! Before this I was doing all the Yoga moves for the psoas and hips but this one was MAGIC!

 

Now as I am typing this, I still feel a little stiffness but no pain as I sit in my wife's regular old office chair. Not the stool - THAT IS OUTTA HERE!

 

FWIW, I hope this may help someone here. I was in near tears to consider more chiro for my back but I think I got my solution. Yes. 👍

 

That's really good stuff.  Unfortunately I can't do ANY of it!

 

Gonna keep trying though and see what happens.  Always looking for new stuff to try as beating back pain is a never ending deal.

[SwingBlues]

2 hours ago, vernon said:

That's really good stuff.  Unfortunately I can't do ANY of it!

 

Gonna keep trying though and see what happens.  Always looking for new stuff to try as beating back pain is a never ending deal.

 

Yes, it is never ending. Today i think my lower left is still recovering from all the stretching both yoga, that hip progression, inversion and then icing it at night just before bed. It is way, way, way less pain I am feeling now than this time last week. I cannot expect 100% cure, not with all the trauma in the 2 months but I hope progress is made each & every day and just watch I don't over do the stretching and have some down days. Kinda like, no over working the gym, body needs time to recover

 

Hope you find your stuff dude, all the best 👍

[vernon]

7 hours ago, SwingBlues said:

 

Yes, it is never ending. Today i think my lower left is still recovering from all the stretching both yoga, that hip progression, inversion and then icing it at night just before bed. It is way, way, way less pain I am feeling now than this time last week. I cannot expect 100% cure, not with all the trauma in the 2 months but I hope progress is made each & every day and just watch I don't over do the stretching and have some down days. Kinda like, no over working the gym, body needs time to recover

 

Hope you find your stuff dude, all the best 👍

And you as well.  It's been since 1976 that I've been dealing with this after a Fire Department injury and I've discovered numerous things that worked for a while and then didn't and almost fifty years laters that trend has continued.  A guy just has to keep fighting it and finding his little victories wherever he can.  All the best man.

[SwingBlues]

Update - so it's been a week since I tossed out the office stool chair and it's been a slow recovery. Today, for the 1st time in months, I was able to sit in my car and drive without any special cushioning on my butt to relieve my lower back/sciatic pain.

 

I truly believe that darn stool is the root of my problem, unknowingly causing all my lower back and butt muscles to overwork especially the long hours in the office infront of my laptop.

 

The inversion table has been super helpful and also Mark Wildman's hip mobility video (see my post above). Man, I can really feel how tight my lower back is in the progression 3 exercise but at least now I have something to work on loosening it especially before I play a round or do the range.

[SwingBlues]

On 12/10/2020 at 5:48 AM, BirdieDoc said:

Something I've always wondered about is the difference between inversion vs hanging for low back pain. Inversion works by off loading the weight above the joints and allowing muscles to stretch... Why not just hang? Same principal of offloading the low back without the blood to the brain. 

 

When I had access to the gym, I use to hang from the arms. Totally different, you are working out the arms, shoulders and I am not sure if I want to hang for 10 minutes. To me, its a workout for the upper body rather than relax the lower back muscles to get the release. Some may be able to do it but it's not for me.

 

Inversion tables are easy, you're locked at the ankle and then you invert and let gravity to it's work. You can stay as long as you want or not. I can invert 10 mins without any concerns. I don't break a sweat

 

I had a EUREKA moment about 2 weeks ago. After a tough round of golf with many Wildman "pretzel" lower back stretches at almost every tee box, I got home and jumped on the inversion table.

 

At that moment, I finally felt my lower vertebrates finally "release" back to center. I improved really quickly so now I can walk a mile without have to stop and stretch, go golf and not have tingly, pain feelings as I drive back. Now I am working to strengthen my lower back to prevent this from happening in the future.

 

In thinking about this, I am not sure if I could have achieve this without the inversion. Super, super happy to come back to normalcy.