JOIN USWith more and more people opting for natural ways to cure their ailments, inversion therapy has become the latest and most effective natural technique to reduce and cure back problems, informs Dr Chandana Das
They say laughter is the best medicine, but imagine a sharp pain running through your spine every time you try to laugh. It’s almost every other day, that we read about new studies or developments which talk about – ‘Cure to obesity the natural way’ or ‘How to cure diabetic and cholesterol related problems’, or ‘Detoxify your body at a naturopathy centre’. The list is endless.
The main reason that people are opting for various natural forms of treatment is due to the growth of lifestyle related diseases such as obesity, asthma, osteoporosis, back pain amongst others. Most patients are of the belief that they should avoid surgeries, antibiotics and hospitals in these cases as they don’t threaten your life. We as doctors understand and support this need and coax our patients to use an alternate form of treatment other than surgery.
Inversion Therapy, one of the latest developments in the Indian healthcare sector has worked wonders and shown results where patients have been able to delay and in some cases even avoid surgery. It is a simple, passive fitness activity that uses gravity and the user’s body weight to create natural traction, elongating the body to decompress the weight-bearing joints to stretch and relax muscles.
The procedure ensures that the body gets a long lasting relief by naturally aligning the spine and in process relieving pinched nerves and requires only 5 minutes per day.
Medical studies have shown that even while lying down, there is residual pressure inside the discs which is equal to 25% of the standing pressure. By inverting your body at 60 degree this pressure becomes zero or near zero, and provides maximum relief to Spinal discs on ongoing basis. While this product helps to solve major back ailments like Sciatica, Scoliosis, Spondylosis, Varicose veins, this therapy can also be on used on a daily basis as a preventive cure to maintain a healthy back. Regular use of inversion therapy table helps the spine to regain and maintain its original length and strength.
This therapy is a blessing in disguise for professionals who come from the software/BPO industry who regularly sit in front of the computer for long hours. The inversion therapy in such cases helps the disc to rehydrate, so that the next day one is free from stiffness. Also, along with keeping your back healthy, it also improves oxygen supply to the brain by improving circulation of blood, which in turn helps in relieving stress. The therapy has been tried and tested by the US Army even.
Another patient Anand Sarkar (name changed), a karate performer, had a history of disc prolapse back while performing martial arts. Around three years ago, his disc got prolapsed when he was in the air and he fell, landing straight on his back and was unable to move after that. He was instantly referred to the emergency department and was advised immediate surgery by the doctors, but he didn’t agree to it. Later he took some decompression treatment and he got symptomatically well after that. Before taking inversion therapy, he lifted some heavy object and his pain reappeared and started radiating towards his left leg and left arm along with numbness. The excruciating pain made it impossible to perform his daily activities.
He was advised to opt for inversion therapy. In the MRI report it was seen that he had a very progressive Postereocentral Disc Herniation due to the trauma. After thorough diagnosis, he was advised 9 days of treatment with two sessions of Inversion therapy every day and mild stretching exercises. He was made to intermittently invert at 35 degrees to see his response for 20 minutes which included five minutes of relaxation and three minutes of inversion for three sessions. After the second day of treatment, he started showing a decline in the pain rate, so the inversion degree was gradually increased. And it was on the fourth day that he was made to invert at around 60 degree (where there is a maximum traction in the spine leading to a decrease in the spinal load to zero or near zero). At the end of the treatment i.e. 9th day, the patient was relieved of his acute pain on his back. The radiating pain and numbness on his left leg drastically reduced after the treatment.
The simplicity of its technique, the ease with which it can be applied and the fact that it is completely natural without any side effects is the reason why patients like Anand wish to continue this treatment throughout their lives and the increasing popularity of this therapy is expected to make it the next best thing.
(The writer is a physiotherapist)